Preliminary Task ...

Before beginning the preliminary task of producing a school magazine front cover and a mock-up contents page, I first began a little research to determine my target audience and the style of magazine I wished to produce.

Upon my initial research, I discovered that in Deyes High School itself there was plenty of school information targeted at parents, a monthly newsletter, but little to nothing that provided specifically selected news and interest for the actual students. It would therefore seem prudent for any magazine to capitalise on this hole in the school market, with a magazine aimed at the student population.

This then led me to further research into the type of magazine aimed at young people and the conventions displayed therein. As you can see below, the magazines I looked at that are directed at the teen market feature several similarities;






Firstly, all three magazines feature a medium close-up photograph of the featured celebrity, with puffs arranged around the periphery, not covering the face of the subject. The masthead is placed at the top of the cover, with the subject's picture placed directly below. It is also rare to find a front cover picture of a male celebrity, so it would seem the female star entices more readers.

In order to reach my target audience successfuly then, I determined to follow each of these conventions in my own school magazine aimed at teenagers aged from 11 to 18.