Analysing the cover of a school magazine

•Ruislip eye Target audience: students aged 11-16

•The layout is quite sectioned out. It is fairly neat and clear. The writing is in boxes which is used to represent the formal layout and specific routine of school. The target audience is students therefore the cover indicated to them the magazine is about school. The font is quite small but bold. This makes it easy to read and clear. The text is also in black to stand out however titles and the school name are in white to draw attention or allow the audience to recognise key information.

•The photos are of a decent quality. This could be improved to make the magazine look more professional. There is one main image on the cover which is surrounded by other various images of medium size. The main image has been used to highlight the magazines main article. Cropping of the photos: The photos are cropped to signify main detail. The photos are also cropped to draw the attention of the audience to the main focus of the image. This would help to engage the target audience.

•Nearly all of the photos relate to one specific article in the magazine. This has been done to show the audience the main story dominates the content of the magazine. The size of the cover lines are fairly small in terms of a typical magazine. They could be enlarged to draw in more attention. There is also only one main cover line which is in the middle of the cover. It is on a white background and the font is black. This means it stands out to the audience.

•The cover does feature some of the typical conventions of a magazine. Ruislip eye uses images, a logo, title and cover lines. This allows the audience to recognise its a magazine. However the magazine doesn't have a striking cover with bold colours. This may show it is a slightly more formal magazine.

•The main images on the cover all relate to one article. However the article is fairly small considering the emphasis of the images on the front cover. This means the article doesn’t live up to the expectations.

•The name of the magazine is wordplay. As the magazine is about the school Ruislip High the title is the Ruislip Eye. This is suitable as it is easy for the target audience to understand. It also is a form of humour which may attract the audience as they see the magazine is informal.

•The magazine also includes other graphics such as the hand drawn logo which is of a student.  This relates to the theme of the magazine, school.

•There are no other symbols, captions or key words. The overall message of the magazine is that the magazine talks about fun issues related to school in a less serious and formal way.

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From analysing 'Ruislip Eye' I have gained knowledge and understanding of the required features of a school magazine. This will help me to produce my preliminary task which is to create a front cover and contents page for a school magazine as I am now able to differentiate between magazines and there genres.