Preliminary Task

(Above: Flat plans for my school magazine)

The aim of this task was to create a front cover for a school magazine based on La swap.
Firstly, I was to create a flat plan for my school magazine in order to help me explore a number of ideas and also plan and understand my idea thoroughly.
My first option was whether to base my magazine specifically on Acland Burghley School or on La swap as a whole. I chose Acland Burghley (ABS), as it is the building I am based at and therefore have more knowledge about. I decided to name the magazine ABS as it has a distinctive yet friendly approach as it shortens the school name (ABS).

In order to show Acland Burghley as an arts college, I planned to have the logo on the top right hand corner of the magazine front page. Also, the colours I decided the masthead would be were bold and also colours associated with La swap Consortium. This again makes the magazine distinctive and recognizable.

To show that ABS is a multi-cultural school, I took a picture of my peers, one black, one white who were also both members of ABS, holding a La swap diary. The students also show that the school is a non-uniform school as they are not wearing uniform. I took the image as a mid-shot in order for the reader to feel drawn to the magazine. For example close-shots and mid-shots are more likely to have an affect on the reader than long-shots because they will feel a sense of intimacy that they would not feel if the image was of a person who was standing far away.

The main headline of my magazine, I wanted to relate to both adults and children. Therefore I decided ‘Bullying’ was a good topic as there are a number of children who face bullying at lower level and even higher level in every secondary school. This also appeals to adults as parents and carers are usually interested in the well-being of their child at school. My magazine front cover also gives information about what is in that issue by using conventions such as cover lines and lures.

The purpose of my contents page was simply to inform the reader of what was to be in my magazine. In order to make this issue of the magazine different from others I gave it a name. (Life, Money & Success issue). On the left hand side I included a list of information of the contents of the magazine such as: The La swap production 2009, School Forum, Student Council Information and competitions. On the right, I decided that I would include an image of a student simply to make the page look interesting. I decided that it would be a good idea for me to include an image of myself or a female as the front page featured an image of 2 males. By including the image of myself (a girl) on the contents page, this would suggest the school is also a mixed-gendered school. I used bright, bold colours also on the contents page in order for it to appeal to young people who were my main target audience for the magazine.