School Magazine Proposal and Analysis

Plan of my School Magazine Who is my target audience? The magazine is going to be created to be an Ursuline handbook with a difference. It will be written by students in years eight and up for My target audience which, for this magazine, is new or prospect students aged 11. They would read it to get an insider’s view of Ursuline High School. It tells them exactly what to expect in terms of teachers, rules, school activities and how to deal with it all. What is this magazine’s purpose? To give new students a silent guide in the form of a hand book with the intension to help them to be independent and to find the transition from year six to high school as simple and painless as possible.

What will the magazine be called? Possible names: What they didn’t tell you... I like this title because it makes the magazine seem exclusive and interesting. However I want the magazine to be approved by the school so a title that refers to the school’s faculty as ‘they’ disclosing information presents the image of it being teachers versus students. This is not the picture me or the school want the magazine to portray to new students or teachers. UHS Handbook What I liked about this title is it says exactly what the magazine is trying to create for each new student. However, I believe it sounds too official, like every other information leaflet they would have already have been given and therefore not as down to earth as I want it to sound.

UHS SURVIVAL GUIDE Again this title, though accurate, would portray the school in the wrong way: as something painful that has to be endured rather than enjoyed, I don’t want to scare new students; merely let them in on a few trade secrets that will make adjusting to a new school easier. Did you know...? Although this title might evoke interest in the reader to find out what they “know”, I thought this title was not eye catching enough and too vague to show what the magazine is about. Pssst! Pass it on. This is the title I finally settled on because it meets all the criteria I intended it to. The title brings across the idea that it contains useful information and tips but does so in a way that doesn’t make it seem like the school is disclosing information from new students. It also builds a relationship and a bond between the reader and the magazine; asking the reader to ‘pass it on’ makes the reader appear to be a vital part of the magazine’s success.

What will it contain? It will contain a series of articles written by students currently at various stages in the school giving advice and counsel to new students starting in year seven. What style of design will it be formatted in? I want the immediate image of the Magazine to be obviously ‘thrown together’ by students. To do this I will have different sections written in different fonts, at different angles to look like different pupil’s handwriting I am also considering using post-its as blocks of small information and school book lined paper as a background. The denotations of this approach will be that the magazine will look scruffy and choppy; and like it was made by students.

Plan of School Magazine Front Cover To help myself decide what type of format my magazine’s front cover should be in I have looked at the magazine cover below is a celebrity and lifestyle magazine of which I have copied the format and put I have put it into blocks of colour to represent where each separate piece is. I will structure my magazine roughly on the bundle of shapes beside, as I believe it will better represent the style of magazine I am trying to portray.

Final School Magazine Front Cover

Final School Magazine Contents Page