Planning - Magazine Cover Ideas

Magazine Cover Ideas

Idea of a main photo	Why it would work	Why it wouldn’t work
Team photo of a football/rugby	From my research fewer boys read magazines than girls, so attracting and convincing boys to read my magazine may be a challenge. Therefore, if the cover is a photo of something the boys will be interested then	The team may have been defeated and therefore won’t want to read it and try and convince others not to read it either.
Students in lesson	It will make it clear to an audience what the magazine is about.	The target audience may think that the magazine is meant to be educational and would seem confusing if the cover lines are witty and not about education.
Idea for secondary image
Individual student achievement	Peers may not know and are interested in achievement. Also teachers may not know that a student has a special talent or hobby outside of school, and as a result everyone is sixth form can get to know each other better.	There may not be anyone who would want it published. And the worst is, that there wouldn’t be achievements every time an issue comes out. For that reason a house-style would be hard to create on the cover.
Future film release	It is modern and can interest anyone in sixth form.	Can’t advertise a rated 18 film as it wouldn’t even attract half of the target audience, and a rated 15 film may not interest the target audience at the higher end of the scale.

Mise-en-scene

Main photo

•    The image that I end up using will have a model looking at the camera lenses (direct mode of address) so it can build a relationship with the reader. The use of it makes the overall aesthetics of the magazine more attractive and makes it more eye catching.
•        Background of the shoot will be green scenery, with the model leaning against a fence. This will imply that the photo has taken place on a school location, as fences are most commonly found around the school which will later have connotations.
•       The model will be a male and he be wearing an outfit that is both smart and casual as it will convey a casual but important theme to the reader. He will wear a white t-shirt, blazer and skinny jeans.
•            The pose will be a ‘stern’ pose, in which the model will be stood upright, looking directly at the camera, shoulders back with his hands in his pockets. This will reflect the start of a new school year and to also convey that having the right mind set shows that the model is prepared.
•       The shot will be a mid shot, as when I was researching I rarely came across any magazine that didn't either use a mid shot or close up. This is due to the conventions.
•            Lighting will be in natural sunlight. This will then go with the rest of the shoot as it is outside. It could also convey that going into higher education is a 'natural' part of life and growing up. It is also the only lighting available, but will express  the time of the year the issue is, similar to the ‘annotated Vogue magazine’ I have previously looked at.

Edit

• House-style is similar to every other magazine cover.
• Colour theme could be Primary colours.
• Contrasting against background.
• Bright main photo so it is eye-catching.
• Two cover lines on the left side and two on the right, all in white font to stand out against the green background. I will include a ‘PLUS’ cover line to make the target audience think they’re getting their money worth. This will be in a red font to stand out against both the white font and green background.

From the ‘What kind of stories would you like to read about in a Sixth Form magazine?’ question I asked in previous planning, I have managed to get an understanding of what cover lines to have on the magazine cover, in which it will appeal to the target audience and will fulfil their interests.

From their responses I have come up with a number of headline and cover line ideas:

• How to cheat at revising and get away with it
• Why ____ is hotter than Jennifer Lawrence
• ASOS guide to style
• Fear is a strong motivator
• What One Direction could learn from A-Levels
• "Work to become, not to acquire."

Mast head

Next have to come up with a mast head name, this should be relevant to the stories inside, entice the target audience and to represent the content in the magazine.

• The Downs Daily
• The Downs Bulletin
• Strive
• The Downs School Telegraph