Having looked at real school magazines, I knew I had to include common conventions in my work in order for it to look professional. As a result, I adopted green and white as my house colours because they both have positive connotations of health, and the green relates to the Oaks Primary school as it is the colour of their uniform and logo, which my magazine is based around. Using these colours, I added coverlines in varying font styles and shades in order to appeal to specific groups of people. I feel I have used both serif and sans-serif fonts appropriately, aiming serif text at parents, and sans-serif at children. Also, I have made particular words in my coverlines stand out by making them a different colour and size. For example, having "confidence," stand out draws in the attention of parents with shy children especially. It's effective to highlight "confidence" as it is the most important noun in the coverline, helping to sell the topic.  Similarly, I made my buzz word very obvious so that the strapline became more exciting. Although not all school magazines include buzz words and straplines, I felt it was an effective way of communicating some of my magazine's content without overloading the front page or making it appear cluttered, therefore unappealing. What's more, a buzz word is more appealing to my younger audience, and therefore emphasises the artistic content aimed at them in the strapline. Having it at the bottom allows the main information for parents to be displayed above.

Another feature I have included is secondary images. As you can see, I have tilted these because many other school magazines have also done so. In addition, I added a border or blurred the edges so that they don't have a basic appearance. Similarly, I have faded the edges of the puff and masthead on my front cover so that they are not bulky, but have a soft look, appealing to children and their protective parents. I also stated earlier in my research that a single block of colour as a masthead did not look professional.

 

Most of my images are original, taken by me, but there are a few exceptions; the holly motif was taken from PicArt, and the Oak tree and puzzle piece from Google images. I enjoyed taking the images, but I've learnt that it would benefit me to take multiple photos of the same scene but with an alternate angle/lighting so that I have a variety to choose from.

 

In order for my magazine to appeal to my target audience, I wanted it to present school in a positive light. Hence, I asked my models to smile whilst working (if they weren't already!) This presents school life as enjoyable and children as hard-working as it connotes happiness and concentration at the same time. The images on my contents page also have encouraging connotations: the images of books and pencils are colourful, attracting my younger audience, and representing a diverse culture within school. The photo on the right of the army cadets relates to protection, discipline and teamwork - all desirable attributes of a school. Overall, these images present young children as eager and unified members of school.

Another reason I selected the above as my front cover's main image is because of the feedback from my questionnaire. It told me that I needed an image set in a (believable) classroom. This also relates to the buzz word, "PLUS" which connotes mathematics and intelligence. In addition, my target audience also made it clear that they wanted some arty/creative content, so I used simple lexis in a sans-serif font in the strapline so that it would appeal to children. I also positioned two puzzle pieces - purposely green to match the house colours - near this so that children can associate the words with a fun activity, and their parents connote it with brain exercise.