As media – Magazine coursework

Analysis of school magazine covers.

Neale Wade magazine

Layout

Route of the eye: 

Logo; title; paragraph; advertisement

Primary optical area:

Neale wade logo in the top left corner

Terminal area:

Gold advertisement in the bottom right corner

Dead areas:

Empty spaces between information and along the sides where it is blank

Hotspots:

NW logo; ‘Neale wade’; words from paragraph; ‘community college

Masthead:

“Neale Wade News” – red and bold

Colours:

 Basic – red, white and black

Font:

Masthead is basic and large. News is larger than Neale wade

There is a slogan underneath the masthead which is smaller than the masthead and the logo. 

Images:

NW logo; drama people

Logo’s (small) from business

Advertisement for gold

Subheading:

Large and bold – yet smaller than masthead

Stories:

Welcoming

Neale wade hosts drama production

Building schools for the future

Image connotations:

Drama connotes that school is social and productive and likes to get school involved in stuff.

Neale wade logo connotes recognition of the logo so that people can look over the magazine and recognise the logo and link it with the school.

Advert connotes business and sponsors.

Mode of Address:

Formal and aimed at parents

Uses terms such as “impressed by the commitment” and “staff and students.”

This magazine appeals to the parents of students as they can know how the school is progressing and how the students are doing and what they are doing both in and out of school.

Cromwell Magazine

Layout:

Route of the eye: masthead; “Cromwell Connect”; text; dates to remember; image; logo

Primary optical area:

Masthead corner; “Cromwell”

Terminal area:

Cromwell logo

Dead areas:

Blank spaces along the side and around the images where nobody pays attention to.

 Hotspots:

All four hotspots are part of the text.

Masthead:

“Cromwell Connect” – black and bold, Large and sans serif.

Colours:

Plain and colourless. Basic colours and black and white. Image of deckchair is colourful – it therefore stands out.

Font:

Masthead is bold and sans serif.

Text in the middle is smaller so you therefore need to buy it to pay attention. Black.

“Dates to remember” is larger so it stands out a bit mor4e as it is in the route of the eye so it needs to be readable from a distance. As is the logo. Slightly larger.

Images:

Deckchair in the route of the eye. This connotes that the school is a good place to go as it is fun and connotes the school as bright and fun.

The logo in the bottom right corner is in the route of the eye as it is easily recognisable and therefore connotes a school due to the word college.

Subheading:

It does not have one although in the text box it has a heading to say “message from the principle.”

Stories:

The text in the middle talks about the school and how the students and teachers are doing and what sort of things will be in the magazine. Also what kind of activities and how the school is getting on.

Mode of Address:

The mode of address for this magazine is to the parents of the students and the possible future students and present students of those who attend Cromwell. It shows that it is to those as it is very formal but has some informal parts that reach out to the students.

Evolve magazine

Layout:

Route of the eye: Masthead; image; slogan

Primary optical area:

Top left corner; start of masthead and start of slogan above the masthead.

Terminal area:

Bottom right corner; end of bottom slogan and corner of the large collage of images

Dead areas:

Sections around the masthead that are blank and the area around the large collage of images in the middle.

Hotspots:

All four points of the hotspots are parts of the large collage of images in the middle.

Masthead:

“Evolve” – sans serif – black

Colours:

Masthead is black and plain
There is a yellow background

Images form a lot of different colours

Writing around the top and bottom is black also. This is so the images in the middle stand out.

Font:

Masthead is sans serif
Top and bottom slogans are sans serif

As is the writing under the masthead

Images:

Images in the collage in the middle are all to do with school. This connotes that the people are students and look like they are enjoying themselves. The objects are to do with subjects and therefore connotes education.

Stories:

There are no stories on the cover

Mode of Address:

Looking at the cover, it looks very informal and messy which will attract the younger audience. If there was text then it would be less interesting. However there is little text and so it is more about images and therefore aims to younger people. Probably students.