Priliminary Task Planning

 

 

 

 

This is my first draft of my school magazine cover. I have aimed my target market as primary school children. After research of other magazine covers, I observed that they ran the regular colour schemes of red, yellow, black and white. This is why my magazine cover in general uses the basic format colours I previously stated, but also additional colours like blue (and possibly green in further production). This was to attempt to enforce a creative feel to the magazine, so that primary school children would still find it attractive to read, without loosing the general format of a respected magazine.

 

 

I choose the masthead's colour of yellow to maintain the image of a shooting star (a wish); inspirational magazine for school children, but also, because it is in keep with the colour scheme of a professional magazine (yellow, red, black and white). Also, the irregular tilt helps to break up the magazine; presenting a less formal style as it is aimed for a young target market.



 

 

I decided to base the main image on a well known suggestion of what some children would like to aspire to. I selected the idea of an astronaut because I wanted to refrain from deterring children from reading the magazine based on whether it gave a gender favouritism (footballer/ballerina). Therefore, resulting on the least stereotypical gender aspiration I thought most popular and ending with the concept of an astronaut.


                    However, when realising the preliminary task involved my own photography, I decided to adopt another idea for an image. The new image is of a schoolchild in thought; this helps to allow the target reader to connect with the magazine, as they themselves are of a similar age. Also, it allows the reader to subtly acknowledge the genre of the magazine.

 

 



 

I used the concept of a pug for advertisement, on that perhaps parents might have come across the magazine and be intrigued by the offer, which will generate a fairly equal reciprocal cycle of profit for both the magazine and Clarks.

 

I used a question for the banner line to allow the reader to almost entice themselves to read on. Perhaps this question was unfamiliar to them? This would possibly prompt them to read more into this newly found thought. Perhaps they had already considered the concept and either had an idea or were stuck as to what occupation they wanted in the future. All of this would be inside; able to be directed to through the contents page.

The footer line uses advertisement which generates profit as many will read the magazine if just purely to win. The actually item available to be won is something of which was researched as a recent craze and so many children would be excited by this; creating a vast amount of interest and also trust into the magazine's content and if they will like it.

 

The sell lines I have created are meant to have a certain ambiguity. This allows the reader to interpret how they could contribute to the magazine and connect with others of the same target market because of the thought that other children could see their work and experience the pride of competition. As I progress through to further drafts using Adobe InDesign, I will add more sell lines to give the grid structure more definition. These possibilities of addition at present are, recycling, horoscopes and the results of a multi-school event.

 





When it came to designing the splash, I decided to use a more appropriate colour for the younger target audience; blue. This gives it more of a relaxed interpretation, along with the font. The concept behind the splash was simplistic, "Cool" being a play on school, because the target market would not be able to understand an overly intricate splash. A basic concept would be far more attractive to the school children because it would give them that sense of accomplishment; they are on an equal level to the magazine and feel like they could manage to read it and understand the content.

Underneath the splash, I placed further advertisements. This helps to generate profit and strengthen the grid structure. The items themselves are school themed; parents may be subjected to observing this, in addition to children asking for the items, based on the reliability and trust that was gained through the connections ("MOSHI MONSTER") placed to give the target audience and the magazine a sense of unity and familiarity. The variety of style to the items is so they add to give the magazine a sense of unisex. The aim of the magazine is not to focus the target market to a gender, but to present itself as something all children can enjoy.

 



The concept of placing the scan on the cover page was to give authenticity to the task. I gave an issue date as to contribute to this also.
                        However, I consider the possibility of a partial pug at the top right-hand corner of the cover page, to enable the reader to know that they do not have to pay for the magazine. Therefore, I discard any doubts about reading the magazine arisen from the initial thought of price, as the funds would be through the advertisements. Although, the issues surrounding the funding are not yet clarified and so the possibility of a price is still existent, and may change in further drafts.