Analysis of school magazines

 1) I feel that this magazine is quite boring and plain. Although the blue colours relate nicely to the school uniform, providing a sense of togetherness and pride within the student snap shots, there seems to be a lot of white gaps and the general layout doesn’t seem to be very thought out or unique. Again, the primary colours, although bold and noticeable, do seem to be present simply to compliment the logo of ‘Brishopbriggs Academy’. This simple feel could possibly insinuate a younger audience.

 Although there seems to be a neat and orderly style- mainly within the contents page, the main focus seems to predominantly be on the school itself as appose to the following atricles within the magazine. Focus on the school is understandable because it's a school magazine, but this technique may not advertise students to read inside if they haven't sooner been informed of what is inside. There is also no real stand out language or memorable puns to draw people’s attention.

2) The explosive red shapes behind each picture insinuate cahos and excitement as well as a sense of danger against the black background. There isn't one main image to focus on, which could suggest rebellion or modernization, as well as bring more attention towards the magazine name. 'CHiLL' contrasts to the warm red colours and demonstrates originality through only one letter being in lower case.

The contents page nicely compliments similar colours and shapes to the front page, this suggests organization and clear focus. The layout is neater and slightly more simple due to use of only one picture and the clear divide through the center could imply structure and more than one outlook within the school. The confusion accompanied with the title question 'What's Going On?' could be symbolized within another explosion shape, yet the use of a lot of text could suggest that the question is instantly and efficently answered within the following pages, perhaps relating to lesson time in school.

3) The image on this cover not only takes up most of the page, and therefore most of the focus, but it also acts as a collage of everything within the magazine. The cover is clearly thought out and almost symmetrical with hints at George Stevenson being an arty and creative school. This is demonstrated by the scientific and modernised title 'evolve' being written in lower case letters.



I like how the rounded edges of the title contrast to the sharp points of the triangles and square within the photo, and the repetition and rhyming assonance sound of 'News, Views, Reviews & Interviews' brings a catchy feel. I generally feel that this cover is very interesting and attention grabbing with a unique look and text. 

Although evolve's contents page is more calm and focused than the front cover, with less images to look at, it is still quite interesting and colourful, esspecially when compared to the contents page for ‘Brishopbriggs Academy’. There is a more neat and structured feel and because the 'In Sport' section is placed inside a green box, that relates to the grass upon which certain sports are played, this suggests that thought has also been injected to the contents as well as the front cover, implying that the rest of the magazine will be interesting too.

4) This cover is punchy, modern and almost liberating due to alliterative words printed from an open mouth, it implies force, importance and domination. However it looks more targeted towards a fashion or music inspired audience, instead of all students.

The bold black and red's appear quite dangerous and the general colour scheme and look reminds me of album covers by The White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand, this could insinuate musical inspiration and audience, as could the first and largest alliterative headline, 'festival funk'. 

Similar to 'evolve', 'Fusion' appears similar to pop art and also includes lower case letters and an almost technological title, the lower case implies that the magazines are informal and risky by breaking common rules of punctuation.

The contents page for 'Fusion' doesn't seem to realte much to the front cover due to the white background and more feminie childlike feel present within the top image. The picture of a tape however, relates well to the references of mucic within the front page, as do the pictures of flowers and raindrops due to the mention of a festival. Both pages also include bold colour and a very modern and arty feel. Such sub-headings as 'Get off the sofa', 'Snack Attack' and 'Style Bible' also relate to stereotypical representations of teenagers, this highlights the audience of the magazine.