My thoughts are..
These are the main pictures I like for the front cover of my Preliminary task of a school magazine. I wanted to make sure that I had a variety to chose from so the one I'd use would be the best out of the sum I had.

Example 1.

This is my first example that I like as it was taken at the entrance of the school.  

I liked this picture, however it wouldnt be good to use for my front cover as it is blurry.

Magazine Cover Terminology.

There are particular features that should be displayed within the front cover of any magazine. These can incluse:
Title /banner/masthead- this is a name given to a piece of work and would conventionally appear at the top of the cover.
Sell line- a short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point.
Splash- this is an insert, displayed on the front cover, that contrasts from the orignal image in turn to stand out.
Menu bar-designed to list things that can be found in the magazine.
Boost- is the biggest sell line placed on the front cover, intentionally planned to increase sales on the magazine.
WOB-  meaning white on black, which gives/ creates contrast on the front cover.
Puff/ Dog End/ Ear Piece- this is a pretend fold on the page, mainly placed in the corner.
Coverlines- a one line description used to entice the reader into buying the magazine.
All of these features are mainly displayed on the front cover of the magazine.

School Magazine Textual Analysis 1.

This is one of the best front cover magazines that i have seen, while searching for school magazines and i particularly like this one.

I like it mainly because the front cover is clear, the headings are well structured making it easier to read and the colours are very appropriate for the type of audience it is aimed at.

The main audience is targeted for a younger audience so bright colours and well structured headings are very significant to make it easier for them to read and to encourage them to read the whole of it.

Also, by having a variety of different bright colours, creates more of an interesting vision of the magazine, making it more likekly for the audience to enjoy reading it more.

I like how one of the (subheadings) are displayed with a pencil-like sribble as it symbolises the idea of a school activity and gives the magazine a sense of inoocence as it is aimed for a younger audience.

However, a down side to this extract is that the main title should be in caps as it should stand out more in comparison to any of the other headings. By having the title in lower case, it suggests the idea that it is less formal and less important, which shouldnt be the case for the main title of the magazine.

School Magazine Textual Analysis 2.

Here is another example of an magazine based for schools, however i dont particulary like this one for many reasons.

Firstly, I dont like how they have put so much information on the front cover of the magazine, it looks too clustered and pact with information that isnt needed. The front cover should be more plain, with a small number of headings and words that can catch your eye, a main title and a main image.

What is also bad about this example, is that there is no main picture that centres the page. Nether the less, there are smaller pictures which briefly show of the activies presented at the school, but no clear picture of a conventional image for a main picture like a student or a teacher.

Although this example has a main title, what lets it down is that it is very hard to understand and not clear to read at all. Also, it doesnt exactly fit the theme of a school and looks very child like as the front cover is aimed at a secondary school.

My Tasks.

Within my Media Studies Coursework , my main task consist of the information given below:

Preliminary exercise 
For my premininary task I must produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, using DTP and imagine manipulation program , featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the lay-out of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the program.

Main Task
For my main task I will be making a front page, contents page and a double page spread for a new music magazine (if done as a group, each member of the group must produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style) having a maximum number of 4 within a group.

I will also need to make sure that all my images and text are original and produced by the candidate(s), with a maximum of four images per candidate.

First Post

hello and welcome to my blog. I am looking forward to making posts about my ideas and work for my media course.