Analysis of school magazine

The Chapel High Long Lane, “CHILL”, school magazine is very bright and eye catching due to its contrasting vivid colours and sharp text shapes used e.g. black, red and white and explosion shapes. On the front cover it uses these colours all the way through and this represents the school’s uniform and to back up this point there is a relevant picture of the school logo shown on the front cover in the corner. Also there is a picture of a two shot with two school children, one boy and one girl to show that the school isn't sexist, in school uniform which also backs up this. This promotes the school and shows what the uniform is like, this persuades the reader to like the school and want to come to it and with the smiling children it makes the school look more appealing. It has cleverly used the letters of the school's name to come up with a magazine name which is very propaganda like as it is a hidden message, this is called an anagram. “CHILL” standing for Chapel High (In) Long Lane. Yet if they put full stops in the middle of every letter it would have been more obvious that this name represents the school e.g. “C.H.I.L.L”. The page is set out in lots of different ways which makes it look very busy and keeps the consumer occupied e.g. there is a column down the side; this has lots of information which makes the consumer want to read it. The column is in a good place at the side of the page as it is out of the way of the main images and other shorter information.

In contrasts to this, it also uses square text boxes for short description of a magazine which are big, main stories for the reader to focus on the most. Also it has a horizontal white box with “News and views for those in the know”, although a spiky box is in the way so there is a word far away from the other therefore it doesn’t make sense. As a result they should have concentrated on the layering and brought the white text box forward. The language used is short and to the point to use up less space and for the reader to get a quick jist of the topic available to read. Although these effects could be seen as too busy and makes it a disadvantage for the magazine as it is not concentrating on the main point of the page. This is because the reader doesn’t know where to look and therefore doesn’t have a main focus point. Also the front cover is ineffective as the images on the front page are not relevant to the subject the text is talking about, therefore it shows that the product has been well thought about and leaves the consumer confused. E.g. “Year 7 get involved in world book day” but the picture doesn’t correspond to the text as there are students in dressing gowns.

Therefore this isn’t very good advertisement for a school magazine. There is language used like rhetorical questions which gets the reader involved and want to read on, e.g. “What do you think of the new school uniform?” The magazine is written in the 1^st and 2^nd person. By writing in the 2nd person it is involving the reader e.g. “Activities week special – What should you be doing this year?” Therefore asking the reader rhetorical questions and wanting them to do something. They have written it in the 1^st person to address the school by saying we as the school are a multiparty. On the page there is a use of lots of different fonts this stops the reader from getting bored and makes it more interesting as it stands out, whereas if it was all the same text it would be very textual, by doing doing this it sorts out the different types of information given. The language is very simplistic and uses lots of short sentences so that it is quick to look at, and leaving the read to open the magazine to know more.The page is spilt into text and images on each side, this separates the two and helps the reader look at one then the other, instead of blending.

The contents page is good as on the left hand side there is lots of writing as this is the most important as it is the pages numbers and their brief explanations, therefore making it your main focus. It also keeps with the black and red theme therefore it keeps the schools colours all the way though and this keeps the symbolisation of the schools and the school in the readers mind. As the contents page also uses rhetorical questions to keep the reader interested e.g. “Love it or Loathe it?” this lets the viewer have an opinion on the subject and want to read what the is to love or loathe. This page is less busy than the front page as now they have grabbed the reader’s attention and are focusing more on what’s inside the magazine with its detail with the page numbers and brief descriptions of the topic. It uses bold in the titles and the page numbers so that they stick out as these parts are valuable information and gives you a little taster of what page entails. The contents page only uses one image to break up all the text that is on the page, therefore making the text the main focus which is the main point. The language is set in a list form this makes it easier to read and is more complex than the front cover as it is giving the reader more information for them to read so that are become more interested. It also uses verbs such as "Read our" persuading them to buy, read this magazine.