Firstly, the House Style of the page is Green and Black. The background keeps in coordination with this, as although it is a lighter shade of green the style of the cover is not affected. Most of the textual information is in black, which suggests it is information and not a point of interest such as a title. Meanwhile, the Mast Head of the page is positioned towards the top left corner of the page. It is a dark colour over a light background, but it was given a green-coloured edge, which helps it to stand out - also the letter 'A' is emphasised by being slightly larger in size and in a 3-D effect which I applied. The size of the mast head is not too large as it only needs to take up the top fifth of the page. Along with the images these two points are the main areas of focus for the reader which I felt would interest them. The font style is sans serif, which reflects the magazine is modern and not like a newspaper. This will appeal to the target audience of older pupils and their parents, as the magazine is easy to read and informal in layout. However, a more professional effect could be employed, rather than the green emboss, which I feel would have made the mast head more impressive on the eye and not a distraction because of its' simplicity. The strapline to the magazine 'Official School Magazine' has been placed beneath the mast head as this will not be an area of focus to the reader. The choice of font style was serif, as this will further suggest a difference in style to the reader and they will not associate it with the mast head. Along with the date of the magazine, these two pieces of text are very small on the page as the reader shall look for this information last. The date however, may have been more effective if it was placed above the mast head, as I feel the top right corner of the page seems a bit isolated by one piece of text, and so wrapping it to be closer to the rest of the text would not segregate it. The cover lines are placed to the left hand side of the page, and so the date would have been more appropriae for the house style if it was moved as well.
Also I chose to feature only two images on the front cover. The Main Image is that of a student footballer. By using the rule of thirds I positioned the image so that the main area of focu in the image - the power points in each corner - is the footballer's face. The image is a Medium Shot as the reader will also be inteested in his football, and if the image was closer up the link to his sport would not be evident. The images were placed to the right hand side of the page, which suggests a two-column huse style almost. The image is very large in size, though in a box so as not to fill the entire page - as there are numerous stories being promoted on the first page and so I felt a variety of topics had to be suggested to the target audience. One area of possible improvement may be to lasso the image so that the footballer's body was cropped out of the image, as the background does not link to the front cover except in it's colours. Effects could then be used so that the image was positioned above the mast head, which would give a more professional and concise look. The secondary image is that of a student writing at an exam desk. It is a lot smaller in size as I intended more focus to be on the main image. It complies with the rule of thirds and is positioned to the right hand side where the other image is. I later rotated the image slightly so that it fills the bottom corner of the page more efficiently, and was more interesting to the reader. This may attract a little too attention however. If the mian image was not in a box then the secondary image would work wih the house style if it wasn't rotated, but as it stands it would come across too dull to the target audience.
The Main Cover Line for the largest image is positioned over the image, though it is not as large in size as the mast head. Instead, t make it stand out in a different way the font style and colour choice is different. The green colour is coordinated with the 'A' in the mast head, and as he rest of the text is in black the importance of this cover line is suggested. I placed the text in the very centre of the page as well, as any further up it may have taken away focus from the main image. However I feel that the cover line is camouflaged a little by the background of the image and the surrounding text - which led to me applying a black fill to the text. This could be improved by making the cover line a slightly different colour shade, and taking out the image background once more. The layout could then be altered so that the cover line was placed over a different area of the image, but further to the left, which would keep with the house style once more. I could have applied a more interesting outline effect for the cover line as well - as it is a simple black line - which would make the ext stand out far more subtly and appear professional.
To the left hand side of the page are three lesser cover lines, which promote other areas the magazine will feature: 'ACE Day', 'Lessons', and 'We Will Rock You'. These, and also the cover line for the secondary image, are all in a bold font style, which makes it stand out on the eye. I chose to make the size of the text smaller as too much attention would have been taken up otherwise. The font style is sans serif as well, which links to the house style and the mast head, but it is a different style. I felt this would suggest a difference in the type of information presented to the reader, as the text creates a bolder impression on the eye once they look for more text about other articles. To efectively reach the target audience more, the text could be in a green shade which would help it to contrast with the mast head and the Plug 'More'. This would prevent too much dark text appearing towards the left hand side of the page, and still reflect an informative side to the front cover. I chose to feature no puffs or garish areas of colour on the front cover, as the target audience are not looking for promotional things but instead a variety of school issues. Therefore I felt that a contrasting piece of text, for example in red or yellow, would not comply with the house style of the magazine. However I could consider making the plug 'More' a slightly different font style, to help differentiate it from the other cover lines.
Evaluation of 'Grade A' Contents Page
I placed the logo of the school magazine from the front cover atop the page. This keeps with the house style and I felt it would prmote the school throughout each area of the magazine, as the target audience will continuously notice it. I made it a lot smaller in size than that of the Mast Head however, so that the main interest remains on the key areas of the magazine. It however leaves a lot of empty space on the top left hand side of the page around it, which could be altered by a rearrangement of the other text.
A paragraph by the 'headteacher' aimed at the reader is wrapped into a box beneath the mast head. This is extremely small in size, firstly to show it has little importance compared to the cover lines, and also as to much text would fill up the page unnecissarily and clutter it. I chose to fill the colour of the box in a lighter shade of green, which makes the text clearer to read and to try and comply with the house style. The box was also rotated so that the text was at a more eye catching angle and seemed less bulky for the target audience. However, as this is not a key area that they will read straight away, the box of text may be better positioned to the bottom right hand side of the page, replacing where the contents are. Therefore the area of focus - the centre of the page - will be on the more important cover lines instead.
There is one Main Image on the contents page to the bottom left, that of the Armthorpe Academy entrance sign. I felt this reflected a welcoming nature to the school. It is profile, and stretches to fill almost half the lenght of the page. I did not apply any interesting effects to the image as this would take up a lot more focus than was necessary. For this reason, I realise that as the image is not an area of much focus (the page numbers are what will attract the target audience more) , the image could therefore be made a lot smaller in size, and remain in its box - intending only to back up the style of the school presented in the magazine. Effects could then be applied to the text around it, so that they are easier to read.
To the right hand side of this the textual information was placed - that of the additional Cover Lines and the website. This links to the house style of the contents page, with the mast head on this side of the page also, but consequently I feel there is a clutter of text on this side due to the positioning of the large paragraph of text. The website is small in size and serif ins tyle, to link to the cover lines and not stand out to the reader. The font style for the cover lines, such as 'Exam Results' and 'We Will Rock You' are in serif as well, to simply make the page numbers and Contents Cover Line stand out more. It also is more graceful to read, as to much bold, block capital text would put off the target audience, who are looking for an easy layout. In this way, the page numbers are larger in size (although the cover lines are still an area of focus to the reader in my opinion). By being sans serif as well, the reader will notice the page numbers before the additional information as it is makes a greater impression on the eye. This would subliminally make them remember the page numbers over the other information, and keep them flicking through the rest of the magazine.
The font style of the Contents Cover Line was also slightly different, as I felt this was as important as the Mast Head in a way. It stands out greatly in comparison to the other cover lines, but to improve the layout of this area of text it could be perhaps made larger, and at the top of the page, which would give extra space for the cover lines to stretch out and take more focus than that of the paragraph of less important text above it. The placement of the website was effective, however, as I felt this was the last area the target audience will look too and so the house style is consistent. The reader, if the layout with the contents was altered, would then understand to look to the outer areas of the page for additional information.
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