The masthead I used for my front cover was 'Eight out of Eight' because it was the most popular masthead that people chose from my market research questionaire. I think that this masthead is effective because it has a strong link with the schools name and it also stands out, catching the pupils attention. I decided to make the words 'eight' in my masthead bigger than 'out of' because I think that it gave my masthead more of a dominant look and it made it more appropriate. Again the colour scheme of my masthead was chosen by pupils involved in doing my questionaire. I think that the colours black and yellow make it stand out more and represent King Henry really well.I think that the size and font of my masthead is reasonable as I didnt want it to be too big so that I wouldnt beable to fit other important things in but I wanted it to be big enough so that it would grab pupils attention. I chose quite a simple font as I didnt want to be to fussy on the style, I think that this font still stands out and isnt to over the top.
My main image for my front cover is of five 6th formers (three boys and two girls) stood on the King Henry School steps all in different postions on the steps. The shot i chose was a medium long shot as I think that it gives the full picture of what 6th form is like. I think that this image works really well with the rest of my magazine as we can see that they are 6th formers due to their clothing and you are still able to see their facial expressions which shows they are all happy, maybe indicating that they are happy to be part of King Henry School. I think that ive got just the right amount of pupils and the perfect size picture for my front cover as i am still able to include three subsidry images.
I have included three subsidary images on my front cover, all across the bottom of my magazine. Originally I was going to have four subsidary images all in various places around my magazine but taking my main image into consideration I decided to put them across the bottom to allow more space. I think that all my images are a good size as you are still able to see what the images are trying to put across. My first image is of a student in a medium close up celebrating his exam results. I am quite happy with this picture as it shows whats going on but I think that the background is too dark and if I was to do it again i would defiantely take this picture with a lighter background. My middle subsidary image is of a group of pupils playing rugby, i am really happy with this iamge as it gives a good view of how seriosuly King Henry takes its sports. My third image is of two pupils showing off the new school uniform, I think that this image shows the school uniform off well but im not to pleased with the bacground as it looks quite dark and un-inviting. All the images that i chose to take were due to my market research questionaire.
I have included six strap-lines within my magazine, the first three are for my subsidary images as it tells the target audience what they could expect inside the magazine.The font that i used for these was the same as my masthead as i think that it links in with the whole look of the page really well. The next strap-line is across the top of the front cover, in bold yellow lettering and a thick black background to catch the readers eye and also to tell them that there is more to look forward to inside the magazine. The middle strap line 'Top news you cannot refuse' i put beneath my masthead, this is a catchy strap line which entises the reader to look through the magazine for information. The font that i used for this strap line was white with black surrounding, i think that if i was to do this again i would have layed this strap line out differently, putting it across the page rather than under-neath one another. My last strap line is across the middle of my page, 'Sixth Formers Tell All', this allows the reader to understand why the main image on my front cover was used.Im not too happy with the font and colour of this strap line as i dont think that it links in with the rest of the front cover, i would definately re-do this part.
I think that the overall layout of my magazine works well, as it semetrical, colourfull, bold and eye catching. There are a few things that i would change about it but i am quite pleased with my first experience of making a front cover.
Average age; 15
