Format Analysis Of 2 School Magazines

Overall I think that the ‘college’ magazine is far better than the ‘welcome’ magazine. You can really see the difference in one being really messy and the other one being really professional. It also reflects on the editor as you can tell that they knew exactly how to use an editing software where as the welcome magazine must have been clueless on how to edit and put together a magazine.

To start off with looking at the Mastheads, straight away we know what type of magazine it is when looking at the ‘college’ magazine where as with the other magazine all it says is ‘welcome’ this could be really confusing to the reader as it doesn’t really make clear what type of magazine it is. So the writer could be welcoming them to anything.

Looking at the central image we can see that on the ‘welcome’ magazine they have gone for a close up shot, personally I don’t think this works as the young girl is to ‘in your face’ and it looks really messy. She also has her top button undone and her tie is loose which could reflect on the school for being unprofessional and unorganised. However the girl is smiling which does link in with the title ‘welcome’ as she looks friendly and welcoming. So if you were a new student you can see straight away that it is a nice, friendly school. But in comparison to the ‘college’ magazine this looks very professional and neat. They have gone for a medium close up shot. I believe that this shot is much better as it only takes up the centre of the magazine where as the girl on the ‘welcome’ magazine took up most of the magazine and it was hard to read the font. They are also both looking directly into the camera which shows that they are also looking directly at the reader which also shows that the cover lines on the magazine are talking to them their target audience.

The font used on ‘welcome’ magazine is in black, yellow and blue. The masthead font and colour are really clear as it stands out. It also doesn’t clash with the central image meaning it doesn’t look messy. However because the wall in the background is dirty white, they have assumed that yellow would be a good colour to go over the top. But is actually doesn’t go at all, it kind of blends in with the background and it is really hard to read. You have to look really closely to actually see what the magazine is trying to tell you. The only readable yellow font is over the girl’s dark blue blazer. The blue font isn’t much better, because it is a very bright blue it doesn’t really work. It clashes with the central image making it un-professional and messy. The font they have used as well isn’t very bold, it is also quite small. To improve it she should have used a bolder font. However personally for them to improve the magazine I believe that they should have had the school in the background to make it more clear for the readers. But in comparison to the ‘college’ magazine it is a lot clear as the font is bold and doesn’t clash with the central image. They have used a three colour principle which works really well together as none of them class.. They have also used 4 different fonts. This makes the magazine stand out and is also eye-catching. I like how they have used such dark colours and then brighter font as this really works and it is also readable.

Finally the ‘college’ magazine has included the basic features such as a barcode and header. Even though these are really small things it is also very important that these are included on the magazine as it makes it look professional.