Preliminary Task Analysis
Masthead: My school magazine is called 'Reach' and I used the colour red for the font in order for it to contradict with the green colour of the back ground and for that to act as a banner, this way the text is much easier to see because red and green are contrasting colours. I called my magazine 'Reach' because it is a school magazine and I wanted my magazine name to represent reaching for your dreams which will appeal to the teachers and students who read the magazine.
Logo: Since we read form left to right I decided to place my logo right after my masthead so that it would be the next thing seen after the masthead. My logo is a picture of 5 people putting their fingers together to make a star, the image is taken from below so we have a clear view of the sky, this signifies a star in the sky. Since the name of my magazine is 'Reach' coming from the phrase 'Reach for the stars' which is related to reaching for your dreams and aspiring to be successful which are the reasons why we get an education in the first place, I purposely used that image so that it would symbolize aspiration which is appealing to the young people in the school who are aiming to be successful in life.
Headline: I made the headline the next largest font on the page and placed it on the upper side of the page, this way a reader would be able to clearly tell that this is the headline and is the most important article on the page. Also I used the popular phrase 'It's all in the wrist' to make the magazine seem comedic and light hearted since the phrase uses informal language so that the readers can feel as if they are having a casual conversation with a friend which is appealing to younger audiences like the students of the school.
Straplines: I added strap lines to the magazine in order to show who wrote the article and because it is one of the codes and conventions of a magazine, this way my magazine would look more like a magazine.
Layout: In order for people to distinguish this as a magazine I made sure lay the articles out in coloumns. This way I am not using walls of text which may look un-interesting and un-appealing to younger audiences and also I am following the codes and conventions of magazines.
Image: I used a mid-shot image of the captain of the basketball team prepping himself to take a free-throw. Since the headline is 'It's all in the wrist' I wanted to use an active image of someone actually doing something with a basketball in order for a reader to clearly distinguish without even having read the article that the article is about basketball. I told the the captain of the football team to have a quite serious expression on his face in order to try and create a tense atmosphere in the image since he is not smiling but is instead serious about taking the shot and leading his team to victory.
Text Boxes: To divide the page properly I used text boxes, this way a reader won't get the stories on the page mixed up and will associate the right headlines with the right articles.
Colour Scheme: I have used the colours red, green, white and black for my magazine. Red and green are very bright and appealing colours so they can immediately catch a readers eye and also the colours red and green stand out from one another so then can be easily seen. I made the colour for the font on the articles black instead of a bright colour to make sure that it would be as easy as possible to read and used a white background for the text so you can clearly see the text.
Drop Letters & Pull Quotes: I used drop letters once again because it is one of the codes and conventions of a magazine, same with the pull quote, so this way my magazine looks more like a real magazine. I placed the pull quote at the top of the 2nd column of the 2nd article in order for it to be clearly seen. I wrote 'There must be something in the food' the quote is interesting and makes a reader question what exactly is in the food which will make them want to read on more into the article. Also rather than using colour for the pull quote I decided to outline the top and bottom of the quote with thick red lines, I also made the font larger for the quote in order for someone to be able to clearly distinguish the text as a quote.
