Format Research - Front Cover Analysis 2

For my second format research task I chose to analyse the front cover of Rainey Endowed School. Looking at this magazine I can see some similarities however, there are also some differences. In this document I will be disusing the properties of this magazine's front cover.

Audience: The target audience of this magazine is very similar to what we saw with Shrewsbury High School. Both parents and students will be interested in reading this magazine because the front cover layout has a sense of formality to it, so the smart red and professional school logo engraved in the background. This will attract the parents of the school to read this as they know that the content of the magazine will be formal and informative. The students would want to read this because at the top and down the side there are pictures of their peers and class mates so they too would be interested in what's inside. They would wan to find out why their class mates are on the front cover as it would be an achievement or some sort.

As well as current parent and students being the target audience of this magazine, like Shrewsbury I would also suggest that potential students and parents would be interested in reading this magazine. I say this because the purpose of this magazine is to persuade and inform, it is informing the audience what the school offers and what it is like to go there.

Main Image: The main image of this front cover I would say is the logo of the school which also acts as the background. The background is very effective because it is the school's badge on what looks like the red school blazer and then it fades into a lighter red at the top which acts as the background. This then implies that the main image is based around the school's main colours so this way current students and parents can relate to it as soon as they see it. The only actual images on the front cover is the ones around the top and down the side. These images show, the school itself, the students in class, students in the sports team and an action shot from the school's play. All these images are a wide variety which shows the readers that a lot has been going on at the school and it also tells potential students what this school can offer. These pictures act as their own cover lines even without any text as they are telling the reader what will be inside with no text needed.

Text: On this front cover there isn't really much text. The only text visible is the masthead which is just the name of the school, "Rainey Endowed School". Like the previous magazine we looked at (Shrewsbury). The font of this text is in a san serif style which creates professionalism and formality within the magazine  so it gains the audiences trust, especially with parents. They can to informed that the school they are sending their child to is safe and professional. There is also some more white text along the bottom. It simply just states "2012 Magazine" The "2012" is big with the "magazine" covering it over the top. I can see that they have tried to keep to the professionalism, however in this case I don't think it worked. The white writing doesn't really stand out well enough over the "2012" and even the white part of the main image behind so I feel that they could of used a darker colour for this part of the text just to make it stand out a little more.

Masthead: Just like the previous magazine we looked at there isn't really a masthead on this magazine. The title of the school, "Rainey Endowed School" is just in the middle on the background all by itself. They have centralised the text so it keep to its professional format and have put the school's logo above it which gives more information about the school.