Analysis 1: Secondary Teachers Cover issue #55

Here is the cover of "Secondary Teachers" the issue of March 2008; this is an example of an existing school/college magazine. I will analyze this cover, using it as part of my research and take note of its ideas, which I could use to influence my own cover later on.

When looking at this cover the first thing I notice or I’m drawn to is the image of the female pupil in half school uniform & half of a nurse's garments. This immediately tells the reader what the key/featured topic of this issue is, mixing or balance of practical hands on work such as the example shown here which is nursing and academic work/studies in secondary education. This lures the reader in because there has been big discussion on if schools should offer more practical and hands on experiences to its pupils, instead of just purely academic. The girl has a very warm, welcoming and happy expression on her face, this draws us to the magazine because it gives us a comfatable feeling. Positioned on the right of the image, is the text "You're hired, How Year 10 thrive on apprenticeships", the wording in this is a key part of the cover. Firstly it contains a popular culture reference, "You're hired", is an obvious reference to the show the Apprentice and Alan Sugars saying "You're Fired/Hired" which has become part of popular culture. Potential readers are easily going to recognize this reference and are much more likely then to buy/read this magazine. The cover features a shot out for a competition "WIN AN IPOD", this catches people's eyes and makes them look at the magazine cover again, and making them much more likely to actually purchase/read the magazine if they take a second viewing. Also "WIN" is highlighted in yellow to make it stand out and even more eye catching.

The colour used in this cover is very important, green and blue were chosen to be used in the masthead to give us a professional and mature feeling, instead of something like a bright florescent pink been used which would not have the same effect. The professional colour is used since the targeted audience is primarily teachers and pupil’s parents, since teachers would want to know what's going on with the education system and to be update with any changes/updates to education. And parents will read this magazine so they can be up to date on their children's education.

Image source: http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=sffww#/page0/