For our homework assignment we had to analyse a school magazine of our choice, carefully thinking about the target audience and how the magazine attracts this target audience with the choice of images, the language used, the fonts and headings used and the layout of the magazine, I decided to look at the Mark Hall magazine, last published September 2008, generally celebrating GCSE results, here is a link to the magazine:
http://www.markhall.essex.sch.uk/About/NewslettSep2008.pdf
The audience the magazine is aimed at will vary from pupils to staff to parents of pupils and any potential pupils. This is a very hard target audience to include in one magazine, but the magazine pulls it off rather well. The newsletter uses clever headings that will instantly draw readers, such as 'outstanding achievements' and 'Glorious Firsts' these headings appeal to the whole target audience, as it will draw pupils that want to hear about their year and school friends, it will draw the members of staff as it was them who aided the pupils to achieve these 'glorious firsts.' It will appeal to potential pupils as they would want a taste of the academic ability of the school they are about to join.
The magazine is dominated by stories of pupils taking part in certain activities from all over the school, this again will attract the majority of the target audience, as the pupils will like to know they are getting recognized for their achievments, the parents like to see photos of their kids in 'medieval gear' (as featured in this issue.) There are also articles that will appeal to other members of the target audience, such as the new headteacher being appointed. The language used in these articles are clear and consice, it seems to be a neutral language, this is achieved be not including words of a too high volcabulary (so the pupils cannot enjoy it) and not of a low volcabulary (so the parents will get bored and lose interest.)
The images used are probably the most pivotal device for attracting the target audience, this is due to the fact the images feature the pupils, and as with the news stories about the pupils the whole target audience would like to see the images, the images feature pupils at the prom and pupils recieving their GCSE results, this will attract the pupils that have just left, as it will let them remember the times when they were still in school. There is a good balance of articles and images for both the younger and older students. The older students tend to dominate newsletters, as they normally have more going on, so other newsletters will feature them more than the younger pupils, but Mark Hall take this into consideration and equal out the space so both sets of pupils will feel welcome to read the newsletter.
When pitching to such a large target audience the font can be tricky to master, as if it is aimed at the younger members of the target audience then it might be too informal for the older audience, and if it is too formal and aimed at the older audience the younger audience may find it difficult to enjoy. This battle of the target audience is shown as there is only a consistent font used in the articles themselves, the headings have varied fonts, some formal, some imformal. The headings font seems to change when the audience of the particular article changes, an example is the story reporting on the new headteacher and the articles about the friends of mark hall (both stories appealing to the older audience such as staff) the headings for these articles are in a more formal font than the stories that involve the pupils, the headings for these articles appears to be comic sans.
In conclusion the mark hall magazine has a wide target audience it must appeal to, and it does this by including stories and images that will attract members of their target audience, this results in the audience not reading every article,only articles they feel are aimed at them, this is shortcoming of the magazine and it's technique of trying to appeal to such a large audience, however the majority of the target audience are represented well in the magazine.
http://www.markhall.essex.sch.uk/About/NewslettSep2008.pdf
The audience the magazine is aimed at will vary from pupils to staff to parents of pupils and any potential pupils. This is a very hard target audience to include in one magazine, but the magazine pulls it off rather well. The newsletter uses clever headings that will instantly draw readers, such as 'outstanding achievements' and 'Glorious Firsts' these headings appeal to the whole target audience, as it will draw pupils that want to hear about their year and school friends, it will draw the members of staff as it was them who aided the pupils to achieve these 'glorious firsts.' It will appeal to potential pupils as they would want a taste of the academic ability of the school they are about to join.
The magazine is dominated by stories of pupils taking part in certain activities from all over the school, this again will attract the majority of the target audience, as the pupils will like to know they are getting recognized for their achievments, the parents like to see photos of their kids in 'medieval gear' (as featured in this issue.) There are also articles that will appeal to other members of the target audience, such as the new headteacher being appointed. The language used in these articles are clear and consice, it seems to be a neutral language, this is achieved be not including words of a too high volcabulary (so the pupils cannot enjoy it) and not of a low volcabulary (so the parents will get bored and lose interest.)
The images used are probably the most pivotal device for attracting the target audience, this is due to the fact the images feature the pupils, and as with the news stories about the pupils the whole target audience would like to see the images, the images feature pupils at the prom and pupils recieving their GCSE results, this will attract the pupils that have just left, as it will let them remember the times when they were still in school. There is a good balance of articles and images for both the younger and older students. The older students tend to dominate newsletters, as they normally have more going on, so other newsletters will feature them more than the younger pupils, but Mark Hall take this into consideration and equal out the space so both sets of pupils will feel welcome to read the newsletter.
When pitching to such a large target audience the font can be tricky to master, as if it is aimed at the younger members of the target audience then it might be too informal for the older audience, and if it is too formal and aimed at the older audience the younger audience may find it difficult to enjoy. This battle of the target audience is shown as there is only a consistent font used in the articles themselves, the headings have varied fonts, some formal, some imformal. The headings font seems to change when the audience of the particular article changes, an example is the story reporting on the new headteacher and the articles about the friends of mark hall (both stories appealing to the older audience such as staff) the headings for these articles are in a more formal font than the stories that involve the pupils, the headings for these articles appears to be comic sans.
In conclusion the mark hall magazine has a wide target audience it must appeal to, and it does this by including stories and images that will attract members of their target audience, this results in the audience not reading every article,only articles they feel are aimed at them, this is shortcoming of the magazine and it's technique of trying to appeal to such a large audience, however the majority of the target audience are represented well in the magazine.
An excellent analsis James but I'm afraid to say the hyperlink didn't work. Investigate this. I should be able to click this and go straight to your mag. Keep up to date with lkesson diary entries.
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