Evaluating school magazine norms identified through format research

From my format research of the three different school magazine front covers I am able to establish some idea of what the norms are, however some defy convention.  I found that one of the three covers defied convention more than the others, this was 'The Messenger' for Thornton Grammar School, firstly it didn't use the schools name in the masthead which was an obvious norm of the other two. Furthermore, throughout the research schools would use a colour scheme which related to the schools colours, however this was not used by Thornton's school and overall it gave the cover no true perception of it being a school magazine.

     On the other hand, the other covers supported the more obvious norms found on a schools magazine. This included there being a school logo at some position on the cover, generally located next to the masthead. Mastheads would most typically be thought to be at the top, however the Hampton's school had a masthead vertically down the left hand side of the page and St Mary's was directly in the centre, these both challenge convention. I think the vertical masthead is effective because it's different and stands out, I plan to apply some vertical text  to my own cover.

     Another defied convention includes there being no mode of address in the main images, the people in the photos have no norms of where they are looking, they aren't always facing forward and most of the covers have more than one photo. I think that the covers that work best have one larger image but with other photos as well, this means that people get a better idea of what's the school is like. I hope to achieve this in my own work and may include images of the school site not just of students, this would make it different and give readers an greater insight of school life.

      Straplines are another feature of the school magazine covers that I haven't found a norm for through  my research, however one general conclusion made from reading them is that they are dull and are very specific to the school and advertising it. For example, Hampton's schools strapline is 'Record numbers gain DofE award' this is directed to the target audience of parents as it is advertises the increased interest in the extra curriculum activity and how it improves the school profile. They are found at different positions on the page with no specific location. Furthermore, the text on the cover is very basic using simplistic language which is straight forward and easy to understand. After discovering this I plan to make my straplines standout more making them appeal to students as well, however I want to keep text simple to avoid over complicating it and putting off readers. 

    To conclude from the format research I have found that most of the school magazine covers have a basic layout, I plan to use this knowledge and make my cover more interesting and appeal to the pupils as well as the parents. This research has given me a better idea of how I want my own cover plan to be using the space on the cover more effectively.