Magazine Cover

I decided to create a student-centered magazine cover.  I feel that too frequently the stances on important topics in education come from either the teacher or parent perspective.  This is a bid backward because the primary audience of "common core" implementation effects our students and THEIR future directly.  I'm not saying teachers and parents are opinion free or their thoughts shouldn't matter, I just decided I would BE CREATIVE and have fun with this magazine cover design assignment - and I did!  

I chose to create a magazine title inspired by my school's mascot, the stallion!  South Middle School is where I teach.  Our colors are maroon, black and grey, so the design is also inspired by those color combinations.  I tried to put myself in a student's mind/perspective, and made a simple magazine cover construction that is interesting and draws the viewer in.  I think students would definitely be encouraged to open the cover because it was written by their PEERS, so this is an extra intriguing factor.  

Students would want to include several perspectives, not just give information one-sided, so teacher interviews in the staffroom is an EXCLUSIVE!  Also, I asked myself what a student would want to address when thinking about common core and what direct effects it has on them, that crucial question is what encouraged my article headlines and teasers.  

I pulled my text color choices from the apple image in the center, to tie it all together and give the cover some complexity and added appeal.  I chose the background (worn paper) image because I thought a solid, plain background was what a student would choose and thought it also kept the magazine design simple and amateurish.  The fonts are adjusted slightly to keep everything legible and attractive.  Although the center image is not my personal culminating thoughts with regard to common core, I felt it was a good representation of the unknown areas of the standards and goals of common core, and would possibly represent students' thoughts of the "unknown" and "apprehension" they associate with it.  

One media language technique I used was teasers - "Exclusive Staffroom interviews!" (I feel this could also fall under Exclamations, but I don't think my heading was saucy enough for that).  I am obviously hinting at behind the scenes opinions of common core from teachers and what they feel its implementation is/or will lead to.  

My second media language technique was declaratives, my simple statements that suggest the topic of discussion.  For example:  "What makes a school great," and "changes to be made" - both of these suggest the direction of the story, but draw your interest into reading them.  

Another media language technique I used is interrogatives.  For example:  what is the most important for our future?  This engages the reader in wanting to answer this question themselves.  

The media persuasion technique I used was "plain folks."  I feel this fits my magazine cover because the magazine is written by students for students.  They are the target audience for the readers and they created the magazine, so they know what they want from their education and they need to express their wants and concerns about common core implementation.  

The technique "experts" could fit here too I think, but I like the idea of plain folk simplicity better for this student-centered magazine.  

I hope these ideas are evident in my magazine cover.  I enjoyed creating it and as always it gives me ideas for future projects for my students.  Thanks!

Image Resources:

Stallion:  ‪www.farmsoftadae.com

Background:  ‪www.webtexture.net

Barcode:  ‪hlcaldwell.wordpress.com

Apple:  ‪www.motherjones.com