Tropes and Memes

Meme: An element of a culture or behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by non genetic means especially imitation

Trope: Conventions formed over a number of years usually from Memes

Focus Groups

We spoke to three focus groups, differing in age and gender, in order to establish what would attract and interest them in a school magazine.

Our findings:

Year 7 (group of seven):
Celebrity information such as one direction – including interviews, pictures, posters etc
Information about the school – feedback from school council meetings etc
Free giveaways like house points
‘Making fun’ of the teachers
Advertisements of the house point shop
Students’ achievements
What new books have been added to the library
A sport section
Exam section
Information on what awards students have won
Horoscopes
Games – crosswords, word searches
Agony aunt
Competitions
Interviews
Monthly release (all seven said monthly)
Canteen menu
Colour scheme – not school colours, bright seasonal colours

Teachers (two, female):
Mostly focused on students (maybe a bit about parents)
Students’ opinions on matters
Students’ creative writing, poems, pictures etc
Include the different ‘houses’ in the school
Encourage student contribution
Release of once every short term
Specific person or event on the front cover
Interviews with teachers
Problem page
Colour scheme: school or house colours
Opinion articles about life/nearby area
Educational articles
Polls/vox pops
Jokes/games to keep a light-hearted element
Information about the team creating the magazine
Letter from the editor
Comic strip maybe about teachers
Students’ letter page
Information about upcoming and past events (for the school and local area)
Different sections for lower and upper school
Adverts

Year 12 and 13 (three, males):
More pictures than text
Attractive female on the cover
Information about what’s going on in school
Gossip column
Either bold or school colours
Once a fortnight
Discount vouchers for the canteen
Canteen menu
Scores from school football matches
Reviews on school football matches
Information on situations and events that would affect pupils
Letters page
Opinion page
Problem page
Cartoons relating to the school
Music, games and film reviews

So...
I expected the three groups to come up with different opinions on what should be included in a school magazine as different ages and genders are interested in different things. However, they all agreed on a few things; problem pages, information/events about the school and a fun element such as ‘making fun’ of the teachers, cartoons, games and jokes.  

Front Covers Of School Magazines

This is the front cover from King Edward VI high school for girls 2011 summer issue of their school magazine. The layout is very simple - yet sophisticated, as is the font used helping to create a professional appearance. The main feature is a picture of three students performing in a play - showing the talent of the students and therefore the school. The actual image itself is of good quality and appears to also be quite professional and clearly wasn't taken randomly.

However, the same school a year and a half previously in winter 2010 weren't at the same high standard. This issues' front cover shows a poor quality photo which not only that, is to an outsider, quite random (but to a student attending the school it probably wouldn't be) as according to the title it shows an exchange visit to Vancouver. However, it is unexplained why two of the three girls shown are dressed as chocolate bars. Overall, the front cover for this issue does not look as sophisticated as the later issue. The central colours are pink and yellow which create the appearance of being aimed at a younger audience, whereas the summer 2011 cover seems aimed at the older students. On the other hand though the same text and layout are used but looks out of place on this issue as they connote sophistication - something the rest of this cover lacks.