CONVENTIONS I HAVE USED

Below I have listed the conventions I have featured in my magazine cover and contents page. I have also explained why I  used these particular conventions and I how I will interpret them into my own work.
I have chosen to use these particular conventions as they are commonly found on a school magazine. This will make my magazine easily recognizable and people will automatically know that the product is.

The Conventions Used On My Front Cover And Contents Page...

• Masthead - The masthead positioned at the top of the page basically summarizes what the magazine is about. 'Chislehurst Times' shows that the magazine is based or by 'Chislehurst School for Girls'. 'Times' is a reference and similar to the famous British newspaper 'The Times' showing that the magazine will contain news content. The masthead on the contents page will simply read 'contents page' which is simple and straight to the point.
• Strapline/Subheading/Tag Line - I have included a subheading underneath the masthead on my cover which will explain the theme of the magazine. This will include something like 'back to school edition!' so the reader already knows what the magazine will be about.
• Cover Lines -  The cover lines positioned around the main image on the cover will advertise some of the articles that can be found inside the magazine. This will help the reader decide if the articles interest them, e.g 'fantastic new school trip' or 'how to get straight A's'.
• Puff/Competition - I have featured a competition on my cover to engage the reader and give them an activity to do inside. This should hopefully make the reader excited at the chance of winning a fantastic prize.
• Images - I have used a wide variety of images of different sizes across my magazine cover and contents page. However on my cover I will only include one large image which will cover the entire background. In my contents page I will include four images. One image will be positioned larger than the rest making it the main image, this will be favorite photograph. The other three images will be of the same size and positioned on the right hand side next to the main body of text. I have used image as well as text otherwise boht products would look very dull and not interesting. The images also help to give the reader an insight into school life at Chislehurst especially if they are not a student.
• Barcode - The barcode on my cover will be positioned in the bottom right hand corner as this is of little importance. However I have still chosen to use it as it is a common feature of a magazine.
• Issue Number -  I have put the issue number on both of my products. The number is important so the reader can keep track of the number of magazine published.
• Date - I will include the date of when the magazine shall be published of a small size on both my cover and contents pages. This is so the reader knows how recent the magazine was published.
• Social Media Information - I will be putting the school's social media information on my contents page. I think this is a important convention as it is the easiest way for students to contact the school as most students use social media.
• Credits - I will put the credits at the bottom of my contents page. Here I will give credits to the photographer, author and designer of the magazine. This is important as it saves any copyright issues.
• Main Body Text - On the contents I shall be inserting a large text box which will list all the articles/features inside the magazine with the page number next to them. This is an essential feature of a contents page as the reader needs to be able to refer to the menu and easily find what article they want to read.