College magazine Evaluation

Evaluation

For my preliminary task I created my own college magazine using my own images. I followed the basic conventions of magazines. I wanted to create a cool and professional design, a lot of my headlines were based from current situations in the college.

 For my masthead I used the iconic Wyke logo that I got from the internet. This was a big influence to my colour scheme as these are the colours related to Wyke College. I slightly angled the logo to suggest a modern and cool design.

Instead of using the common left third rule I decided to include images on the right hand side instead as it was uncommon and has a nice effect. I tried to think of cover lines that would be relevant to college students as that is my target audience. The catchy phrases help attract the reader as it seems less formal and more relaxed. I also included a short sell line college culture although I think the positioning could be improved but I didn't want to flood the top of the cover with text.

Instead of a clear dateline I thought that it would be easier to include an issue number in the skyline and how often the magazine is released instead. I included a flash that was relevant to the upcoming event. The colour scheme of the Alton towers looked slightly out of place so I had to add text with similar colours to help blend the image. Although my magazine aesthetically looks nice it lacks anchorage as I struggled to take images that I could create a story about.

I feel as though my product fits most all college related social groups as it is informal, relaxed but relevant and is aimed at students in general not just maths students for example. I addressed my audience by including topics that aren't topic related but college in general related.

In comparison to my perfume magazine cover I think that my ideas and knowledge has improved greatly as I know am aware of a lot more key terms and conventions. Next time I would like to create a more eye catching main image as the current one is plain as the background could be more eye catching.

In terms of language the way my product is portrayed is a very enthusiastic and learning oriented. The ideology has made my cover look a lot more relaxed due to the clothing of the models as it isn't too formal.

Here are some of the images which I didn't use either because there wasn't enough room on the cover or they weren't to my satisfaction.

Final front cover of College magazine

Front cover mock up and layouts

Here are two examples of magazine layouts, I looked at numerous magazine covers and identified themes and styles that rock magazine portrayed. I noticed that there are generally lots of small images and cover lines so the magazine looks busy.

The Brief

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in a medium close-up plus some appropriately laid out text masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate they grasp of DTP.

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

College magazine draft photos

This image I used for my cover due to the way it portrays the college especially since it is the entrance and what people would like to be familiar with, also you can clearly see the name of the college. When adding this photo I disliked the cars to the right of the college so I added more agriculture to make the college seem more Eco friendly.

 I used this image since it is a conventional and easily recognisable image that is often associated with a educational learning area.

 By including the library, it again supports the education learning style but it also suggests the scale of the college and that it isn't a high school or primary school.

 I like this image due to the lighting as it is really effective and bright, this suggests that the college is a happy place with bright futures.

 I took this image so I had variation in my poses but I preferred the image above.

This is the image I used for one of my cover lines. I feel as though this adds variation within  my cover and gives the impression that there are numerous happy students.

Here is a group of images which I choose not to use due to my other images had a better effect on the audience.

Contents page mock up

My student magazine research

Conventions of a magazine

Conventions- what the audience would expect to see in media text

 

Target audience- Students/ parents

Represent your audience of the front cover/ visual representation.

 

Media language- In this case medium close up

 

Magazine name/ institution- college you are representing

 

Ideology- the way the student is represented, education is good and fun.

 

Skyline- text at the very top of the page (like a header)

 

Front cover and a mock up of a contents page (like a box draft).

 

This is an example of what a medium close up is how I should compose the student for my magazine cover.