Evaluation
for College Magazine By Gabrielle Butler
Production details
The first
steps in creating this magazine were to research current products already
available- see attached.
I then
needed to construct a spider diagram of important criteria e.g. type of shot,
conventions of genre and target audience for my magazine cover.
My ideas on a spider diagram:
Following
the initial ideas I completed a second mind map specifically on ideas regarding
the audience and genre.
I completed
codes and conventions analysis on 3 college magazines- attached.
My
particular favourite was:
This
magazine for me uses many of the common conventions- large bold masthead;
multiple font colours, object codes; overlapping of pictures and text;
intertextual links and most importantly it instantly engages me as I like the
colour and the sense of fun. I wanted to catch some of these qualities in my
magazine cover.
I then produced
a mock up for my front cover to try and incorporate the typical conventions in
order to appeal and engage with my target audience. See attached.
Before I could start work on the front cover I needed
to research types of camera shot. Following the research I practiced taking a
range of shots at home and at some football games etc. This was helpful to me
as I could then identify the most appropriate type of shot for my front cover.
I decided upon a mid to medium close up shot.
I took a number of photos around college so the reader
of my Wyke College Magazine (WCM) would have recognisability of the location
and would therefore link or associate with the magazine- hopefully this will
entice the reader to purchase/ read it.
The photo I
chose was one of Millie (an attractive, popular
new year 12 student) outside the entrance door. Millie is looking
directly at the camera lens in order to use the direct mode of address with the
target audience. The mis-en-scene is a familiar college location. The object
code used is my file of working denoting learning. Millie is dressed in a fun
and relaxed style connoting that college life is also relaxed. Her posture is
self assured and laid back suggesting that college life is not as stressful as
people might think.
Technical processes
I used a
Nikon D40x to take my photos. I took a range of shots both inside and outside.
My chosen shot for the cover was outside as I particularly liked the natural
lighting.
I cropped
the photograph to remove the cars and to make sure that Millie appeared to be a
bigger subject in my image. The photo will be a single main image located
centrally on the cover.
My magazine
title needed to be creative and also to match the house style. I wanted an
acronym rather than a lengthy title and therefore used ‘WCM’ which stands for
Wyke College Magazine. I then added the masthead and used a purple font to link
with the Wyke 6th Form
College logo- this will increase brand identity. I used the slogan of the
college as a ‘slogo’ for the magazine- this was in a small font located
directly under the masthead- it reads ’Freedom to achieve’ and this promotes
the college ethos.
I purposely
used space in the top right pug position to make the cover appear uncluttered-
this is known as white space.
I then added
sell lines to my front cover. These were to inform the reader of features but
also to grab their attention. I used a variety of sell lines in red and white
font (contemporary colours to engage audience) - predominantly on the right and
the bottom of the image. This is a little against convention as sell lines for generally
on the left for magazine racking. I did this as the target audience often like
to rebel and move away from convention. In the college magazines viewed the
sell lines were frequently arranged around the image and often overlapping. The
main feature has the largest sell line and has an intertextual link to the new
student in the main image. This is in a striking white font for maximum
contrast to the background. Features are current and informative so I needed to
get this across to the target audience. ‘Teen pregnancy after Fresher’s party’-
this adds an element of scandal and is current ‘news’ for the students. ‘NUS
discount special offers in all shops’ is used to entice the reader to purchase
the magazine- at the cost of a £1 this is an investment. I used a graphic
detail for the SMILE charity.
This is
my final college front cover
Target audience
My target
audience is both male and female aged 16-30. They are students at either a
further or higher education college. They will be on little or no income and
finances will be tight due to student loans. The target audience will be
ethnically diverse. The front cover appeals to them due to the strong photo
image, youthful fun colours, familiar title/ magazine name and direct mode of
address of the model. The students will buy my magazine at a£1 as they will
want freebies, features which are fun, informative or contentious. They will
want a light read as an escape from their studies.
Institutions
The college
magazine, WCM, will appear in and around Wyke College as well as in the local
secondaries such as Kelvin. This will raise awareness of the college and
possibly inspire more students to attend and will also give a wider market.
Representations
The single main image denotes a young sexy
girl at the front of the main college entrance. She looks attractive, laidback
and self assured. This connotes to the reader that if they study at Wyke they
too can be a successful student. The features can be informative regarding
grants and loans etc. they can also have a ‘gossip’ factor for personal
integrative needs. The magazine will also provide vouchers and freebies. The
good work of students at Wyke is also promoted through the feature of the cycle
event for SMILE.
Conceptual decisions
The
decisions on the concept of the magazine front cover, colours and themes are
all listed above. I used effective college magazines from a range of UK and
American colleges for my inspiration as well as what interests and appeals to
me as I am in the target audience age range.
Improvements and additions
The front
covers of the research articles had many of the features which I used however
my cover could also of included:
·
Greater
use of buzz words to engage the reader
·
Greater
reference to sex as this interests and satisfies a need in many of this age
range
·
Features
could be more controversial and sell lines for these could be on the left hand
side of the cover and ordered. Sell lines could of used a greater amount of
alliteration to appeal to the target audience.
·
A
pull quote could have been used for attention
·
I
may chose to have this as a free magazine- I would then need to remove the
barcode from the lower right pug position.
·
A
banner or flag line could be used as this is a common convention- often used to
briefly list features
·
With
more time I would of used Photoshop to enhance the image. This can be difficult
as I only have access to Photoshop at college.
Summary
There are many high quality, unique magazines
published monthly- it is important that WCM has a unique identity and can
engage with the target audience. The front cover must gives the target audience
a first impression about the magazine- if it were unattractive and boring then
the readership would look no further even if the content was of high quality
and informative.
The front cover page is the first thing that my target audience are going to
see when they first learn about or see the magazine. If the reader is attracted towards the
magazine cover page design, he/she will readily buy, open and read it. In the time allowed for this project
I believe I researched and created an effective front cover which will interest
and engage with the college target audience.
