College Magazine Evaluation

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 6^th  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.