MOCK UP CONTENTS PAGE

MOCK UP FRONT COVER

Results.

As a result of carrying out a questionnaire of the main aspects of my magazine I will improve it's successfulness. From the questionnaire I have now found out what the most popular colours, titles, price and more.

From the results I can see that the best colour scheme to go with would be light colours. These make the magazine look bright and fun for the young adults that will be buying it.

Question two helped me pick the most popular name to brand my magazine. The winner was ‘Keen for Kollege’ with ‘College!’ coming in a close second. I believe that these were picked because they are most language appropriate to the teenagers.

After looking over my third questions results ‘How much would you spend on the magazine?’ it is defiantly clear that the students would much prefer the magazine to be free.

Question for shows me that the students want the magazine to be jammed packed as many pick more that three of the options. ‘Shocking gossip’ is a must have along with ‘Up coming events and ‘College life and bash pictures’.

‘Formal’ was the least popular for language style so it would be best to go with ‘Informal’ or a mixture of both.

The last two questions I asked; ‘Would you rather the magazine was online or in hand?’ and ‘How often would you like the magazine?’ show that the students would like the magazine to be a hard copy once a month.

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

QUSTIONNAIRE

Answer the questions on what you would like from your Ludlow College student magazine.

1) What would you like the colour scheme to be?

·      Light colours (Yellow, Orange, Light Blue)

·      Dark colours (Black, Red, Navy Blue)

·      Girl (Pink, Purple)

· Boy (Blue, Green)

·      Other

2) What would you like the name to be?

·      Caught on Campus

·      College!

·      Classroom up close

·      Keen for Kollege

·      Other

3) How much would you spend on the magazine?

·      Free

·      50p

·      90p

·      £1.50

·      Other

4)    What would you like the magazine to talk about?

·      Shocking gossip

·      Revision and exam timetables

·      College life and bash pictures

·      Up coming events

·      Relationship and home advice

·      Other

5)    Would you like the magazine to be Informal or Formal?

·      Informal

·      Formal

·      Both

6)    Would you rather the magazine was online or in hand?

·      Online

·      In hand

·      Both

7)    How often would you buy the magazine?
·     Weekly

·      Monthly

·      Termly

     Thank you for taking part in this questionnaire.

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF STUDENT MAGAZINE

'Campus Life'

Front Cover.

‘Campus Life’ is a student magazine from Canada and I will be using it to analyse the features and contents and find out what is successful on and in a student magazine for when I create my own. The central image on this magazine is a male, he is dressed in a ‘rock band’ type of style, which could connote that he in cool and popular and so other student want to look up to him. Like many other magazines there is a direct mode of address, the model in the middle of the cover is looking straight into the camera which connotes the idea that he directly talking to the reader and potential buyer. The central image slightly cover the masthead, this shows that they are confident in there magazine enough to know that readers will still recognize the name. The masthead “Campus Life’ is in white against the grey, burred background. This makes the name stand out in the cover and so stand out from all the other magazines.

The general colour scheme of this magazine is white, red and black. These are all contrasting colours and stand out among the other colours. The red connotes passion and danger meaning that this magazine could be fun and sexy.

This cover contains a puff. This is when extras are added to the magazine in which you can enter competitions or get free vouchers. The puff that ‘Campus Life’ contains is to enter a competition. This is surrounded by a bright red circle attracting a lot of attention.

To the bottom of the cover there are some of the stories and information that the magazine contains, these have been placed to show just how much the reader will be getting when they buy this magazine.

Contents Page. ‘Campus Life’s’ contents page contains a ‘table of contents’. In this they list the main stories and extras that the magazine contains along with images and page numbers.

The page numbers simple make it easier to find what the reader wants. This is useful because stereotypically students are lazy and after a hard day of working this will be more appealing to a student thinking of buying the magazine. The images make the whole page more colourful and appealing to a person of teenage years who are looking for fun. The four main stories that the magazine contains are accompanied with an image to create a visual aid. This attracts attention to the biggest stories, which would be the most important and most likely to persuade the potential buyer to buy.

The colour scheme continues from the front cover and onto the contents pages. This not only means that all titles and important and interesting information and gossip can be made to stand out but the eye is still being dragged across the page from one interesting story or extra to the next. All the time these colours are making the magazine fun and interesting for a student that has been sat looking at textbooks all day. This will persuade the student to perchance the magazine again and again.

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF STUDENT MAGAZINE

'247'

Front Cover.

'247' is a student magazine that I have chosen to analyse. This magazine will help me to brainstorm ideas, layouts and styles that I could use for my own magazine that I will be creating. 

The most eye-catching aspect to this magazines front cover is the central image. This is of a young girl, most likely a student. She is looking directly into the camera creating the effect that she is looking straight at the reader. This connotes a sense that the magazine is talking to them and so is made for them. She is dressed in on tread but slightly original clothing, just like many students. This is stereo typical of many students. The dress/costume is bright and slightly colourful, this links with the background. Graffiti. The graffiti is full of greens and pinks much like the colours that the model is wearing. This drags the eye across the magazine cover to other aspects, which will, persuade the potential reader into buying the magazine.

The masthead is in a creative front, which makes the magazine stand out from its competitors. The names of the magazine ‘247’ also carry on the colours scheme using greens and white. With the extra information such as issue number underneath.

There is also a list of some of the main extras and stories hidden inside. This will attract the reader, as the stories are important to them at this moment in time.

 

Contents Page.

The contents page of '247' magazine uses very bright colours such as oranges, it then contrasts that with the white of the writing making it stand out. Along with the information on the stories there are images to go with and create a visual aid to them. In the centre of all the information and stories there is a large sketch. This creates something to look at that is not all stories and is most likely a students work piece. This shows off students work to anyone outside the college and creates some visual enrichment for the students rather than seeing all words as they would in their textbooks. This makes a nice change

The name if the magazine has also been placed in the top left corner of the content page this reminds the reader of the brand all long and works it into the minds of the readers.

The layout of the information on this page is very spread out. This not only makes it seem like the magazine is jammed packed with loads for your money but it also makes it easy and light to read for the students who have been working and reading all day.

Research and planning: Textual analysis of a magazine front cover

MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS

I have decided to analyse and evaluate the connotations and aspects of the front cover of a popular celebrity/ fashion magazine ‘more’. This will help me to identify the similarities and differences between it and the college magazine and whether these are positive or negative. This will also help me with ideas when making my college magazine front cover.

The Masthead is one of the most eye-catching aspects on the front cover. This is the name of the brand of magazine ‘more’ and helps distinguish one brand from another. The masthead usually will always be the same on a curtain magazine each issue. However, they can be changed weekly or monthly with issue to create some variety or to fit with the color scheme, normally only the color will be altered. The position and placement of the masthead will always stand constant along with the fonts size and shape. The name ‘more’ gives the connotations that when buying this magazine you will get more of everything you would what, more gossip, more scandals.

In the centre of the magazines front cover there will almost always be an image of a celebrity or model. This is called the central image. This image will link to the main attraction or headline of this magazines issue. As well as being linked to the story inside the magazine the celebrity is most likely to me someone of high interest in the media at that point. This will help to catch the attention of a potential reader because they will feel more up to date with the ‘gossip’ and help their social interaction if the peers are also interested. This helps the magazine against its rivals, if its more up to date with the current news it will be more desirable. The central image in this issue of ‘more’ is an image of Lady Gaga. Made up very glamorously Gaga could appear to be a sex icon to the audience. Her pose and hair appears to mimic this idea, slightly open mouthed with big, messy hair, this could appeal to women as they may want to have this look to have the effect on men that goes with it. Linked with this she appears to not be wearing anything. This would attract attention as all women would like the perfect body and to ‘look good naked’. Gaga’s eyes are looking directly into the camera, this connotes the sense that she is looking at the reader and may draw them to the magazine as it could be all about them. This is called direct mode of address and makes the magazine all about the reader: you.

Included on this and most magazine covers are the date the issue was published, price and tag line. This is to inform the audience of the information they need and to compete with other leading magazines by sometimes showing how much cheaper the magazine is compared to its rivals. The word ‘only’ has been underlined in black to make it seem cheaper than it really is. This is an effect the use of buzzwords can have.

Along with the central image there are various other pieces of information. These give away little ‘tastes’ of what is inside and what the reader would be missing out on if they did not get this magazine. These are called cover lines and are normally small extracts from stories inside the magazine or little pieces if gossip and anything extra inside. Filling the front cover up with a large amount of these cover lines will give the impression that the magazine it jam-packed with many juicy stories and extras. Pictures could also be used to connote cover lines and to grab the attention of the target audience. Adding in the pictures gives visual aid to the stories rather than simple words. Quotes from celebrities that have been interviewed could be used here as well as rhetorical questions, which would draw the readers in and make them feel like the magazine has been made just for them.

There are many plugs used on this particular front cover. For example ‘Coleen’s £1,000 treatments to de-stress’. This has been placed under the title of ‘Worried WAGs’ giving the connotation that this is an ongoing article in which each issue there is another WAG scandal. This would attract the audience to keep up to date and to get the next magazine to continue this. Another example of a plug on this magazine cover would be ‘Pete tells Alan: ‘I’d never cheat. I wont even Facebook flirt’. Using the first names of the celebrities gives the impression that the magazine and so the reader knows the celebrities on a more personal level that anyone else and will get more of the information and secrets that no one else would know.  Both of these plugs are accompanied by an image of the celebrities mentioned in the cover line. As well as stories there is also ‘ 60 sexy summer dresses’ this uses alliteration making the line stick in your head. This will attract the target audience of younger women as it gives tips on the best dresses all under £30 and links to real life problems they could be having. ‘The zero effect bikini plan’ also has this effect.

The main colour in various places over this magazine cover is pink. This connotes that this is a magazine for girls. Not only does it make the target audience clear having this color splashed over the cover draws the eye across to other information and extras that will help promote the magazine. The colour pink has also been used to under line key words around the magazine such as ‘you’ once again making the reader feel this magazine is talking directly to them. 

Introduce Preliminary Task and Action Plan for Preliminary Task

Using DTP and in images manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring photograph of a student in a medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the DTP.


ACTION PLAN:


WK1: Introduction to brief.
           Analysis of magazines and how they target audiences.
Target - 1. Research generic conventions of magazines.




WK2: Analysis of school/college magazines.
          Research of target audience.
Target - 1. Set up blog and introduce coursework task.
               2. Put action plan on blog.
               3. Complete a textual analysis of a magazine of your choice and post it on blog.
               4. Complete textual analysis of school/college magazine and post it on blog.
               5. Devise a questionnaire to research student audience.


WK3: Produce a mock-up of front cover and contents page.
          Begin to design front cover and content page.
Target - 1. Begin to take photos or own magazine.
               2. Post research of target audience on blog and review findings.
               3. Post mock-up of magazine front cover on blog and provide commentary.


WK4: Designing of front cover and content page. 
Target - 1. Post final front cover and contents page on blog.


CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS: 
Target - 2. Work on evaluation questions


WK5: Complete evaluation.
           Final deadline for preliminary exercise - friday 6th jan
           Introduction to the main task.
Target - 3. Post evaluation on blog.