Analysis of my College Magazine Cover
My Magazine is aimed at student of East Norfolk College so most of the content is linked to that, I have chosen an East Norfolk College student as my key signifier and photographed her in our the college common room, this demonstrates immediately to the audience that it is targeted at them and is a familiar setting
I have chosen red as the font colour for my magazine name because our colour research showed that this is the main colour that catches the eye of the audience, which is why we find red titles on magazine’s such as heat and Star, I thought this would be appropriate as I need my audience to take interest in the magazine to begin with, as our Questionnaire showed that only 5% of people had read the college magazine and some didn’t know it existed.
I have chosen a font that looks like it could have been hand written because I think it relates well to a young student audience, as a ‘student’s life’ is about writing studying and taking notes so the idea of hand writing was an obvious choice. By writing ‘exclusive’ underneath the title in pink, another bright colour it gives the impression to the reader that they will be finding out about things in this magazine that they wouldn’t be able to find out about if they didn’t read it.
I didn’t ask my model to change her everyday hair and makeup or clothes for this image because I wanted it to look natural and like someone they would see on the audience would see on their day-to-day at college (also the coat she happened to wear has a fur hood which supports my story on winter wear). Also her pale complexion contrasts well with her dark hair and the busy background I decided to set up the image so it looked typical to a student; folder, desk, coffee cup and surrounding students. In regards to the background, it took me one print out to realise there was too much going on in the background image, so I re-edited the image and decided to put a blur over the whole image except the model and the desk she was at, I think this has dramatically improved the cover, it has made the story titles a lot easier to read especially as the font I chose was not very legible anyway. Also the undertones of the idea are symbolic of teenagers need to stand out from the crowd and express themselves.
By using the Facebook logo I have made an immediate connection with the audience, as it is such a huge part of youth pop culture at the moment and everyone knows about it, also it makes the magazine seem more as though it is being written for them specifically and that it is not necessarily all college orientated, this will intrigue the reader to find out what exactly this new Facebook segment will entail.
I have used mostly reds but for my title on winter style I have done a white font because from my colour research I know this is a colour that is immediately linked with snow, winter and coldness and I am encouraging the reader to dress warm for the season so the link is made clear to them. Also I have used a bit of a play on words, by using ‘warm’ in the sense of temperature but ‘cool’ in the meaning of trendy.
Because I would distribute my college magazine within college I have not included a barcode however when I move onto my more widely distributed music magazine I will include one.
I am very weary that student would automatically assume that the magazine would be in regard to college life, college news and college work. So while still engaging my reader I am steering it in a direction they are much more likely to take interest in; the college party, again the word exclusive has been used to suggest this is the only place you will be able to see them.
Overall I am very pleased with my introductory task, however I think it has shown me that the location and background for my final magazine cover is very important and I need to ensure that I leave enough room surrounding the image to enable me to fit in all my titles. Also I think I will need to think about a varied use of fonts and colours that are perhaps more complimentary to each other rather than individual colours that stand out in their own right. I can now see what I need to do to move forward and improve the quality and authenticity of my work, when my final piece is complete I want it to look at home on the shelves of WHSmith’s and not to stand out from the real magazine covers.