Preliminary Task
By Luke Harris
BARCODE & DATE PUBLISHED– typical convention of a Magazine front cover.
MASTHEAD – Simple and instantly shows what the magazine is about which is ‘college’. The colour of text is red –this is vibarnt strong colour which attracts attention . The letters have a lot of space in-between helping to take up the whole of the top of the front cover, the letters are also in uppercase attracting attention.
ISSUE NUMBER– small lettering, to the side of the front cover, shows it isn’t an important feature but is atypical convention of a magazine.
MAIN IMAGE - Central on front cover, seen as main focus. The image is a mid-shot means the student is not ‘overpowering’ and the ‘sunny weather’ behind her ties in with iconography of student life and reflects the mood of the brand as positive. The setting behind the female student is blurred enforcing her as the main focus. The female student is also looking directly at the audience which helps draw them to look at the magazine.
MODEL – Young attractive female student, conforms to male gaze theory. The colour of here jersey is the same as the masthead – the colour red is a typical colour used by colleges and in particular their sport teams. > especially in the USA. The model is also smiling – reflecting a positive mood of the magazine.
PLUGS & TEASERS- Another convention of a magazine is the many 'plugs’ situated around the magazine front cover. They are placed in front of the main image connoting they have more of a purpose. Font is used to represent different meaning – the blue font is used to show of different (features/articles) within the magazine and the black text otherwise knows as the ‘teasers’ is given to provide an insight that will make the audience want to buy the magazine.
COLOUR – The colours used such as ‘red’ , ‘green’ ‘blue’ and ‘white’ are all vibrant colours adding to the ‘upbeat’ and positive mood of the magazine.
MASTHEAD – The masthead is simple and reflects what the magazine is about in its title which is ‘college’. The letters are cap lock and close together attracting attention. The font colour being lime green contrasts with the dark background (binary opposition) – attracting attention. As a ‘layer’ it is behind the ‘main image’ which is a typical convention of a magazine front cover.
MAIN IMAGE – The main image is overpowering the ‘masthead’. The image is a mid-shot and placed centrally on the magazine front cover – connoting it’s a big focus and draws attention. The use of a 'mid-shot' means it's obvious to see the 'mise-en scene' creating a positive representation of the student. The student (main image) most importantly is holding a set of books, with the one at the front saying (Law, Business, Society) - this connotes that the 'audience' of the magazine, which will more than likely be students aged from 16-18, are well educated. Also the student in the image fits a typical representation of students looking 'trendy' - wearing a casual jacket and silver chain around his neck. Whilst the stature of the model and the black jacket and similar background connote iconography of 'sophisticated' and a good 'lifestyle'. The male student is also looking directly at the audience which helps draw their attention to the magazine front cover.
COVENTIONAL FEATURES OF MAGAZINE – Barcode, price, date.
HEADER – Helping to sell and wrap up in a few words what the magazine is about (or contains).
PLUGS - There are a lot of 'plugs' situated around the main image - to draw attention to other stories (articles) that our within - helping to sell the magazine.The mode of address very much depends on the use of 'plugs' creating a wider target audience. The male student is also looking directly at the audience which helps draw their attention to the magazine front cover. The main image is placed in front of the 'masthead' however 'plugs' are placed in front of the 'main image' connoting their difference in dominance on the front cover. The font colour separates plugs, the ones with the same colour as the title relate to college, the white colour plugs relate to various topics.
IMAGES – A variety of images from 'close-up' to 'mid-shot' have been used to illustrate and create a visual effect of what is inside the magazine. The images appear to be the 'main focus' of the page considering they are bigger than the text and also because they are placed at the 'top' of the page they draw attention. Page numbers on images – link with main pages within magazine.
WHITE SPACE – The use of white space on the page behind both text and images, means the page isn't 'overwhelming' or 'overpowering' and means everything looks 'clear' and 'presentable'. The background is 'white' and the text is 'black' - these are both contrasting colours and help give the page a clear and structured feel.
At the top of the page a small 'font' has been used for 'Table of Content' suggesting its not meant to be eye-catching and the page has less importance than others. At the top of the page conventional elements of a magazine such as 'volume & issue' and 'year of publication' are seen - this is reinforcing the magazine but is also used by those that collect magazines for a hobby.
The most important pages the magazine wants to show are on the contents page and they are in numerical order. The sub-headings are in bold block capitals - attracting attention with 'teasers' below in a smaller font, giving an insight into what the page is about.
The horizontal timeline shows two different types of pages within the magazine. The layout of the page shows on the left side 'regular pages' in the forms of 'plugs' and the right side shows 'featured pages'. Red font has been used to group pages that relate to 'education' on the contents page - this makes it easier for reader to find pages on a topic they want to read about.
The title and part of the timeline are both 'navy green' linking in with the magazines 'neutral' theme - along with colours of 'blue' and 'white'. There are the use of ‘images' both at the top and bottom of the page creating more interest amongst the reader within the plugs.
The title of the magazine is in lower-case letters - suggesting a more informal feel to the magazine. The green font contrasts on the white background – attracting attention.
The main images each link to a certain page and illustrate and create a visual effect of what these pages may be about - thus attracting attention.
Pull Quote – ‘Welcome!’ highlighted in yellow in bold font – attracts attention, directly addressing the audience, more personal.
Planning Front Cover 1
Planning Front Cover 2
Planning Content Page 1
Planning Content Page 2
Evaluation I believe the development of my college magazine was successful because I had a good knowledge of the audience and genre. After conducting my research and analysing various college magazine front covers and content pages, I was able to identify conventions that I should include in my magazine; such as: a big masthead with a font and colour that would attract attention yet suit the audience, a main image (dominating the front cover) of a student so the audience can relate to the magazine, various plugs (top content) from the magazine situated around the front cover and finally don’t make the front cover over crowed or overwhelming by using space to your advantage.
I have learned various things from creating my college magazine. Firstly I have learnt that whilst designing pages and thinking about what conventions to include, it’s important to always think and relate back to the audience and genre. This is because otherwise the magazine may stray from its genre conventions and will not meet its audience’s needs. Another thing I have learnt is that every element on a magazine is their for a reason and needs to be justified, you can’t just include an element for the sake of it. Another thing I have learnt is that the actual designing of a magazine is a lot more complicated than I thought, and a lot of work and thought needs to go into it before you just ‘put pages together’ and because of this I have widened my knowledge of using design software.
If I were to create my college magazine again I would spend a lot more time on planning, such as what conventions and content I would include; helping to improve the overall outcome of my magazine. I would also be a lot faster at sorting out the original images I would use on the magazine, as this slowed the process of designing my magazine, because they are a big feature.
