Evaluation

For the premlinary exercise I was asked to create a cover for a new college magazine, and also a draft of the contents page. The first thing I did was research three different college magazines so that I had a good idea what different things I would need to include on my front cover. Once I had done this, I began to gather together some ideas starting with a LIIAR analysis of my college magazine, then going on to ideas for the actual cover itself. I started off thinking about name ideas and the colour scheme and then developing further to the photo I would include, for example what the student would be wearing and where the photo would be taken. Finally, I thought about the font styles used and what would actually be written on my magazine cover.
Once I had completed my thought process I began drafting the placement of everything on Publisher. I did this before I did my photoshop draft and final draft as it gives me a good idea of how I could fit everything on without going to all the effort of making the full thing numerous times. Once I'd got the placement of things as I liked it I began drafting my ideas onto photoshop, using the colour schemes, fonts and photo that I wanted. I then gathered up all the unused photos and explained why I didn't use them.
For my final magazine cover I decided to use purple and green as the colour scheme because these are Wykes college colours so it will be recognisable to the students when they see the magazine. I also used a bit of black in my colour scheme to break up the purple and green a bit. I used the same font for the masthead that I used in my photoshop draft as it was very bold and noticable and I liked that about it. Although, I decided not to use the shadow effect as, in my opinion it was a bit too much and un-needed. I decided to change the headline font to "Trebuchet MS" as it just varies the font style a bit and I also made the worls quite big to fill the space. Another thing I did was that I moved the words "3rd Legendary Halloween Party" from the banner at the bottom and put it with the other headlines as that allowed me to have more space for the web address and a Wyke logo to be placed there. The photo I took for my magazine was of a student that attends Wyke college looking casual (ie, wearing a jumper/casual clothing, not looking like they're on a night out) with a folder to make them more recognisable as a student.
Overall I think I fulfilled the requirements as I thought about the idealogy of a college magazine and by using that made it appeal to the studens by using a student as a model and using headlines that would appeal to the students. Next time I think I would put more thought into what I would include on the cover as I left things out such as a sell line and puffs. Also I would think more about the model and have them do more interesting poses as that would make the magazine more individual, therefore in theory it should sell better.

Final Front Cover

Unused Photos



















1. I decided not to use this first photo in my final advert because it has a lot of things in the background that make it difficult to edit. Also this photo came out very blurry so it wouldn't be suitable for the front page of a magazine.

2. I didn't use this photo either as her face isn't visable and photos are generally more effective if there is eye contact with the camera as it includes the audience and makes them feel involved with the person in the photo.

3. I decided not to use this photo because again, she is not making eye contact so there is no connection with the audience. Also, I think the folder takes up a lot of space that I would need for other things, eg headlines.

4. I chose not to use this photo as the folder was cut off and it is important to keep the full image in tact. Again, with this there was no eye contact with the camera.

5. I decided not to use this because I thought it was a bit to casual for a magazine cover, also the expression is scrunched up so yet again there is lack of eye contact.

6. I decided not to use this for the exact same reasons of the above photo: lack of eye contact and too casual.

Front Cover/Contents Photoshop Draft

Mock Up, Ideas for Front Cover and Contents

 

Brief planning stages

Name ideas;

1. W!
2. Journal
3. @WYKE!

Colour scheme;

1. Purple and Green background
2. Black font
3. Occasionally some white

Font style;

1. Trebuchet MS for all writing bar Masthead and Contents title

Photo;

1. Medium Close Up
2. Model
1. Smart/casual clothing
2. Natural makeup/hair
3. Holding books?
3. Location
1. Inside, against a white wall: no background so easier to edit
2. Outside the college so you can see some of the college in the background

Headlines;

1. NUS cards
2. Hoodies
3. Wyke Opening
4. Wyke's 3rd Legendary Hallowe'en Party

Puffs;

LIIAR Interpretation of the Brief

Language: Conventions - Masthead, Puffs, Slogan, Headlines, Synergy
Institution: Wyke College
Idealogy: Education, Sport, Art etc
Audience: 16-19 year olds
Representation: Photo showing student at Wyke, colour schemes etc

Grimsby Institute Magazine Analysis

Front cover

• Cartoon-like effect
• Blue colours
• Large readable masthead
• Website is on the front cover
• Logo for college
• Man is standing on the writing
• Real life image doesn't fit with the cartoon style of the rest of the cover
• Headings; fonts are all the same

Contents

• Colourful, clear
• Same font as front cover
• Original photos
• Carries on the theme with using the same blue colour

East Riding College Magazine Analysis

Front page:

• Simple black and white colour scheme
• Date and price
• Plain/boring
• Photographs of students
• Feature headings (to show whats in the magazine), bottom left
• East Riding logo

Contents

• Green (doesn't really suit theme)
• Compostion not well thought out
• Page numbers

Secondary Teachers Magazine Analysis

The target audience of this magazine, as it clearly states on the front cover, is secondary teachers. So, this is teachers for secondary schools and colleges.
This magazine has a theme throughout (this is called the house style). The colours it uses are mostly blues and greens which promotes a sense of calm and tranquility. It also uses reds and occasional splashes of other colours throughout which could represent the way there is a lot of different moods and feelings throughout the magazine, just like in colleges so they could represent that. Another part of the house style is the font, this magazine uses the same font throughout which is keeping the theme going and keeps all the pages relating to each other. The mast head on the cover of the magazine is big, bold and clear to read. It is in the font that is used throughout and also uses blue and green which is the colour scheme that is used throughout.
The headlines are in a contrasting colour to the mast head (red) this is effective as it will draw you too it and this is a good thing as the headlines have important information of what is featured in the magazine and will make people interested in reading on. Another thing I noticed about this magazine is that it had the date but no price.
The main background image is a pencil with fake glasses and moustache on. Pencils are used in school so this relates to the fact that the magazine is about schools. Also, it said "issues about funny business" which relates to the joke glasses and moustache.Another thing is that the pencil says "HAHA" rather than"HB" which relates to the"funny business" headline.
The "puffs" on this magazine are "department for children, schools and families", "APA, association of publishing agencies", "recycling", "CiB award winner 2005".