LIIAR Evaluation of my College Magazine
Language
The masthead is the most important convention on a magazine cover; it attracts the readers’ eye. For this reason I put a lot of effort into making it very noticeable, I did this using a contrasting colour allowing it to stand out from the page, giving it a shadow effect using Photoshop to further highlight key points. My mast head defiantly challenges my competitor’s magazine as it is very clear and an easily recognisable logo for my target audience. Colour scheme is a typical convention of a contents page although I believe it is important to apply this convention to a magazine cover also.
No clear colour scheme will make the cover look boring and many bold colours used will confuse the audience and give mixed messages. The colour scheme I used is purple, white and black as these are the traditional colours used in advertisements for Wyke College; I felt it important to carry on this trend on the magazine is easily recognisable to the audience. The intentions I first planned for my magazine cover was too include many bold colours making it look young, fresh and generally more interesting than a dull magazine. From my draft it proved difficult to include many colours using the background I wanted to feature; therefore I decided to just follow the traditional colours of purples. As my target market is students I made the magazine more youthful by making the text bold and giving certain text a shadow effect to emphasis important cover lines, also I used a font which shouted at the audience. I feel the layout of my magazine cover is precise and well finished. The masthead is presented at the top left of the page which is where the buyer expects to find it, similarly the cover lines are again shown down the left third of the page which is the most viewable part of the magazine on a shop shelf against its competitors. When comparing the layout of my magazine with covers I previously analysed, the "Ridge water college" magazine has a lot of competition against mine as cover lines are down the left third, the image is presented at the bottom and the background image is accessible to the eye. However text is small and the masthead covers the width of the top page although the audience would expect it to be slightly to the left. I see no competition with "college class of 2009", the layout is not effective and the poorly chosen colour scheme does not interest the reader.
Another convention of a magazine cover incorporated onto my magazine is a Flash, "win FREE concert tickets" this is suited to the target market of my college magazine as it appeals to their interests. I have added a smaller text underneath the Flash telling the reader what page to find the competition on encouraging them to read the magazine. On my cover lines I have included screamers with a bold, shadow effect to grab the reader’s attention- then presented further information about that particular article. To complete my magazine cover I relied on Photoshop which gave me different results I compared and chose the most successful. I have learnt how to reconstruct a magazine cover, making it look real by cutting the background from different images and compressing them together giving me my final product. Also I have learnt how to change the saturation on my background image and masthead giving it different unusual outcomes. To improve my magazine cover I could have included thumbnail images as a teasing content to encourage students to become further interested, therefore more likely to buy the magazine. Another big problem I had with this task is that I took the photographs around Wyke college landscape when my task specified it must be portrait as it is a magazine cover. To overcome this problem I had to crop my landscape photographs which still have me the same effect in the end, just caused confusion at the time.
Institution
Obviously the Institution of the college magazine I have created is Wyke College, it makes sense to have Wyke run the magazine as student opinions, upcoming events and background images are easily accessible. The magazine will be distributed at careers advice centres, college open evenings, inside Wyke prospectus and obviously available at Wyke college to its students. These are all areas where students are likely to be influenced to come to Wyke from the magazine.
Ideology
The moral my magazine cover conveys to the audience is the fun and enjoyable aspect students feel when studying at Wyke. This is inferred from the appearance of the magazine, the bold colour scheme makes the college look interesting and cool. Also the cover lines influence out of college activities “LETS PARTY” showing the audience that Wyke not only influences achieving excellent grades but also social activities and upcoming events. I think the magazine also expresses the educational input of the college as the image of the student is holding a revision book and looks eager to learn.
Audience
The colour scheme used and exiting cover lines attract my target audience (students at Wyke College). The bold, purple text with the contrasting background makes the magazine look exiting and attractive to a variety of students. Also the flash added as a cover line directly addresses my target market as this particular activity is common among students aged between 15-24, sparking their interest and influencing them to buy the magazine “Win FREE concert tickets” Again emphasising “free” in this flash will interest readers as the majority of students have financial difficulties and cannot afford to go to concerts. I have attracted the majority of my target by making the magazine free, from research I concluded in terms of Socio-Economic groups the majority of students are unemployed or have part time work falling into E social group. This immediately gives me an advantage from competitors as the majority of students with financial budgets will acquire the magazine. From demographics, in term of VALS I will be aiming at interesting those outer-directed and inner-directed effectively giving me a larger market. The language used in the text on my splash does suit my target market “Lets Party” this common slang is recognisable and understandable to students therefore I have targeted my audience well. An improvement I could make to my magazine is to make it more unisex as I feel the stereotype of female colours (purple) and the main image of the female student could refrain from males buying the magazine. The colour scheme that addresses Wyke is purple, which is why I have used these colours; however it does make the magazine more feminine which may not attract male buyers. If asked to create another college magazine I would have the main image with both a male and female student but keep the same important colour scheme overall making the magazine more unisex.
Representation
Media texts are artificial versions of reality and provide different interpretations to the reader. My magazine cover represents the students at Wyke College in a positive and fun way. It may be interpreted by another audience eg, the elderly who stereotype students that they party too much and do not do the sufficient amount of work. I understand this may represent the students in a negative way as areas in my magazine do emphasise the importance of having a social life, eg cover lines. To avoid this stereotype of my magazine I have ensured an educational vibe is also given off; the main image of a student is holding a revision textbook which connotes to the audience she is eager to learn and the college greatly supports educational purposes. Also one of my cover lines influences the reader to create a revision timetable balancing their revision and social life. This balance is the most important moral I wanted my magazine to achieve as it fiercely challenges my competitors which mainly promote education. These magazines do not sell well to the students as they find it boring and not interesting unlike my cool and fun magazine.
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