Mock up of front cover and contents page

Questionnaire results

Research and Planning: Analysis of a Student magazine, 247

247’ is a student magazine on a university campus. ‘247’ is the masthead it connotes that this magazine is available 24/7 and is therefor is always update and always there for you to read.The masthead is the biggest font on the front page, by having this it draws the audience in with the size of the title. The masthead is easily seen allowing the audience to engage with the magazine quicker. The masthead is placed on a green neon background making the white text easily visible and more exciting and appealing. The name ‘247’ doesn’t suggest which target audience the magazine is aiming for.

   When the audience engages with the central image it helps them identify what target audience this is aimed for. The central image is a long shot of a young girl in front of some graffiti, by having a picture of a young girl, it has more of a young feel to the magazine and has more of a university feel to the magazine. By placing the young girl in front of graffiti it connotes how young people are viewed in the public eye and shows how youths are rebellious. The magazine only has one image on the front cover, it allows the audience to take in the information given on the front cover.

 The magazine has used fresh colours such as greens, whites and pinks, the colours used look simple and don’t overwhelm the reader with bright colours. These colours connote a sense of vibrancy and gives a young feel to the magazine.  The colours used are appealing to both sexes allowing the magazine to have more a variety of readers. By using fresh colours it gives off a grown up feel to the magazine where as if the colours were bright it would give off a childish feel to the magazine. The masthead is in a light green and the banner at the bottom is in the same colour, it highlights the important information inside the magazine.

 The magazine uses the same styled font except the masthead, by using the same font it’s easier for the audience to read and engages them for longer. A good reason for keeping the same font is it allows the masthead to be the most eye catching thing on the front cover. 

This is the contents page of ‘247’, the magazine have used a fresh orange colour as the background. By using a fresh colour it connotes a sense of vibrancy and excitement to the magazine. By using one colour as the background it makes the magazine look simple and easy to read and the reader is not going to be overwhelmed by different colours on the page. The text on the page is in a white colour making the text stand out on the vibrant background making the text more appealing to read.

 The magazine has been spilt into two pages, the magazine has used headings to pull the reader into selected text and gives them a choice on what to read by having a tittle for the page and what page it’s on. The headings are in a bigger font to draw the reader into reading what’s under the headings. At the bottom of the page there is a heading ‘Editors Page’, an image has been placed at the side to allow the readers to see who the editor is. Here the editor is telling the readers what they find in the magazine and tries to persuade the readers to read the whole of the magazine and not selected parts. The editor uses formal language to engage to the young readers making the magazine seem grown up.

  The layout of the contents page is spaced out, by spacing everything it out it allows the audience to take in all the information. A picture of a piece of art has been placed in the middle of the page, making the picture the focus point of the contents page. By having a big image it allows the reader to focus on the detail of the painting, instead of being over whelmed by other images on the page.  

Research and Planning: Analysis of a Student magazine, Campus Life

‘Campus life’ is the masthead, it connotes the life of students have when living at university. The masthead is the biggest font on the front cover, by having the masthead as the biggest font it draws the audience in. As the masthead is in front of the central image, it’s more easily seen allowing the audience to engage quicker than if it was behind the central image.  The masthead uses a vibrant green colour giving the magazine a young feel to it, making it more appealing to students.

    The colour scheme of the magazine uses fresh colours such as whites, greens and pinks. By using these colours, it gives off a simple look to the magazine. The colours aren’t too overwhelming allowing the audience to read the text on the front cover without being distracted by the colours.  The colours used are appealing to both sexes, making the magazine have more of a variety of readers.

   The magazine uses he same style font throughout the front cover, except for the masthead. By having the font the same style, it’s easier for the audience to read which allows engages the audience for longer. Another reason for having the font the same style is it allows the masthead to be the most eye catching text on the page. The entire font on the front cover is in capitals, by having the font in capitals its more engaging.

 The central image for the magazine is of two young girls, by having just one image on the magazine it’s more engaging as you’re not looking at other images on the page. By having two young girls it has more of a ‘campus’ feel to it, as young people go to university. By having one image to focus on, it allows the audience to read more of the text on the front page rather then be distracted by other images on the page. 

Action Plan

WK 1	21st Nov	·      Introduction to brief ·      Analysis of magazines and how they target audiences	1.    Set up blog 2.    Put action plan on blog 3.    Complete textual analysis of one magazine and post on blog
WK 2	28th Nov	·      Analysis of college magazine ·      Research of target audience	1.    Complete a textual analysis of college magazines and post on blog 2.    Post research of target audience on blog and review findings
WK 3	5TH Dec	·      Produce a mock-up of front cover and contents page ·      Begin to design front cover and contents page	1. Post mock-up blog and provide commentary
WK 4	12th Dec	·      Design front cover and contents page	1. Post final front cover and contents page on blog
19th Dec-4th Jan		·	2. Work on evaluation questions
Wk5	4TH Jan	·      Complete Evaluation ·      Final Deadline For Preliminary exercise ·      Introduce to the main task	3.  Post Evaluation on blog