Mock Ups of Cover and Contents

Experimentation with Names

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Experimentation of Colours

My target group said that they wanted the magazine and the text to be bold.  From this I have decided that for my texts I will use black, or a colour with a black outline.  This is why i put colours next to the black to see which colours work the best.

I think that the lighter blue and the black looks the best, they have a good contrast and the black makes the blue look bolder.


The bold colours in a group I used to experiment with the house style outside of text.  I think that the red, green and blue look the bed and that the yellow looks a bit out of place.  I think that as the house style I may use red, green and blue.

Experimentation with Fonts

My target audience expressed that they wanted a clear and bold font so i experimented and found fonts that matched and were close to matching that criteria.

Impact is very clearly the boldest font, it is also quite a smooth font and with some adapting with settings it could become a very clear and easy font to read.
I also found that Candara is quite a bold font and it is very clear to read.  This matches he target groups requests.

Arial and Verdana are also very clear fonts however they are very boring and are widely used every where.  They are also not very bold.

Times, Blair and Marker Felt do not fully fit the target audiences ideas,  so are unlikely to be used.

Target Research

Question 1: If the magazine was to include a tips and advice section what would you want the topics to be?

My target audience had a large request on college and learning based advice along with advice surrounding money.  From tips to making and saving to advice on banks.  Some students said that they would appreciate advice surrounding personal problems, family, friends and love.  For this reason I think that I would include these ideas however make a smaller section as it was not a huge interest to many.

Question 2: How does the idea of 'Weekend Suggestions for Students' interest you?

Many of my target audience agreed and were in favour of this being the highlight of the magazine. Most said that they would like to see local ideas that were not expensive to participate.  Some said that they thought the section should not be the main theme of the magazine and that it should be an extra.

Question 3: If your college produced a magazine how much would you be willing to pay, if at all?

Some students were reluctant to pay for a magazine that their own college was producing, but those who were willing to pay communicated that they would pay between 50p to £1.50 for a magazine that included all they wanted.

Question 4: What would you like reviews to surround? e.g. music, TV, films

I found out from my target audience that games and films are a popular choice.  Many who were asked suggested films or new games.  Only a few individuals suggested music and TV reviews. They also said that they would like multiple reviews of the same thing so that they could see multiple ideas.

Question 5: Do you prefer a magazine to be simplistic or packed full of information?

The average of the students said that they would prefer a simplistic magazine cover, however not too plain.  They would like to see the main article as well as 2-3 cover-lines.  No student said that they would like a full and cluttered cover, most expressed ideas of just main pieces of information. Students also said that they would like the colour schemes to be colourful but not too over the top or too boring.  They also expressed that they wanted an easy to read smooth font but also something that was bold. They also said that they would like a very clear and easy to read font for both masthead and coverlines.

Question 6: How do think regular contents pages could be improved?

A lot of students said that contents pages did not include enough information and that headers did not describe he page sufficiently.  Some also said that they would like similar themed pages to be grouped together clearly so that they could easily find what they are looking for.

Question 7: How would you like the magazine to address you?

Students said that they would like the magazine to directly address them as readers but do not want it to be too serious or childish.

Initial Ideas for Student Magazine

Name:

I think that I will make sure that my name of the magazine will be just a single word and will try to sum up the purpose of the magazine.  It will not be a simple title such as 'Student'.

Content:

My magazine will contain useful information for all students as well as more entertaining aspects.  I will include a general advice area, reviews of current films etc, and suggestions of past times for students spare time.

Mode of Address:

My magazine will use direct address in an informal way.  However it will not be too informal as it needs to appeal to the target group of students.

Central Image:

My central image will be a medium close up shot of a student.  I think that it will feature he student participating in whatever the magazine suggest for students pastimes, making it the main idea and theme of the magazine. The image will be close to eye level so that it makes the reader feel equal to the individual on the front cover, making it more likely for them to purchase. 

Language:

My use of language will be aimed specifically at the target group.  It will not be a simple read as I do not want to patronise my target group, however I also do not want to use very sophisticated language to bring the group more like adults.  Along with this I will avoid any stereotypical wording of young people for example 'LOL' and the use of emojis.

Colour:

I would like my colours to work well together and not clash or blend in with each other too much.  I will use some block bright colours but not too much as bright colours are usually associated with younger children.  I will avoid using too many colours, 3 at the most as I want to keep a house style and brand identity.

Fonts:

The fonts that I use will always be sans serif fonts as I want to make sure that the magazine is accessible to as many as possible.  I will use 2 fonts, one for masthead and titles and one for basic text. I think that the font for the masthead will be bold and in capital letters to make it stand out. I also would like it to match the theme of exciting things for students to do in their spare time.

House Style:

My house style will be kept to at all times through out the magazine pages.  I will make sure that I have a colour palette of at most 3 colours and will make sure that the fronts selected will be used constantly throughout.

Textual Analysis of a Student Magazine

Generic Conventions of a Student Magazine

Covers:

Names: Bold, big blocks of colour, capital letters, generally sans serif fonts, very clear to read, slightly overlapped by the central image, single words or short phrase, normally uses the word 'student', always at the top of the page. Eye-catching to draw readers into their magazine.

Online connections: Links to websites, 'Like us on Facebook', 'Follow us on Twitter', QR codes. Trying to move audiences online.

Central Image: Normally the only image on the page, covers the entire page, is the main focus of the cover, medium close ups of people.  It highlights the main article/theme of the magazine. 

No Secondary Image: Very blank cover, makes the cover look very plain and boring, very little interest. Does not entice the reader, doesn't look like an entertaining magazine.

Layout: Very square, everything is in line and all have share edges. It gives a very serious and sophisticated feel. Isn't very exciting for the target audience of students, it is very boring.

Splash/Headline: There is one main splash/headline. It drives the focus straight to the main story/theme of the magazine which supplements the central image.

House Style: A lot of magazines don't have a house style. They were quite mixed in fonts and colours. However some did have a very clear house style.

Cover-lines: Every magazine had a few cover-lines, on average between 3 and 5. They also normally sat in the lower section of the magazine, either a strip at the bottom or in a list form either side of the page (commonly on the right). 

Articles Trailed: Most magazines included trailed articles, they were typically 1 line long and gave very brief summaries by using just single or a couple of words.

Contents:  A lot of magazines seemed to have contents to do with modern media.  On the covers a lot advertised the content included reviews of latest movies, TV, music and games. Some also included interviews.

Puffs:  A lot of the magazines included a puff for competitions to win. many prizes were things such as iPads. 


Contents Page

Images: All pages I viewed included images to illustrate some of the main articles from the magazine. On average there was 3 images usually to the left on the page. They draw the attention of the reader to these articles more that the others.

Highlighted Articles:  Some articles were highlighted as being the main or special articles. These were usually highlighted with either a picture or a brief summary of that page.  They were also at the top of the page, the first place the reader would read.

Colour:  Some magazines colour coded their contents with a key to the side. They used different colours to represent different aspects of the magazines. For example blue = reviews.

Welcomes: Most magazines had a brief paragraph welcoming the reader to the magazine. It contained a welcome, brief summary of that time in the college and some a thank you for reading.  The welcome was typically written by the head of the college.

Online: A lot of contents pages gave links to social media pages and/or websites, the magazines that did this did not have their link on the front cover.

House Style: The contents page always followed the style of the front cover.  It used the same fonts, colours and parts of the layout used on the front cover.

Layout: The layouts were very neat and uniform. Everything was inline with each other. They had very clear layouts to read straight through.

Introduction to Preliminary Task and Action Plan for Preliminary Task

Overview
Use DTP software and image manipulation software to produce the front page of a new school/college magazine. It must feature a medium close up shot, plus well laid out text and a masthead. It must also feature a mock up of a contents page.


Action Plan
 
Week 1. Research and planning
            -Target Audience Research 
            -Planning Production
Week 2. Production
            -Photo Shoot
            -Design front cover
Week 3. Production
            -Design Contents Page
Week 4. Evaluation