Final production of my college magazine.

Contents mock-up layout

Final Chosen Photo (Unedited).

Unused & unedited photos.

Content Ideas.

I've decided to dedicate a post to what the actual content of my magazine will be, even though I don't have to produce the actual articles, I need ideas so I can feature them on the front cover of my magazine. The cover story of my magazine will be on how to prepare for your exams, I will have to come up with a suitable headline for this idea. Then for my three plugs I've decided on the following three articles; healthy eating, coursework tips and if bullying still exists in colleges after high school.

Mood Board.

Here is my mood board for the colours and font to be used on my front cover. The fonts I will be using are Arial, Impact, Tahoma and Calibri, I've chosen these specific fonts because they're all sans serif typefaces, and as a I learnt from my research. I've chosen cyan, yellow and white as my colour scheme due to them been harmonizing colours as this will give my cover a natural and professional look to my cover, I also learnt this from my research into magazine covers.

Magazine cover layout: DTP version

Here is my layout to my magazine cover, I will use this to guide me in my production of my magazine, however my final production my differ after productiona and I will talk about why I changed it in my evaluation, if I do change it. The layout of my magazine is very conventional and it features many of the conventions of magazine cover, that I discovered through my research.

Analysis 4: Secondary Teachers contents page anaylsis

Since the preliminary task asks me to produce a mock-up of the layout of a contents page, I've decided to analysis a contents page to give me a general idea how to produce and construct my own.

The contents page like the front cover the magazine, uses the white, blue & green colour scheme, which are all harmonizing colours, this gives the page a natural, professional view to it, which is revel ant to the magazine and it's targeted audience who are teachers, which is a professional and mature role. The subscribe advert used is positioned on a yellow circle, this bright colour is used to contrast against the green, blue and white to draw the readers attention to this spot. The layout of the magazine is conventional, in the sense that it's structured in a grid form, this makes the reader fellow the list of the contents down in a list, this is used to make sure the reader follows the list with their eyes making sure they known the entire contents of the magazine. Mutiply small images are used on the contents page, these are used to give the a general idea on what certains articles are about. Two images used represent apprenticeships, which is the what the cover story is about, as a postive thing. The headline of the contents page is large and bold, this dominates the page and this is the first thing the reader reads, immedinatley telling them they're on the contents page and will tell them where to find certain articles.

Analysis 3: Cosmogirl Front Cover Novemeber 2007

For inspiration and ideas for my magazine, I have decided to look at a broader range of magazines, instead of college/school magazines such as “Secondary Teachers”. I have decided to analyse the cover of the November 2007 issue of the fashion and lifestyle magazine “CosmoGirl”. The main image of the cover is of Blake Lively who known for her role on the hit US show “Gossip Girl”, which is known for it’s style and fashion – she herself is known for her beauty and fashion. Using Blake Lively on the cover goes with the ideology of the magazine – beauty, fashion and glamorous lifestyle, and if the reader sees someone such as Blake Lively on the cover, they’re much more likely to buy it since the target audience aspires to be someone such as her – beautiful, successful, fashionable and enjoy the lifestyle someone like Blake Lively does. The image itself is very warm, with a light glow to her skin and a wide smile on her face; this invites the reader into the magazine. A wind machine has been used to blow back Blake Lively’s hair; this has been used to allow the reader to see all her physical features on her face and so they can concentrate on her appearance and beauty, which is what a large portion of the magazine’s ideology is.

The dominate colour scheme of the cover is orange, yellow and white (with a pink background) , these colours all harmonize, giving the cover a natural and professional look, if it were a random mix of colours for example grey, yellow and aqua the cover would look messy and it would affect the whole design of the cover in a negative way. The colours used are an example of mode of address, with the designer choosing these colours because they're are feminine and since the targeted audience is females, these colours will appeal to them. These three colours together also give the cover a warm, calm and happy feeling, which compliments the image of Blake Lively, and this warm feeling invites the reader into the magazine making them feel welcome. There are numerous plugs on the magazine cover, this is to show the reader the numerous content of the magazine, and that it features many articles on how to obtain the beauty and style of such celebrities like Blake Lively. Since they is so many plugs on the cover, each one has some kinda effect on it, to attract the reader's eye too it, for example "YOUR GUIDE TO GORGEOUS" is in capitals and place on an orange circle. These are used to get the reader to look at the magazine cover for an extended period of time, making them much more likely to become interested in the magazine, and more willing to buy it with the knowledge of what the magazine features. A feminine script typeface is used for the "girl" part of "ComsoGirl" this is to create they effect this has been written by a female in a cosmetic such as lipstick, these suggests to the reader this magazine is written and produced by females for females, so the reader can trust that the producers of this magazine know what they're talking about when it comes to fashion, beauty and lifestyle, since they're the same as the audience. This effect also tells the reader this magazine has a huge emphasise on fashion and beauty, and it's made for fashion and beauty. This effect also directly tells who the targeted audience is - females with an interest for fashion, beauty and the glamorous lifestyle. The plug "Quiz: DO YOU FALL IN LOVE TOO FAST?" is used to make the reader think about this question, making them want to do know what the article the magazine features has to say on the issue, making them much more interested in buying the magazine.

The analyse of this magazine cover has greatly helped me in my research, and has taught me that it is crucial the cover targets your audience specificly through stylistic choices and the design of the cover.

Analysis 2: Secondary Teachers Cover issue #62

I've decided to analyse another "Secondary Teachers" magazine front cover, this time the issue of May 2009, to aid me in my research of college/school magazines, so through sufficient research I can produce my own quality and professional college magazine front cover. Again green and blue are chosen to as the colours for masthead (instead of the brighter more childish colours that are used on the "Primary Teachers" magazine.) to give the reader a professional and mature feeling of magazine, which is it due to it dealing with the subject of the education system in Britain. The colours are very to the target audience - who are mature, adult and professional just like the colour used. A sans serif typeface is used for the masthead to maintain a professional look, with sans serif fonts commonly used for headlines by many publications. The plugs on this cover are in a variety of colours that differ from the rest of the magazine in a bold sans serif typeface to stand out against the rest of the cover and draw the reader to what else the magazine features, If the cover story isn't enough to interest them in the magazine. The text surrounding the main image such as "inspection in progress" are all in a script typeface to simulate some writing, in this case the inspector. The main image of this front cover is a young inspector in a professional pose that is relevant to her job. This pose is used to give a professional element to the magazine cover, for instance if she were slouched down with her hands in her pocket, the cover would be totally different with a more relaxed and laid back view, and not possess the professional manner of this magazine, which is used because the cover story is on the subject of inspectors. A black, smart and professional costume is worn by young female in on the cover, this represents young adults as professional and mature, it's also appropriate to her role as an "inspector", which is a professional job. The image of the young inspector, goes against the stereotype of what people would expect an inspector to look like - old, intimidating, angry and with a cold look on there face, instead here the inspector is young, happy and has a warm feeling to her face which invites the reader in. A female is used on the magazine cover to represent the inspectors in positive light, someone school pupils can trust and not have to worry about, however if a male was used children would be more to approach the inspectors so a female is used to give the inspectors an approachable look. Three plugs are placed at the top of the magazine, this to to suggest to the audience there is plenty of content and articles which is to keep them interested in the magazine. The plug "What's YOUR staffroom like?" has your in capitals to speak directly to the reader and get them involved and thinking about how the issue concerns them, making the magazine more personal. At the very bottom of the magazine, the email has been printed to allow readers to email in feedback and response, this is to show the audience the magazine appreciates the audience and what they've got to say, making the audience feel "cared" about by the magazine.

This issue was once again a very good example of a college/school magazine, which has aided me in the process of producing my own magazine. However next I plan to analyse some different magazines, to give me ideas and influence from a variety of print productions.

Analysis 1: Secondary Teachers Cover issue #55

Here is the cover of "Secondary Teachers" the issue of March 2008; this is an example of an existing school/college magazine. I will analyze this cover, using it as part of my research and take note of its ideas, which I could use to influence my own cover later on.

When looking at this cover the first thing I notice or I’m drawn to is the image of the female pupil in half school uniform & half of a nurse's garments. This immediately tells the reader what the key/featured topic of this issue is, mixing or balance of practical hands on work such as the example shown here which is nursing and academic work/studies in secondary education. This lures the reader in because there has been big discussion on if schools should offer more practical and hands on experiences to its pupils, instead of just purely academic. The girl has a very warm, welcoming and happy expression on her face, this draws us to the magazine because it gives us a comfatable feeling. Positioned on the right of the image, is the text "You're hired, How Year 10 thrive on apprenticeships", the wording in this is a key part of the cover. Firstly it contains a popular culture reference, "You're hired", is an obvious reference to the show the Apprentice and Alan Sugars saying "You're Fired/Hired" which has become part of popular culture. Potential readers are easily going to recognize this reference and are much more likely then to buy/read this magazine. The cover features a shot out for a competition "WIN AN IPOD", this catches people's eyes and makes them look at the magazine cover again, and making them much more likely to actually purchase/read the magazine if they take a second viewing. Also "WIN" is highlighted in yellow to make it stand out and even more eye catching.

The colour used in this cover is very important, green and blue were chosen to be used in the masthead to give us a professional and mature feeling, instead of something like a bright florescent pink been used which would not have the same effect. The professional colour is used since the targeted audience is primarily teachers and pupil’s parents, since teachers would want to know what's going on with the education system and to be update with any changes/updates to education. And parents will read this magazine so they can be up to date on their children's education.

Image source: http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=sffww#/page0/