Front Cover Drafts

To improve this draft, I will add a larger masthead, a barcode and publication date, and a better house style that fitted with the genre.

To improve this draft, I will add more coverlines, a bolder masthead, a barcode and cover lines.

To improve this draft, I will move the splash, change to house style so it fitted witht the magazine genre, and change the main image to a photograph with the artist making eye contact with the reader.

To improve this draft, I will change the font colour to make the text easier to reader, I will add a larger masthead, and add extra cover lines.

Contents Page Layout

Digital Mock-up

Music Magazine - Initial Ideas (Name, D'graphics, VALS, Price, Release)

Music Magazine - Initial Ideas on Prezi

The Genre for my Music Magazine

Music Magazine Genre on Prezi

Music Magazine LIIAR Analyses: Mojo, NME, Kerrang



NME



The Masthead is easy to recognise, as is repeated on the contents page with the same font and house style. Part of the masthead is actually hidden by the head of a member of the featured band, and this effect is only done on top magazine covers.

The band on the front cover are there to show the audience that a main article will be based on them. If someone is into that specific band, the large image will attract them.

The house style (bold, capital letter, with the colours black, white and red) portrays a rebellious, emotional lifestyle, which is reflective of the audience's lives, the target audience being teenagers and young adults.

On the contents page, navigation is made easy by an index of featured artists listed down the left-hand side, so a reader can easy find a band they like.

The feature page is a double page spread, and the majority of one of the sides is the artist being interviewed. This has been done because a reader can easily recognise the singer if they are flicking through the magazine, and to show the importance of the singer. Also, the masthead is all in capital letters, with individual letters sized differently.

The colour scheme is continued here, with the main lettering being black and white, with important details (like the artist's name and the author of the piece) in red. Also, the scheme is used in the artists clothing, as she has pale makeup, black hair and a black and red shirt.

 MOJO

Like NME, the Masthead is hidden by the featured author, showing that the content is more important than the identity.

The colour scheme is different on each page, but this will be because for this analysis, I have used different pages from different issues - each issue will have its own colour scheme.


On the left of the front cover, there are a list of artists, again making it easy to see if your favourite band is featured.

The contents page shows a list in black of featured artists, with page numbers and subheadings in orange, to show a contrast. The magazine name is on the top of the page, so that it can be identified, even if it, for example, casually left on a table. A featured artists appears on the left, with a caption of a page number (for easy-to-find access), and a quote from an interview with another band is on the bottom of the page, again with a page number reference.

The title on the double page spread is made of different colours (orange, fading into white) to link to the title 'best of both worlds', ie 'best of two colours'. The orange/white scheme is used in the main article, with a black background (conventionally, it is black writing on white paper. This shows the rebellious side to music)

KERRANG

Kerrang has a large range of colours on the front cover, which can be linked to the range of music/artists it features. Again, a list of featured artists are in a prominent position on the front page, and other featured artists are shown in images. Also, the Masthead is hidden by the artist's head.

The contents page is similar to the front cover, as it shows images of various artists (with page numbers), mixed in with text-only artist features (with page numbers). The main feature is shown as a large image at the top half of the page, as if the magazine is saying: "This is the main band, but that's not all! We also have..."

The double page spread has a large group image of the featured band, with smaller images of individual groups in black and white dotted around. The band's name is displayed in a prominent place about the title, and a memorable quote from the interview is displayed in the middle of the article.

Music Magazine Brief

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as a group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style).

LIIAR Analysis and Images (unfinished)

College Magazine: LIIAR Analysis

Language:

Like professional magazine, I have used a realistic MCU, barcode and cover lines. I have used captions to tease articles about the images to the reader, with page references to the articles related.

I have also followed the conventions of a magazine, having a MCU in the centre of the front cover, a barcode in the bottom corner and cover lines surrounding the images.

Institution:

I have based my magazine on Wyke College, so logically; Wyke College would be the institute that sells the magazine. The magazine may also be sold in secondary schools, during open evenings, to attract new students.

Ideology:

I need to project the idea that students are intelligent and helpful to the local community, and the staff are helpful and approachable. I also need to argue against the stereotype of the anti-social, uneducation youth that is frequently publicised in newspapers and the media.

Audience:

The audience for my magazine are Wyke College students, (males and females, 16-20), Wyke College staff, families of Wyke College staff and students, ex students and possible new students.

Future and current students would be in group E (casual labourers, unemployed, state pensioners) of the socio-economic groups, due to the fact that most of them will be in education full time, and the ones that have jobs will be low-paid and part time.

To make it attractive to this audience, I will use photographs of students in the magazine, to make the audience connect with the articles. Also, I have added articles that I believe would be interesting to student readers, and also show the success of the college to families, future and past students, and students of other college. To make it affordable, I will launch the magazine monthly, and have it at a low price (e.g., 50p to £1.50.)
Families and staff wikll be in A/B/C1 groups (higher/intermediate/lower managerial, administrative or professional). It would be quite hard to make this magazine attract both the A/B/C1 groups and the E group, so I believe the magazine will attract the members of these groups, due to their current relations to the college it is related to (i.e., the magazine covers an issue they are interested in.)

Representation:

I need to represent a happy, intelligent and successful college, with positive students and helpful staff. To do this, I have included a photo of a young man reading a book in a library, with a smile on his face, to represent the intelligence of the students of Wyke, and also the students' keen interest in their studies. I also used a small thumbnail image of a member of staff smiling at the camera. I have used this image to show how friendly and approachable the staff are in Wyke.

Draft Front Covers

To improve this draft, I will remove the teasing contents, improve the coverlines, change and add more thumbnails and add a date and price to the barcode.

To change this draft, I will add more pictures, a barcode and more attractive text.

Draft Front Cover

Photographs for Magazine Prezi

Photos on Prezi

College Magazine Draft

To improve this, I will get a new photograph for the main image, add a barcode and improve the teasing contents and cover lines.

LIIAR Analyses of existing college magazines: Grimsby; East Riding; Lewisham

Grimsby College: "GX"

The Masthead is easy to recognise and read, because of the block colour background and the large, simple font. The characters in the front cover show artistic versions of stereotypical students, which can convince students to get involved with the magazine's production.

The variety of colours on the contents page reflect the variety of subjects the magazine deals with, but the bright colours on a white background can be difficult for some to read.

The text language is informal and chatty, making it appeal to and reflect the target audience.

There is a variety of images, which can attract more students in, as if they are just casually reading it, images can be interpreted and understood quicker than words.

This magazine is made by Grimsby College, and is targeted at Grimsby College students and those living in the surrounding area.

As with all college magazine, it is targeted at 16-25 year olds, as people in that age range are usually college students.

East Riding College: "Student Life"

The masthead used in this magazine is even more basic, but in a way that shows that the magazine is unprofessional.

Negative space (space that could be used, that isn't) surrounds the main image, masthead and all the other elements of the front cover.

Overall, the front cover looks too simplistic.

However, on the contents page, colour is used. However, it is just one colour, which is used in a repetitive style, so it makes the magazine look unattractive. Images are used, but unsuccessfully, as they are given no captions, so no explanation is given as to why these specific images are chosen.

This magazine is made by East Riding College, and is targeted at East Riding College students and those living in the surrounding area.

As with all college magazine, it is targeted at 16-25 year olds, as people in that age range are usually college students.

Lewisham College: Spotlight













This magazine is similar to a lot of professional magazines, as the main cover is just one main image, with logos and the masthead overlaid. It looks very impressive.

However, the contents page is not as attractive. It has a note from the editor, like many professional magazines, but it is very plain, mainly black and white. There is a small amount of colour, with the actual contents section being in orange. However, it does not use the colour well enough, and there is plenty of negative space, both on the contents and the next page.

The second page does show that the orange text is part of the house style, as it is used in the titles for the interesting articles. However, like the aforementioned page, it has a lot of negative space. It is compensated by having a continuity header (on every page, the name and issue number is placed at the top of the page), along with artistically placed thumbnails, in circular shapes and different sizes, with attached captions.

Unlike the other two, this magazine is aimed more at the parents and guardians of those going to the college, but it still allows the magazine to be read by students. It can also be read by the younger siblings etc. of the younger students, showing them a positive image of their older siblings' college lives. Because of the wider target audience, the target age can be stretched from 16-25, to 10-65.

Market Research

Market Research on Prezi

LIIAR Analysis of the Brief

Language

The front cover needs to contain:

• A large, dominating masthead (name/title), which is usually short and memorable.
• A main image. Specifically, a MCU (Medium Close Up; i.e. head and shoulders). The subject should make eye contact with the audience.
• There has to be a bright colour scheme, of two to four colours.
• Thumbnails should be used to entice readers to interesting articles.
• Anchorage (captions and headline; Text to accompany pictures) should be used.
• A price/barcode, to create the feel of a professional magazine.
• Little notes to tease the contents.
• Notice of any free gifts/competitions in the magazine.
• The main image must relate to the main article.

Institute

• I will base my magazine on Wyke College.
• I will make it similar to other college magazines in its style and type of content, but I will attempt to make it a unique college magazine.

Ideology

• I have to balance the college's views, so I do not offend any minority groups that could be in college (no sexism, racism, etc)

Audience

•  My primary audience will be Wyke students and staff, but my secondary audience will include the friends and families of those who attend/work at Wyke.

Representation

• I want my college to attract stereotypical but positive, happy and intelligent students. I also want to portray Wyke in a positive way.

Initial Ideas Prezi: Pricing, Target Audience and College used.

Initial Ideas on Prezi

Preliminary exercise

Using DTP (desktop publishing; Word and Photoshop) and an image manipulation program (Photoshop) I'm going to produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in MCU (Medium Close Up; head and shoulders) and some appropriately laid out text and a masthead.

Additionally, I'll produce a mock up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.