Preliminary Task - Contents Page

Peer assessment of my college magazine:

“The contents page uses bright bold colours to make it easy to read, it also has a modern style to it. Very original and good use of font typography and only using 2 fonts has not made the page seem difficult to read. The image variation and use of tilting them makes the page seem trendy and upbeat. The front page – the house colours of red and blue mix well together and the style of typography seems sophisticated but subtle at the same time. You could develop – the contrast and brightness of the images. Improve the saturation of main image to really catch your audience’s attention.”

Preliminary Task - College Magazine

I think my college magazine looks more like a women’s magazine without the feature taglines. My media product uses the conventions of a school magazine by having clear house colours and having a medium close-up shot on the front cover. However I challenged the conventions by including the date and school name on the front cover, which I think works quite well and makes the cover slightly busier. I learnt of these conventions by analysing other college magazines aimed at a similar audience as I was intending. My magazine isn’t aimed at or represents any social groups because I wanted the magazine to appeal to all the students in the school. I want my magazine to be distributed via a platform online which all students have access to I think this will be more effective than handing out copies because of printing costs, and also, through interviewing people of this age group, they said they were not interested in reading pieces of paper given to them about the school, as they expect them to be dull and monotonous just like the school letters they receive from the college on a day to day basis. The students at the college are aged 16-18, all female which made my brand identity quite easy to recognise and develop.  I think the whole college would benefit from this magazine which is why it’s free and will be distributed by the school. I attracted my audience by questioning people of that age group about what they would want from a school magazine. By doing this preliminary task, I am now more aware on desktop publishing programmes and have learnt a lot about image manipulation and the effects. As I used Serif Page Plus and Serif Photo Plus to create and develop my product.

Preliminary Task - College Magazine Analysis

A black background is used on this school magazine, this connotes authority and modernises the school. The effect of authority gives us the impression that the school is a highly rated one or maybe even a private school.

The silver and gold font colour signifies royalty and wealth. This again, connotes the fact that the school is private and very prestigious.

The typography is in block capitals, which signifies importance in order for it to stand out on the page. The text which is the name of the magazine is  placed sideways, reading upwards and the bottom of the text is cut off, which makes the audience want to open the magazine to see what’s inside.

The idea of students signing their name on the front page creates a very personal element to the magazine. The magazine is free, which suggests its targeted to the students of the school, and the signatures  really connect to the audience.