My final front cover design!

My third draft

I asked my Dad & girlfriend what they though to this design. They both liked the rugged theme which the masthead used to link with the 'worn' looking border.
They didn't like the ammount of images that we're used, they said it caused less attention to be drawn to the main MCU image. Although they liked the title, they both said it needed to be more outstanding.

My second draft

I asked my girlfriend and my Dad what they thought of this design, they said they like the bright masthead but it did not link with the rest of the design on the page. Both said that the thumbnail images are too big to have two, but the have the image smaller makes it not very viasble as it is at the larger size it is here. They also said the font used for information could of been styled up a bit
and made to look more professional.

1 st draft

Here is my first draft, my ideas have changed whilst in production of the front cover.

I asked my Dad and girlfriend what they thought of this design.
They both said that it should be more eye catching, by haveing a different and standing out masthead, they both liked the transparent electric blue border that run around the side, they said it looked professional
they also said that it linked to the blue on his shirt/ jumper.
They said taht more colour should be used in the image when I do the final design.

college magazine photos and my MCU front cover image!

College magazine photos on Prezi

Digital mock up of the layout of my magazine

A sketch of my front cover design!

Here is a quick sketch of a design style I will use as a template for my magazine front cover. I plan to use a burnt orange colour in my masthead background and other graphic lines to fit in with the design of Wyke colleges Oak building. I then plan to place Wyke colleges logo below the masthead to show what college the magazine is for. I have done a sketch of a student, in this case a random image of an MCU photograph I found on google images.

Ideas taken from existing magazines I have found

I took ideas from this existing front cover to a school magazine. I like the way the subject is making eye contact with the audience, this makes it very effective in making a visual connection. The was that props such as the goggles make an impression of an activity taking place which works in giving visual information on what happens at the school. The way the background is blurred is something I can take away as an idea from this image, it shows some vague outline to a classroom yet draws more attention to the face making it stand out further yet shows a busyness in the background also. The way the information is spread around is something I plan to use in my magazine.

Prezi thought shower

Thought shower on my Wyke College Magazine on Prezi

Publishing & price

Publishing & price
Because my target audience is mainly aimed at students who already attend the college it should be free. Most college magazines that I have examined are free; my magazine will conform to this as other magazines do so. I believe more people would pick up this magazine if it was free of charge as people usually have better things to spend their money on, it would make the magazine less helpful. I think my magazine should be published per season so it can cover a lot more information rather than having it less dull like it would if it was published weekly as there would be less to write about.

Target audience

My target audience for my college magazine

The fact that my magazine is based on college for the students as a target audience means that the target audience for age will be between 16-19. It could also apply to younger high school age ranges of whom are considering going to the college and want extra information, or even parents if they want to find out news and other information about the college. Besides this the target audience for my magazine will be for people ages 16-19 who attend the college. In demographics my target audience would fit in the 15-24 age category.

My choice of college for my preliminary task!

I am going to use Wyke College as my preliminary task organization rather than making my own or using another existing firm.

By doing this I will be able to get images of the college building incorporated into my magazine design.

Fun fun fun!

LIIAR GI

The Grimsby Institute

Front cover

The masthead of The Grimsby Institute ‘GX’ magazine is very large and eye catching making it very effective in showing what the magazine is called. The colour scheme used is effective in making the text stand out well also keeping the house-style vibrant and nice to look at.  The image covers the page yet blends with the text as they two subjects featured have been photo-shopped to look block colours, this is a nice professional look and works in being eye-catching even though it is not in MCU with eye contact at the viewer. What makes it even better is that it even includes images that have not been edited to balance out some informative pictures as well as the cover image design, these show what the magazine will include. Despite the layout being busy, the text and the background colours have cleverly kept to a 3-4 colour scheme. There is a lot of information listed about the college such as the website for the college spread out across the page in the middle, the fact they have included the email address gives the reader more contacts and an pen window to even more information about the college. It includes a slogan at the bottom which stereotypically applies to teenagers with use of slang ‘the word on the street’ which shows the target audience based around college students ages 16-18. The college logo is not very large and could have been placed beside the masthead, yet this is not an issue as the college website is listed boldly.

Contents page

The contents page covers two pages allowing more space for information which has been used well allowing it to not look messy yet be very informative. The images don’t have captions explaining what’s going on yet are images that are looking at the camera making it drawing to pan around the page and focus in on images, there is not much going on in any of the thumbnails so it does work without a caption and more of a design feature. The contents does not look like the front cover although contains the logo from the masthead to show what magazine it is. There are uses of anchorage with the page number information; the way the headings are written makes it more appealing thus it being an anchorage. There is smaller text below each page number with more details into what the pages contain. The thumbnail images on the right page of the content relate to the details of the page numbers making them not need captions. There are help lines and advice on issues which effect students in the target audience which makes it useful for the reader and links to the target audience even more. The college logo is used again to really show what the organization is and is placed below a catch line ‘x marks the spot’ which is linked to the title making the name of the magazine, the organization and the catch line all memorable. The colours of the magazine are bright and vibrant and do not exceed a common limit of 3-4 colours which makes it much more professional looking. The colours are also used to draw attention to important information by highlighting key words

LIAAR ERC

East Riding College magazine LIIAR analysis

Front cover

 The magazine front cover for East Riding College isn’t very appealing or eye catching to a viewer. The colour scheme is very dull and serious looking despite sticking to a house-style. The fact that the front cover is black and white causes it not to catch the viewer’s attention. The image used is not in MCU causing it to be even less eye catching, but the colours in the image do link with the house style as there are dark shadows on the students causing a silhouette which stands out on the snow which is white linking to the house-style black and white. The caption on the image does explain what is happening in the image with a linking page number. The fact that the image is set in Berlin on a trip does link with the layout as it seems very Bauhaus in design. Although this does not link to what the college is about and more about the trip in Berlin which is shown in the image. The magazine was published for spring term 2010, which does not link to the image used which has no date listed to when the image was taken. Also there is a snowy setting which is not normally associated with spring. The masthead is dominant and stands out with it being large and the opposite colour to the background. Although the masthead is boring and could have been improved my making the area around the masthead more busy and filled as these is blank space, this would make the magazine seem as if it had more features, it would be more appealing. With the magazine being free it should be shown more exiting and have more qualities that draw in a viewer to take the time to pick up and read it, with it being free it’s a case of weather it is worth picking up. The most dominant feature is the masthead ‘student life’ which does link with the image as it includes an activity that college students are taking part in, which literally is ‘student life’. The college logo is incorporated in the bottom right hand corner, this could have been better placed at the top of the page as the organization producing the magazine. In the bottom right hand corner the information on the bottom left could have taken the bottom rights place showing what the magazine includes better, as the bottom right is where attention is drawn when turning a page. The magazine would be targeted at students who either attend the college or do not and would like to look into what happens at the college for advertisement. Therefore the target audience is aimed mainly at the 16-18 year old group, mainly college students that attend East Riding College as it is split into terms as a sort of news magazine. The front cover looks as if it was made by students at the college for people of the college, keeping a fairly fixed target audience.

Contents page

The contents page does not stick to the house colours, the contents is nothing like the front cover in design nor is the font used in the heading of ‘contents’ the same as the front cover masthead. There are thumbnail images scattered around the page, all are images of activities but have no captions so the viewer has no clue what the images are about or if they are even linked to the magazine. The images could have been linked to the page numbers if no caption was needed. There is very vague information about the magazine on the contents page; the contents of page numbers could have been split into categories to the audience can find what they are looking for. The titles for the page numbers are not well explained and could of contained more information. The use of ‘….’ Makes it look very messy and could of easily been replaced by more information. The layout looks nothing like the front covers house style and could of easily been a part of a completely different magazine if the audience were to see both pages separately. This could have been solved by sticking to the house-style keeping continuity on the front cover or could have contained the college logo. The use of colours are good in drawing the viewer to the contents despite it not having continuity from the front cover.

LIAAR analysis of the breif.

LIAAR analysis of the brief

My magazine front cover will have a short and memorable masthead title; it will be dominant showing what the actual magazine is about. The title will be something the target audience (the college student) will be able to relate to. I will do this by making it in an exiting font which is pleasurable to view and will have a teenage theme for the style of the masthead. Somewhere near the title I will have the logo of the college I choose to have my magazine for, this will be used for advertisement to teenagers who do not attend that college yet could also be for the students who already attend that college. The logo of the college is the organization which the magazine is made by. The language will express many different things in what the magazine is about. The font in which the title will be will be the same font used for all the sub-headings that are on the front cover and the title of the contents page to keep a fixed theme. The general font of text that is in the magazine will be in a simple ‘Ariel Black’ to not cause difficulty when reading. 

The main image on the front cover will be of a student who attends the college which my magazine will be about in MCU containing only the shoulders and face. The subjects face will be well expressed and clear because of this making it better for viewing. My student will be either be stood looking at the camera with an activity going on in the background, or will be stood by the college grounds holding a folder expressing a studious scene. This will link to what the magazine is about clearly and be a representation of what happens in the college. The student will be looking directly into the camera as if the viewer is making a connection with the image, the subject will be smiling to express a happy atmosphere at the college.  

The use of colours on the front cover of my magazine will be persistent throughout; they will be bright but will stick to only two or three colours showing a clear house-style. All captions to the images used in my magazine will be in the same font style as the sub-headings with a solid colour text box which will be in a separate colour to the house-style to make them stand out, yet all captions will be persistent in the style.

In the contents the page numbers will be listed top to bottom of the page toward the left. There will be thumbnail images scattered around the page with the captions below, the captions will list what is happening in the image and also what page number it will link with. This will show the audience some of the activities that happen within college life. These will also act as anchorages to make the audience want to know more, thus can be used to draw people who do not attend the college to attend.

I may use a barcode if I decide to aim my magazine at current students who would pay for the magazine by making the sort of magazine that the college student would bother to purchase. If I decide to have my target audience as teenagers who do not yet attend the college I would not include a barcode as it would not be the sort of magazine that would be purchased and more the sort used to advertise and make a student want to attend. To make this more effective in advertising if I do decide to aim it at the one who does not attend that college I could include some competitions or events that go on in the college for non-members to take up. I would include these on the front cover to make it more appealing to pick up and read the magazine. This would also work if I chose the audience as the one who does attend that college as it would make them want to purchase the magazine to enter a competition etc.

Either if my magazine is aimed at a current student or somebody who does not attend the college my target audience will be aimed at the teenager aged 16-19. To make this apply more to the audience I will make sure I include help lines and other information of facilities a teenager may need, for example ‘sexual help’. The students of the college in the magazine will be shown positively and stereotypically to give the magazine more values that would apply to my audience. The contents of the magazine will apply to the stereotypical student by having information of music gigs for example, or other activities that would apply to my audience.