Student magazine analysis

Student magazine analysis 

This is an example of a student magazine, the title is ‘sixth’ which is the place where the students are at ‘sixth form college’.  The mast head is positioned at the top of the poster in a plain font, the colour is plain blue, which stands out well on the image and background colour. The colours that are used are natural and dull. The main image is of an attractive girl which looks like she is at college, the image is black and white, the student look natural and it wearing general day to day clothes.  There is a combination of different fonts which all follow the same colour scheme of blue, grey, black and white. The fonts are different for each topic that is going to be covered within the magazine. They have included the different topics on the cover to appeal to the student audience and make them want to read it.  They have included the issue date of the magazine in on the cover, which is positioned next to the mast head.

This magazine includes a contents page. The contents is down the right hand side of the page, on a plain black font.  The contents tells you what is going to be in each page.  On the contents page it also has the latest news about the college. They include images to draw the audience in. they have included the new so it allows the students to know what has been going on around the college.

Magazine 2 

The mast head ‘BANTER’ is positioned at the top of the magazine in a bold, red and unique font. The main image is of a student wearing geek glasses and holding a hair brush to her mouth. She has a red nose on her nose, which is bright red which stands out from the background and matches the title of the masthead. There are cover lines on the cover which links into the main image about comic relief. There is a puff positioned at the top of the magazine which says free which is also in a red circle to stand out and grab the audiences attention. The fonts that are  on the cover are plain and casual which fits in with students approach . At the top of the magazine they have placed the issue it is underneath the mast head so students aware of when it was issued.

Down the left hand side of the contents page is the information about what is going to be included in each page. They have included images on the contents page with text boxes on saying what page it is found on and what it is about. The pictures are interesting and of the students that are at the college which makes them want to read more. The mast head in also placed in the middles of the contents but a different colour scheme has been used. The colour scheme for the contents page is the same as the front cover, red white and grey.

Textual analysis of a magazine front cover

I chose to analyse Sugar magazine, as it is a popular, fashion related and eye catching. Which is aimed at the target audience I’m going to be making my cover for to. I think that this magazine will give me ideas for what I can include in my college magazine.

The masthead is the name of the brand the magazine is from. Sugar is know as being sweet, which may refer to the main image and colours used.  Sugar is a weekly magazine, the colours change weekly depending on the topics the magazine is going to include. The positioning of the central image, layout and font type stays the same for each issue published.  The date and email address is place underneath the masthead, to allow people to have a clear view before buying it, this can be to show that the price is cheaper compared to other magazines. They have also included a email address as teenagers have great ability of using computers, and they are hoping they will visit there website to gain more popularity.

Sugar magazines always have central pictures which is the main attraction of the magazine. In this particular magazine Rachel from glee is the central image due to this issue being mainly about her.  They have used this picture to grab the audiences attention making them want to know more about Rachel, this image makes her look beautiful and feminine due to her clothing and glossy hair. The same colour theme is used through out the cover, which is pink. The image is a medium shot which is shows off the clothes that Rachel is wearing, the clothes also contain pink which makes it link into the over theme colour of this magazine. Pink connotes a sense of teenage girls who are into fashion and clothes, which this magazine manly includes.

There are a number of cover line on the cover, which informs people as to what is going to be inside the magazine. This is used to draw the audience in making them want to read more. The cover lines contain the main juicy bit of gossip and only telling a small part of the story which makes people want to read on. The cover lines on this magazine connotes its audience is female teenagers. In the bottom left corner there is a cover line which includes pictures which makes it more appealing to its target audience. There is use of a plug on this cover which is ‘2 mags for the price of 1’. They have put this on the magazine to make more people buy it as there is a lot of competition with other magazines.

They use a number of different fonts on the cover but use generally the same colours.  Some of the fonts are in bold and others aren’t which connotes its is informal and casual which fits in with the youth audience. Some of the writing is positioned on a slant which gives it a unique look. They use capital letters on certain words which connotes they are of more importance. 

Introduce Preliminary task and action plan for Preliminary Task

I will be using DTP and an image manipulation program to produce the front page of a new college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. I must also produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate the grasp of DTP.

Plan-

week 1- Introduction to brief,

 -analysis of magazine and how they target audiences

Task: to research generic conventions of magazines 

week 2- Analysis of college magazines 

- research target audience 

Task: 

1. Get up blog and introduce coursework 

2. Put action plan on blog

3. Complete a textual analysis of a magazine of our choice and post it on our blog.

4. Complete textual analysis of college magazines and post a blog 

5. Devise a questionnaire to research student audience 

week 3- Producing a mock-up of the front cover and contents page 

Task-

1. Begin to take photos for my own magazine

2. Post research if target audience on blog and review findings 

3. Post mock-up of magazine front cover on blog and provide commentary

week 4- Designing of front cover and contents page 

Task-

1. Post final front cover and contents page on blog 

week 5- Complete evaluation 

Final deadline for preliminary exercise/introduction to main task 

Task-

1. Post evaluation on blog 

Introduction to brief

As part of my AS media coursework, the brief requires me to create the front page, contents and a double page feature spread of a new music magazine. I have created this blog in order to record my research and planning which will help me to produce a successful magazine.