Preliminary Task- College Magazine.

Preparation;

When taking the photos for my college magazine I knew that they had to all have the same semantic field, which was college, by doing this the magazine would appeal to students and would make it more suited to the tasks criteria.

I chose the photos I used in my magazine because I thought they went well with the sell lines and the front cover image was suited, as it was a student. I also used images which were taken all aroun the college of various components of a students enviroment for example the common room, the cantine, other students and the equipment that they require.

I came up with the name Ed'you'cate when thinking of a title for my magazine, I think that this is a fun way of showing that it is a college magazine and its helpful to the reader.

 

What the front cover looks like;

Whats on it;

When designing the front cover I knew that the best colour to use would of been blue to tie in with the model's shirt, therefore I used two different shades of blue to help tie the whole thing together. I added various sell lines to make the front cover look more interesting and informative, for example I added in information about other students life and helpful tips such as how to deal with the stress of being a student. I also added other conventions of a front cover such as the barcode, the price, the date it was issued, and another image to just make the front cover look more appealing. I also included two straplines which I think makes the magazine look more presentable, The top strapline is a bit of a slogan as its a bit of extra information on what the magazine is about, the bottom strapline however includes more information about what is inside the magazine for example more hints and tips for a student on how they can use there student card effectively and wisely. i also added a sticker effect to claim that this magazine in particular had won 'Favourite student mag of the year' this way it is a bit of self promotion as it is making the magazine look more reliable and helpful. Finally I added the Facebook and Twitter logo and added in made up user names so the magazine would be more suited to the target audience as the user is most likely to be part of a social networking site.

 

Feedback;

My lecturer marked my work then gave me feedback on the positives and improvements, if any was needed.

In my feedback I was told that she loved the name of the magazine because it was unique, she also went on to saying that I selected an appropriate image and that it had a good eyeline view for the audience. She then went on to saying that i clearly understand the conventions of a magazine and the layout.She also said that my sell lines were appropriate to the target audience.

I then recieved feedback for areas of improvement these were that i could of used a 3rd colour to help the college magazine front cover work together more, she suggested that I could use a red, which also ties in with his shirt.

 

What the contents page looks like;

What's on it;

This contents page includes many images which are all appropriate for the target audience which was college students. It includes 9 sell lines and page numbers to help the user find where the article/activity is and on what page. The title was then added using an old school font which was then edited to have a glowing effect, this way it stands out more and ties in with the elements of green which appear in some of the photos below it. I made a small collage of images around the contents page to make it look more fun and appealing I did this by inserting different image sizes and shapes, and fitting them all together so they would create the effect that they curve around the page and frame the text which was positioned on the top left hand side, with one more prominant sell line which includes information about the college which I go to and some exciting news about new computers which would entice the audience.

 

Feedback;

The feedback I recieved was very similar to the front cover, in terms that the images were appropriate and the sell lines appealed to the target audience.

However to improve the contents page it was suggested that i need to anchor all the images to a page numebr so its more clearer to the audience where everything is and what the image is about.