Planning for my own college magazine

After studying the typical conventions of current college magazines and analysing them, I will now begin to plan my ideas for my very own college magazine. Firstly, I will create three possible drafts for the front cover of my college magazine and then choose a desired draft to construct in Desktop Publisher for my final piece. I will also create a mock-up of what the contents page would look like inside my college magazine.


Here are my three drafts for the front cover of my college magazine:


Plan 1


Plan 2


Plan 3


I have chosen to use plan three as the final design of my college magazine and I will complete the task by constructing my front cover in desktop publisher. I will use the images I have taken myself and by adding colour and font to the cover i hope to make it look attractive and appeal to my target audience.

Here is the final outcome of my front cover and contents page:

Magazine Evaluation

When creating the front cover of my college magazine, I had to take into consideration many things in order to appeal to my target audience, convey the right emotion and ideology, and also to look unique, original and also professional.

I firstly incorporated all the necessary conventions that a typical magazine front cover would use to attract an audience. I then altered these conventions in order to suit the particular genre of magazine, which was of course college magazines. After studying and analysing other college magazines, I was able to identify the particular language, ideology, audience and representations used within this genre and apply this knowledge and structure when creating my own college magazine.

The colour scheme of my magazine was mainly Green, Blue and White. I decided to use these colours as they are quite gender neutral, appealing and they make the front cover stand out. The institution Wyke college, has a very competitive market against other colleges, so it is important to use colour to appeal to a younger audience and show that the college has a fun, exciting, sociable environment as well as being educational. The colour scheme would also create recognition amongst their audience, and they may associate those colours with that particular college.

For the Masthead, I used an existing one, however I changed the layout and style in order to be unique and original. The font colour of the Masthead is white which is a good colour to use as it stands out well against a coloured background. The colour white is also echoed in the white headline to create a balance of the colour on the cover.

Underneath the Masthead, I included the date and price of the magazine. This creates an effect of realism and displays key information for the reader. I also added the college website -www.wyke.ac.uk - to look professional and offer the audience further information on the college. In addition I included a slogan for the college, which was a pre-existing one, to add again realism and show the standard of the college.

The headline 'Professional Dancer Hannah Garner Inspires Students At Wyke College' is in white in order to stand out and also look more sophisticated because it is talking about a professional guest at Wyke college. I decided to split the headline into two, so that it surrounds and focuses on the main images of the dancer. Emotive language such as 'inspires' would attract the audience and would invoke positive feelings upon the reader. The use of celebrities in college magazines is not very common to find because the main focus is purely on the students and their education. However in this case it is related to an educational experience, so it can be considered to be appropriate. Celebrity endorsement like this would engage the reader and encourage them to go to Wyke for such educational experiences.

The strap-line ' Follow The Footsteps To Fame' demonstrates the use of alliteration which is appealing and memorable amongst a younger audience. The word fame is also eye-catching to an audience because it is the type of lifestyle most young people are intersted in. The strap-line is a bright yellow/gold colour, which stands out against the background and the colour is generally associated with fame and fortune.

For the main focus of my magazine, I used three images produced by myself, of a fellow student posing as a professional dancer. I used three different images to create a three picture story effect, in order to capture the ever changing movement and motions within dance. The pictures represent the start, middle and end of the performance which adds to the effect. Whilst taking the photos, I had to consider the mise en scene of the image. The location I picked was inside the college gym, which the audience would be able to relate to. The costume was very balletic and easy to move in which also looked professional. The lighting however was quite dark to begin with so with the help of a picture editing suite called Photo shop, I was able to manipulate the image and improve the quality and effect it would have on the audience. I managed to include a spotlight in each of the images which generally symbolises a stage or performance which was rather effective. I also cropped the images to eliminate any unwanted background and kept the main focus on the dancer instead.

Lastly, I included plugs to entice the audience to read on further into the contents of the magazine. Rhetorical questions such as ' Fancy a swim?' immediately involve the reader and draw them in. Alliteration is also shown in another plug ' Well done Wyke!' which again is appealing to the audience and will be 'catchy'.

Over all, I believe that my front cover was quite successful as i took into account the main conventions of college magazines, and had various other effects to attract and engage the reader. There is still a few errors and things I would change if I had to repeat the task again, such as too much detail on the front cover which could distract the reader from the main issue. However I will take this into consideration and improve my skills in the main task which is to create my own music magazine.

Conventions of magazines

Conventions are like rules or guidelines which are often used to make a media text, such as a magazine front cover. These conventions however are altered to suit the particular genre of magazine and appeal to their target audiences.

All magazine front covers have a Masthead. The masthead displays the name of the magazine, and usually has a distinctive style, font or colour to gain originality and also be easily recognised amongst their target audience. The masthead is also usually quite large and bold in order to stand out against the background of the magazine and also be visible from a reasonable distance to attract their audience in.

These are a few examples of current Mastheads:

(Masthead for the NME music magazine)

( Masthead for the Wyke college magazine)

(Masthead for Heat magazine)

Some mastheads usually use the same colours too, so that the audience can relate to the colour scheme and associate those colours with that particular magazine company.

All magazines have headlines which are large, bold and eye-catching. The language used in headlines depends on the target audience, but they are usually short, snappy and colloquial in order for the reader to understand it straight away. Headlines can also use puns, which is a play on words to create humour and intrigue their audience to read on. Accompanying the headline is usually a strap-lines well, to further explain and add any additional information on the cover story.

Magazine front covers also usually have a main image. This is usually the focal point of the front cover, as it shows the main feature of the magazine. The image can be quite large in order to attract their target audience but is also carefully selected to connote emotions or invoke feelings upon their audience. The content of the image is determined by the target audience of the magazine and their interests. Magazines such as 'Heat', 'Grazia' and 'Look' heavily rely upon celebrity endorsement to attract their audience, so their images are mostly of celebrities. The images used of celebrities are usually manipulated to shock their audience and portray the chaos and stress of celebrity life in a negative light. In contrast, college magazines have a very different set of values and beliefs and therefore focus on students instead. This is so that the target audience of students aged 16-18, can relate to the image. The images of students usually portray them having fun as well as being educated.

It is also common for a magazine front cover to include a website, sponsor or logo to further promote the magazine. For example The secondary teachers magazine which I previously looked at displayed this sponsor , which also shows the professional connections of the magazine and that the magazine is a reliable source. This website was also displayed on the front cover , which offers the audience further information on related issues. In addition, dates and prices are also vital on the front cover to display to the audience the time in which the magazine was produced and also the cost of buying the magazine.

Another common convention included in a magazine front cover is the use of plugs. They are used to give a brief insight of the contents of the magazine and are sometimes accompanied by images to further interest the reader. These often tempt the reader, therefore plugs play a very important part in the selling point of a magazine.

Analysis and Comparison of School Magazines.

Comparing and Analysing Two 'Secondary Teacher Magazines'
We were asked to analyse and compare two magazines called 'secondary teachers' and also look at the denotations and connotations used to produce them.

Both magazines have the necessary conventions that a typical magazine needs to include. They both have a Masthead, a splash, a main headline, strap lines. images, web links, and plugs. Despite their similar structure, both 'secondary' magazines' are quite different from each other too.

'Secondary Teachers' Magazine One

The 'Secondary Teachers' magazine is targeted at teachers at a secondary school, therefore the layout of the magazine is kept simple and sophisticated. The masthead 'Secondary Teachers' immediately addresses the specific target audience and it is made clear through the use of large bold text. The colour of the masthead is a blue/green colour which is a very mature, sophisticated colour. The reason for using this colour may be to symbolise the change in the pupils at a secondary school, as they become older and more mature. The plain white background of the magazine has been selected so that the masthead clearly stands out. It is very important when making a magazine for text to be clear, so that it can be visible from further away and attract an audience. The plugs positioned along the top of the magazine further interest the reader, making them want to read on into the contents of the magazine. The colour of the plugs are red and pink which stand out successfully against the white background. There is also an image accompanying one of the plugs, showing male actor Henry Winkler. Celebrity endorsement is often used to appeal to audiences because the public are generally interested in the lifestyles of the rich an famous. However, the image of the celebrity is fairly small in comparison to the main picture of the two pupils. This clearly states the ideology behind the magazine, which is education being the main focus instead of celebrities. The main image on the front cover is of two male pupils interacting and learning together but within a football environment. This would generally attract teachers because it is not the usual learning environment that they expect for pupils. The boy's are both sat in a locker room reading workbooks beneath two football shirts named 'Numeracy' and 'Literacy'. The shirts are red which could symbolise that both the subjects are quite challenging and hard. This is because red can be used to signify a stop, and in this case, pupils may feel like they are stuck and having difficulty progressing further. The male pupils are both of different ethnic backgrounds too, which teachers would be able to relate to as schools today are very multi-cultural. The type of uniform they are both wearing too is also very common within state schools and therefore shows a clear representation of typical secondary school children. The pupils in the image are also smiling positively whilst they are learning which may interest the audience of teachers because they will want to know how they are tackling difficult subjects like Maths and English and having fun at the same time. Stereotypically speaking, secondary pupils are much harder to keep under control, so advice on how to keep pupils like the two males on the front cover interested whilst learning would be a great achievement. Therefore this image is successful and effective at attracting its target audience. The headline 'Playing to learn' straight away captures your attention because not only is it a bright yellow colour but the headline uses a pun. Learning and playing are usually considered to be two very separate things, so teachers would automatically be drawn in by this contrast. The strap line underneath the headline is successful in the way that it briefly expands on the headline but leaves the audience wanting to read on. At the bottom of the magazine there is an issue date and a website for teachers to go on. This is a common convention of magazines as it looks professional, further promotes the company and provides extra information for the audience.

'Secondary Teachers' Magazine Two








This different issue of the 'Secondary Teachers' Magazine has a very similar layout to the first one I analysed. The positioning of the mastheads, plugs, logos, dates and websites are exactly the same, which helps the audience to become familiar with layout and therefore recognise this particular magazine easily. The images however change to appropriately suit the theme or issues expressed on the front cover. The main picture in this issue is a close-up of two gingerbread men in a baking tray, which is being held by a student. Even though the close-up does not show the child's face, we can identify from the uniform that they are a school pupil. The ginger bread that has been baked represent both male and female school students. This has been used to show equality between gender and that these cooking lessons are not stereotypically for just female pupils but also male pupils as well. The first 'Secondary Teachers' magazine however does not achieve the same gender neutral effect I feel, as female students are not displayed in the image and generally girls are not as interested in football as boys. The ginger bread faces are smiling which could suggest that cooking lessons are fun and the pupils would too be smiling and enjoying themselves whilst learning. The headline placed on top of the image 'Cook With Me!' gives an immediate order to the audience and is further emphasised with an exclamation mark. The text is bold and white which stands out against the pupil's red blouse and also echoes the white colour of the cooking gloves. The strap line underneath 'How schools can make lessons tasty' leaves the audience wanting to find out how to do this and therefore wanting to read on.




Both magazines I felt would appeal to their target audiences as they included all the necessary conventions of a magazine and was very kept simple and sophisticated. I also felt that the language and images used in both magazines were appropriate and effective, which would again further attract their specific audience.





Analysis of a private school magazine and state school magazine







Private School magazine/ State school magazine

Both magazines in comparison are very contrasting to one another. To begin with both school magazines have different target audiences. The private school magazine will generally be aimed at rich, upper class people mainly due to the high costs of private education, whereas the state school magazine is generally aimed at the middle class. Therefore the different target audiences will vary the outlook of the magazines as both audiences will appeal to different things.

The private school magazine, which targets the upper class, uses a professional, sophisticated layout in order to attract their audience. This is because the families reading the magazine will generally have professional jobs and therefore relate to the professional structure of the magazine. The formal language also used within the magazine would be related to by their audience, as they would be generally more familiar with this. The ideology of the the private school magazine is for students to excel to the best of their ability with a first-class education.Education is of course is the main focus and the standard of location and facilities is important to them too.

The image appropriately follows the theme and conventions of the magazine also. The two students at work in the classroom portrays the hard work and level of concentration within private schools. The mixed gender of males and females also shows the equality between students within the school. The students look very presentable by wearing smart uniform, which is commonly found within private schools, and also the neat, tidy hairstyles they have. This shows that their education is taken very seriously and that they have set rules to follow, like wearing smart uniform, to keep the students under control. The location they are in boasts quality and shows their wide selection of books in the background. This shows the wealth of the school and also range of facilities it has too.

The state school magazine has a very different approach to their audience. It is less formal in comparison to the private school magazine, because its target audience would more likely relate to informal language. The layout is more creative and fun to attract their middle class audience and this also suggests that the school itself may have a similar attitude. This states the ideology to still focus highly on education but equally to create a warm, friendly and fun atmosphere. The bright colours used on the front cover are effective too and also suggest a lively atmosphere within the school. The image used is of a group of children outside beneath a clear blue sky. The clear sky creates positivity and that they have the freedom to achieve high. The group of students together shows the friendly atmosphere, cooperation between one another and also the equality of all students. Lastly, the clothes that the sixth formers are wearing are very casual. This shows again the freedom that the students have and Independence they are given.

Foundation Portolio- Preliminary Task

Introduction


In this Media coursework unit, we were asked to print two artifacts from a set brief. The main purpose of this unit is to asses our ability:

- To use technical and creative skills when planning and constructing the print products

- To apply our own knowledge and understanding when evaluating our own work

- To research appropriate material and successfully apply it and present it within our work


Preliminary Exercise:

Our preliminary exercise is to produce the front page of a new school/ college magazine using DTP (Desktop Publisher) and an image manipulation program. The front cover must include the typical conventions of a college/school magazine such as laid-out text and a masthead. The front cover must also feature a photograph of a student in medium close-up, in order to attract an audience. In addition we must also produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page, to further demonstrate our technical skills using DTP. This exercise is to be finished by 7th November.


Main Task:

Our main task is to create the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. The magazine must feature the conventions of a typical music magazine also including a minimum of four images . The front cover must be an original design, therefore all images and text must be produced by me.
The main task is due on the 19th December and the presentation of my research, planning and evaluation will be presented in the form of a blog.



Four Key Concepts

As an introduction to the start of the Foundation Preliminary Task we looked at the main key concepts of media which are applied when producing any type of media text. Our task is to create the front page and contents page of a college magazine by using these key concepts to guide us.

The acronym used to remember the five key concepts of media is LIIAR. This stands for Language, Institutions, Ideology, audience and representations.

Language- These are the technical and theoretical terms which are specific to the medium. My magazine in this case will include for example: a masthead, headline, images, plugs, a splash and jumplines. These are all examples of media terminology and are used to produce magazine front covers. Denotation and connotation are also classed as media language. Denotation means the specific idea, concept, image or object that you can visually see and what it refers to, whereas connotation is what is implied or suggested from this.

Institutions- These are the companies or business that produce the media product. In this case, Wyke will be the institution of my college magazine and will control the production content of the whole magazine.

Ideology - This is the institutes shared sytem of beliefs and values portrayed in the media text. The ideology is represented in the contents, so for my college magazine I will take into consideration the general beliefs of that institute and reinforce a similar ideology into my own magazine. Wyke's ideology is that students have the freedom to achieve and have a good quality education. This is generally made very clear and direct when they are promoting the college, so I aim to do the same for my own Wyke college magazine.

Audience - These are the consumers of the media text and when poducing my magazine i need to consider who my target audience is and therefore appeal to that particular audience. I will most likely be aiming at middle class students aged 16 - 18 years old. This is because the majority of upper class people will not generally choose to attend a college and the under class would generally not apply for somewhere like wyke. The age range is appropiate i think for a college magazine too because they will mostly be 16 year olds just leaving school, however it needs to appeal to slightly older people to if they wish to apply to do A-levels. My target audience too will be mixed gender of course, so my magazine should im to attract both males and females students.

Representations- The media reflects society and represents the stereotypes found within different social groups. The media represents class, ethnicity, gender and age and is used so that the audience can relate to these representations. I could consider for my magazine cover to use images of students together from different ethnic backgrounds to show equalism and unity within the college. I could vary the age and gender of the students in the pictures too so that they are portrayd to be both socially accepted.