Analysis of my college magazine cover.

AS Media Studies, Preliminary Task

College Magazine Cover Analysis.

After a few weeks of working I have finally finished the front cover of my college magazine. I am now going to do an analysis of my front cover.

Language – The masthead on my college magazine is in large bold purple text in the Gill Sans Ultra Bold font which contrasts within the light green background, making the masthead stand out superbly, running off the left hand side of the cover and finishing just before it reaches the other side. There are three subheadings featured on the cover of my college magazine which are in the same font and colour as the masthead, which shows consistency within the magazine, I have kept the same house style throughout my magazine cover. The main subheading on my cover is just under the mast head which says “ James tells us why he left Wyke? “, which relates to the picture of James on the cover in medium close up. The photograph that I chose for the front cover of my college magazine was clearly taken in medium close up which was asked in the brief. It is the dominant figure on the front cover and fits in perfectly with the great photograph of the college grounds featured in the background. This is a clever sub heading because it leaves an unanswered question and it makes the reader want to buy the magazine. The other two subheadings that I have used on the cover of my magazine are “ 98% of students hit 100% attendance in September!”, This shows the respect that the students have for the college and that the majority of the students within the college have excellent punctuality and commitment to their college life. The other subheading used is “ An inside look at the NEW Oak building! “ This sub heading emphasises to the reader that Wyke college has had a lot of recent development and building work done and it shows that the college is heading in a new and positive direction. The photograph of the new building is pictured the left of the medium close up photo and stands out clearly. The photograph of the male student also indicates that this is a student college magazine which will entice the viewers to buy it. The headlines and subheadings that are featured on the front cover fit in with the style of magazine, they are stories and articles which the readers will find interesting.

Institution / Ideology  – The institution of the magazine would be Wyke College, they are the company that produced the magazine for their students. The ideology of my college magazine front cover is that they are trying to promote the college in a positive manner. They are talking about key events that will be happening within the college during the release of this particular issue.

Audience - The audience for this magazine is aimed at students between the ages of 16 and 19. Who either currently attend the college, or who are looking for a college to join. Although the college magazine audience will mostly be aimed at students, it could also be aimed at members of staff who work within the college. The audience of students is targeted well by featuring the medium close up photograph of the student featured the cover.

Representation – Representation is used within the front cover of this college magazine, by simply promoting the college in a unique way. The magazine cover features an appropriate images to represent the college. For example the male student stood in front of the college grounds, the viewers can see the college grounds clearly. There are three subheadings on the cover of the magazine, they are represented by being bold headlines, they stand out and catch the eye of the reader.

FINAL COVER

This is my final cover for my college magazine.
My next post will be my evaluation on my magazine cover using LIIAR.

Hand drawn draft of front cover.

Above is a rough sketch of my front cover.
Which i am going to show in my next post.

Barcode

I thought i would be a good idea to insert a barcode onto the cover of my magazine to add some more realism to the cover. The barcode ( pictured above ) is the barcode that i am going to use on the cover of my college magazine.

Fonts and Magazine name.

After looking at a variety of different fonts. I have chosen the following font to be used for all text featured on my college magazine cover.

Gill Sans Ultra Bold

The reason i have chosen to use Gill Sans Ultra Bold, is because it is an attractive font and stands out in any colour, hence the name " Bold " in the name of the font.

The photographs of the college featured on my magazine cover are of wyke college, the college that i am studying at. So the masthead featured on my college magazine is going to feature the text " Life at Wyke " on it. This is a short and effective masthead and the font colour is going to be dark purple featured on top of a light green textbox.

This is the process of creating my front cover.

I have combined the two photographs that i selected together, i am now going to insert an appropriate masthead and several subheadings to my front cover, just as shown on my front cover draft. ( Below )

Front cover storyboard.

This is a draft of what the front cover of my magazine will look like.

Images chose for final cover.

I have decided to incorporate these two images together to create my College magazine cover.

This will be doen using Adobe Photoshop CS3

I chose these two images because i think they will work best together



College building photos taken for College magazine front cover.

Medium close up photos taken for College magazine cover.

LIIAR analysis of college magazine cover.

LIIAR analysis of college magazine cover.

I never realised that I had to do an analysis of a college magazine cover as one of my two magazine cover analysis. So I am going to keep the TopGear and the DJ magazine cover analysis, and I am now going to do an analysis using LIIAR to analyse a Grimsby College magazine.

Language – The masthead on the magazine is in large lower case text at the top right hand corner of the front cover. The font colour is white and blends in well with the light blue background. It stands out and is easy to read. There is a slogan featured at the bottom of the cover which says “ the word on the street…” with no spaces. This is short but effective slogan, it makes the reader want to know what is featured within the contents of the magazine. The slogans font colour rotates from white to blue to white an then back to blue again. I think they should change the white font colour on the slogan, this is because it is featured on a light contrasted grey background, which is used as the concrete for the models in the main image so the white texts tends to become faded away and is unrecognisable at times. The main image on the front of the Grimsby college magazine features a male and a female student who seem to be looking at each other, the images of the two students have most probably being edited in Photoshop because they look like they have been drawn in pencil crayon. The image of the male and female student also indicates that this is a student college magazine which will entice the viewers to buy it. The headlines and subtitles that are featured on the front cover fit in with the style of magazine, they are stories and articles which the readers will find interesting. There is also the name of the college website featured just below the centre of the cover, which readers may be interested in visiting if they would like to find out more information on the college.

Institution / Ideology – the ideology of the Grimsby college magazine is that they want to promote their college and the key events and activities which are going on throughout the college during the time period of the release of this particular issue.

Audience – The audience for this magazine is clearly aimed at students between the ages of 16 and 19. Who either currently attend the college, or who are looking for a college to join. Although the college magazine audience will mostly be aimed at students, it could also be aimed at members of staff who work within the college. The audience of students is targeted well by featuring two students both male and female on the cover. If the magazine front cover as to feature just a male, then female audience might that the college magazine is aimed solo towards male students. So it is a good thing that they have featured both male and female students on the cover to get a wider viewing audience.

Representation – Representation is used within the front cover of this college magazine, by simply promoting the college in a unique way. The magazine cover features appropriate images to represent the college. For example the male and female students and the edited image of the college building in the background. There are three subheadings on the cover of the magazine, they are represented by being bold headlines, they stand out and catch the eye of the reader.

Using LIIAR I have been able to see the key conventions of a this particular college magazine. When looking back at this post I will be able to create ideas for my college magazine front cover from what has been used here.

AS Media Studies interception of the brief

Preliminary Exercise

For my AS Media Studies preliminary exercise I have been asked to produce a front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up which must also include some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. This must be created using DTP (desktop publisher) and an image manipulation program which will be adobe Photoshop CS3.

I am now going to explain how I will use LIIAR to help me create my college magazine cover.

L ( Language )

When producing my college magazine cover, media language will be used within it when looking at the camera angle that I use, which ill be medium close up. Another aspect of language used on my magazine cover will be the masthead that I insert onto it as well. The masthead is the name of the magazine displayed in the typeface in which it is designed. The masthead is the visual branding of the title and usually has unique typeface that stands out.

I ( Institution )

In media, when thinking of the institution within it, we think of the certain institutions who are responsible for producing media texts, they can be represented in a number of different ways. For example the internet, film, music, broadcast ( TV and radio ), print ( newspapers and magazines ).

I ( Ideology )

In media studies, ideology is the ideas behind a media text, the secret agenda of its procedures. Ideology is a mass of ideas or set of beliefs that underlines a process or institution which then leads to social relations. These sets of beliefs are those held by groups within society, and the prevalent ones are those held by the ruling/dominant groups.

A ( Audience )

For my college magazine cover, the target audience means who is the media product aimed at. For a college magazine the audience will be for students between the ages of sixteen and nineteen. My college magazine cover is going to be for a magazine that is produced once during every term, which updates the students on the latest information and news that is going on within the college during that particular term. I think that a college news magazine is going to be aimed at every student in the college, were as if I was going to make the magazine cover based only on the sports teams at the college, then the target audience will most likely be for the students at the college who are studying within the sports department.

R ( Representation )

In media, representation implies what is actually being represented within that specific media text. Gender is probably the basic category we use for sorting human beings, and it is a key issue when discussing representation. Essential elements of our own identity, and the identities e assume other people have, come from concepts of gender. Representation will be used within my college magazine front cover. It will be representing a particular place which will be the college. The model which will be used on my front cover will be of a certain age, probably between the age of sixteen and nineteen. This will be an appropriate age gap for the front cover of my magazine. What I mean by this is, that having a middle aged person on the front of a college magazine for students wouldn’t be suitable. Hence the reason that I am putting a student on the front of my college magazine.

LIIAR analysis of second magazine cover.

LIIAR analysis of two magazine covers.

The second magazine cover that I am going to analyse using LIIAR, is going to be a magazine called “ DJ “ issued in July 2009.

Language –  The masthead on the magazine is in bold text and is in capital letters, it features a thick black outline around the text and the main font colour is red. By using the thick black border around the red text, it makes the text stand out. There is also a sub title directly in the centre of the cover “ MID-SUMMER MISCHIEF! “ this will make the readers want to buy the magazine because it leaves an unanswered question as to what sort of mischief they actually get up to?. The main image featured on the front of the magazine cover, is of two well known DJs, I only know the name of one of the DJs on the cover, which is the bald man on the left who is called Larry Tee. Who is a New York City based DJ. Due to having two famous DJs on the front cover this will make fans and readers want to buy it because of the two famous role models on the front cover. In my opinion the small subtitles featured on the front cover are not very good because there are several problems with them which I am going to point out. Firstly they are not consistent, there are different coloured fonts ( white and black ) and they feature either red or white backgrounds. It would look better if it was more consistent. Secondly the text is way too small for a magazine cover, if you compare it to the main sub title which is an appropriate font size. The other sub titles are more than half of the size. I also think that they are hard to read, the text needs to be much bolder because readers who dont have very good eye sight might struggle to read it properly. One more thing is that I don’t think they have thought properly were about to position each sub title on the front cover of the magazine, it seems like they have just thrown them on anywhere without any thought. The good point about the sub titles is that there are plenty of them, it tells you what is going to be featured within this particular issue of the magazine, which the readers will find interesting.

Institution/Ideology – the ideology of the magazine front cover is that they want to promote DJs and things that are going on within the DJ world which is related to the name of the magazine being “ DJ “.

Audience – This magazine is aimed at people who either have an interest in DJ. This magazine would also be aimed at people who have a job or hobby as a DJ. The audience is targeted on the front cover by using two well known role models on the cover. This will appeal to the audience and make them want to buy the magazine. By featuring two DJs on the front cover, younger or not so famous DJs will want to be just like them because they will look up to them. However if the magazine featured two strangers on the cover who no  one had never heard of before then nobody would be interested in purchasing the product.

Representation – The magazine is representing the DJ industry. The magazine uses images to represent the people for example Larry Tee who is the main part of the cover looks cool and laid back, representing the person that he actually is, he is giving off a positive manner to the DJ industry. There are several headlines and events listed on the cover, although they do not stand out very well as I mentioned earlier, they are short and simple, it makes the readers believe that these events are the places to be.

Using LIIAR I have been able to see the key conventions of a DJ magazine in place. When looking back at this post I will be able to create ideas for my college magazine front cover from what has been used here. 

LIIAR analysis of first magazine cover.

LIIAR analysis of two magazine covers.

I am now going to analyse the front cover of two magazine covers. The first magazine cover that I am going to analyse using LIIAR, is going to be a TopGear magazine from April 2008.

Language – the masthead on the magazine in big and bold in a dark orange colour. The orange coloured text used on the black background makes the masthead stand out. There is also a black, blue and white background behind the car. It is slightly blurred out, I think this is done to emphasise that the car is moving at a very high speed. However if it was featured on a still background you wouldn’t be able to tell if the car was moving or whether it was stood still.  There is a selling line below the masthead “ NEW LAMBO “, this invokes the readers to buy to the magazine because it features new images and information on new model of car, being the Lamborghini. The main image featured on the front of the magazine is of a Lamborghini car, this will entice the fans to buy it. It is also an indication that the magazine is a car magazine.The headlines which have been used on this issue are typical with this style of magazine, they are about stories which readers will find interesting.

Institution/Ideology – the ideology of this magazine front cover is that they want to promote cars and new things that are coming out in the car industry. This is related to the name of the magazine being “ TopGear “.

Audience – this magazine is obviously aimed at people ( mainly males ) who have a keen interest in cars and other motor vehicles. The audience is targeted using a well know top of the range car such as the Lamborghini on the front cover to draw the readers attention. The way the car is positioned on the front cover so that you can see the front and the side of the car, the car looks fantastic, speedy and something that most car fans would dream of having parked on their drive way.

Representation – the magazine is representing well know cars within the car industry. The magazine uses images to represent the cars, for example the Lamborghini which is featured on the front cover, it is the main part of the cover, it is interesting and makes the reader want to purchase the magazine. There are several subheadings on the cover of the magazine, they are represented by being bold and highly attractive headlines, they stand out and catch the eye of the reader.

Using LIIAR I have been able to see the key conventions of a car magazine in place. When looking back at this post I will be able to create ideas for my college magazine front cover from what has been used here. 

Contents Page Draft

My contents page draft was created using ( DTP )
Desktop Publisher.

Contents Page Draft

Above is a first draft of my contents page.

Blog created

05/10/10

Blog created for AS Media Studies