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.