Student Magazine Evaluation

My task is to create a student magazine for 16- 18 year old. Therefore the magazine has to be young, contemporary and deal with issues of the youth today. I am targeting this magazine at both genders to have a broader audience however my front cover will be a young female student.

 

Typical Conventions of a Student Magazine are:

• Bright colour scheme
• Unique selling points that would interest young people
• A young, confident looking model in modern stylish school-like clothing
• Bold eye catching masthead
• A short strap line

This is my first attempt to create a student magazine on photo shop. I am happy with my colour scheme as I think it works and allows the magazine to stand out. However some font is not very visible. Additionally I don't like the shadow behind the photo, therefore I will have to take lighting into consideration for my music magazine. Finally I would prefer possibly a lighter background that is easier on the eye than plain grey. In my opinion I think what the model is wearing is fitting with the young yet business like vibe and the slight low angle shot gives off a care-free confident feeling from the model.

I think that my magazine is quite conventional to student magazines as it is colourful with unique selling points directed towards the young and a picture of a teenager. It includes everything you would expect to see on a front cover such as a bar code, date, price etc. yet the colours of the cover are bright and the green stands out as you never really see green much on the front of magazines. As it is clearly aimed at the youth I have adapted the articles to suit my target audience and used bright colours to catch their eye.

To create my front cover I used Photoshop as the cover is taken up by a photo, therefore I thought that this would be the best option for me. However, it was more challenging than I thought as I had never used Photoshop before, saying this I did manage to work my way through discovering useful tools like the magic wand and the lasso tool and I aim to do some practice before creating my music magazine in the future.


Additionally my contents page has stuck to the typical codes and conventions of a student magazine. The colour scheme ties in with the front cover for a sense of familiarity, plus the colour is unisex and will appeal to all giving a broader target audience. I also included the rule of three and an editors letter. I made sure all the articles were student orientated and even cross referenced the front cover for easy and accurate navigation.
 
For the contents page I used publisher as Photoshop was not very useful when the product is not photo orientated, I did not find this too challenging as I have had some experience of publisher before however I learnt more skills whilst constructing this page including changing the tone of your background and how to create an effective colour scheme.
 

Front Cover of My Student Magazine

This is the finished product of my student magazine, College Life. To make this cover I used Photoshop, if you have any comments feel free to leave the below! :)

Contents Page for my Student Magazine

This is the contents page for my student's magazine, College Life, I used publisher to create this design and if you have any comments feel free to write them in the box below. :)

Possible Shots for my Student Magazine

 1) I prefer my model with her hair up as it looks more formal.

 2) Her hair looks slightly tidier here but I would prefer if she was more to the side and not straight on.

3) The angle of this shot is better however, I would prefer it to be at a slightly lower angle and once again her hair is a little too messy.

4) I like this shot however the style is too colloquial for a student magazine.

5) This is my favourite shot however, I would have liked the shot to be at a lower angle.

I'm not sure which one to chose I favour shot 4 and 5 and I think I am going to go for shot 5 as the model looks tidy and student-like.

Sketches of my Student Magazine

Front cover:

Contents page:

Textual Analysis of a Contents Page from a Student Magazine

YSF Magazine

This contents page seems to be aimed mostly at young boys therefore the blue and white colour scheme fits perfectly, in addition the font is large, modern and easy on the eye drawing the reader into the magazine. There are clear page numbers for referencing that are separated into features and monthly, displaying to the reader the different types of pages included within. There is a letter from the editor as an introduction and a date at the bottom once again for future reference. There is a photo is placed on the contents page as link to the front cover which shows a slight low angle shot of a young boy in a mid long shot so the reader can see his clothing. The mise-en scene is young and modern as it has a graffiti-like layout which is in fitting with the colour scheme. However the rule of three was not used which is convention in most magazines, but I like how it is trying to stand out from the crowd by doing this and also by having the contents title down the side instead of across the top.

Textual analysis - Student Magazine Front Cover

Student
The mast head is in bold, bright writing which is juxtaposed with the colourful background; making it stand out. There are also lots of unique selling points, they also stand out plus, all
  the different fonts/styles in different colours grab the attention of the reader. The photograph is a mid shot that takes up the whole page grabbing the reader’s attention. It is also a slight low angle shot with a direct address to show that presentational code of the model is confident, appealing to teenagers. The costume is preppy, bright, realistic and student-like, plus it stands out on the red background. Also the colour green could relate to the fact that it is a St Patrick's Day issue. The overall colour scheme is red and green (for St Patrick's day) relating to real time events allowing the reader to relate to the magazine. The dark red background then allows anything to stand out when placed over it however, the red background fades out just slightly behind the model drawing attention to her. The mise-en-scene is young and carefree as connoted by the bright contrasting colours that are used. Finally the date is given so you know when it is


College Life

The cover includes a mast head which is large, clear and easy to read allowing it to stand out, plus the logo of the school is on the left hand side linking it to the publisher. The strap line contain the date and school for future reference and clarification. The magazine is free therefore there is no need of a barcode or price and also there are very few cover lines which is very unusual for a magazine. They may have done this as the picture speaks for itself. It is taken at a low angle as a mid/long shot underwater. this shows the range of extra circular activities and the quirkiness of this photo attracts the reader to find out more. As the school is unisex there is also a photo of a young boy on the cover who is portraying the studios nature of the school. the three cover lines stand out in bright white on the blue background and as there few they catch the readers eye. The lighting of the main image however is quite clear even  though it has been taken underwater and it is clear to the reader that this is a magazine about students for the school community.
published and can refer back to it with ease.

Introduction

Welcome,

This is my A level media blog in which I will be posting all my research on print media, especially magazines. I will be discussing the various codes and conventions of different types of magazines and will put some of my own attempts in creating a piece of print media up too! For our coursework we are particularly focusing in on music magazines but I also will be touch on other types of magazines i.e fashion or college magazines  evaluating them in terms of their specific codes and conventions such as their, 'hook', unique selling points (UPS), mast heads and colour schemes etc. Enjoy!