Student Magazine

I have now completed my student magazine, and I will soon be starting on my music magazine.

Student Magazine Evaluation

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I think the main features of a student magazine are the image on the front cover, masthead, strap line, cover lines, and the special feature that usually is linked with the main image on the front. I incorporated all of these elements into my design and some others too, like the price and date of the magazine. My main image is one I have taken myself, along with all the others, and the font I found of a free font website. I wanted my font to be different and to stand out from the crowd so I downloaded one I thought is unlikely for other people to use. I used this font thought all of the text I used, to create an idea of a house style. I think this worked well and gave the magazine a professional feel.  I Also kept the masthead at the bottom of the page so that whilst still looking like a magazine, tried to do something different to others. I think this worked well because it is in a different place but still looks quite good. I also included a price, this I think stands out the most as it is a bright colour, and takes up a lot of room, not many magazines have a price on the front, but I think it adds another touch of uniqueness to my magazine, if a bit bold at least. Compared to my layout designs I did have to move the strap line to the top of the magazine as I think it looked much better than on the side. I chose this layout design other than the extra one I had made despite of comments made that the other layout was better. I felt that having the masthead at the bottom was a better choice for my overall design. I do regret not making my special feature not stand out enough. It could have benefited from having

A background applied to it.

 On my contents page I tried to include as many images as possible to give the reader something more interesting to look at than just writing, and keep them interested in the magazine. I tried to make the images and page numbers stand out the most, so that if it were a real magazine the reader could just go straight to the article they intended to look at on purchase. I do think the contents page background colour is a bit dull though, and could benefit from being re-worked, or looking at it longer for future designs. First car contents page also uses many colours as well as sticking to a colour scheme, this makes it stand out an seem interesting, as well as using an attractive font.

 

I think when put up against a professional magazine it doesn’t look as good, due to the face that the other magazine has real articles inside that they can advertise on the front, but I had to make some up to fit in with the images. I also think that their magazine has a successful colour scheme, where as mine is a little plain in comparison, and the red on the price isn’t exactly the same shade as on the strap line and cover lines. The image on the ‘New Car’ magazine is slightly tilted and brighter, I think my own photograph would have benefited from not being in the shade.

Many aspects that ‘New Car’ has used are mirrored in my design, and I think these aspects make my own design look professional and unique. Some of the aspects are located in the same place on both magazines; such as the strap line, special feature headline, and amount of images used for the over lines.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main social group I think I have represented in my magazine are college students. This is mainly due to the special feature and the images I have used. The cover line for my special feature says “Navigating A New College”. These was aimed for students starting a new college and were possibly looking for advice on subjects that were featured in the article also many images in my contents page do reflect college life and the words “Ludlow College” are found in a few images. I tried to keep writing to a minimum as students are mainly motivated to by a magazine by the images on the cover, and the writing I did have I tried to make stand out so at a glance they couldn’t help but read it, and maybe influenced into buying it. I also used certain words influenced by current events that students are experiencing like X-Mas, as this also may help relate the student to the magazine, another option could have been a feature on fees’. I think I represented this social group well, and used many features they would be interested in.

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think the main institutions that would feature my magazine would be colleges, and youth centres/ clubs. As this are where the main people who would be buying my magazine would be and these institutes already feature similar magazines offering similar help. I think especially colleges as it offers educational help as well as features that may interest student’s free time. Although there may be other magazines that better represent the same features in my magazine, I think mine would also be featured as it may serve a better interest to the student than a fully educational magazine.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think the main people that would purchase my magazine could be anyone but mainly, as it’s a student magazine, students between the ages of 16 and 20, male or female, at college or about to enter it.

• How did you attract/address your audience?

In my magazine I included aspects to attract the viewer, such as cover lines that included images and text about articles that may grab the attention of readers. I also used an interesting font and special feature. It uses language that addresses the reader directly as well so they can feel like the magazine is attracting them especially.  I also made sure I have feedback from my audience and adjusted my work to suit it.

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 I used Microsoft word to create my magazine, as I didn’t have the software available to make a proper publisher document, I also took the images on my mobile phone, so I was already used to all the technology that I used.

Finished Layout

This is my finished layout for my student magazine

Unfinished layout

I have not finished this layout yet but is a rough example of what it may look like.

Layout Designs

Textual Analysis

Youth Action (cover)

The masthead is all lower case, this suggests the contents of the magazine will the childlike as there is no grammatical punctuation. But the font of the magazine is very formal and is a serif, this makes the reader think the magazine is very formal and aimed for the elder generations. The masthead uses the image below as an underline, as the bottom of the Y is intruding on the image, this suggests that the contents is a little more formal than the font suggests

An image of a lifeboat's nose emerging from a building fills the front page and automatically draws the attention of the reader to it, as it is where the reader is expected to look first. also in the image is a young person cleaning the nose of the boat, then in the background are other people doing the same. At the top of the image and below the masthead is a strap line saying: 'Young people taking action in their communities'. this is in capital letters and tells the reader what will be in the magazine.

The colour scheme is also the theme colour of the lifeboat. the word 'action' in the masthead is in orange, as well as the strap line. Above the title is the the additional date of the magazine, this is a lot smaller than the title and is also in orange. The font this is a slightly less formal and is in block capitals.

Around the outside of the image is a white boarder. Within the boarder is the masthead, addition and at the bottom the 'National Youth Agency' logo. providing this logo tells the reader the information inside is to be trusted and correct. this could help the reader choose this magazine because it makes them think the information is from a trustworthy source.

First Car (contents)

The first thing the eye is drawn to on the contents page is the images. These tell the reader what is inside the the magazine in a  quick way, which could be the difference between a purchase or not. the images are annotated with a bit about what they are showing and what page they are on. The font is sort of fun looking and tells the reader that its not a very serious magazine, and it has a fun side.

On the left down the side of the page is a bit more on whats inside and where it can be found. Each subject has a heading and says where they can be found. The background around this is white so that it stands out against the black background, which surrounds everything else.

At the bottom of the page it says about who made the document and a little bit about them. there is a small image to go with it, and it keeps with the colour scheme of black and yellow.

Magazine Name

What Should I Call My Student Magazine
	Ink
	Pokezine
	Magamon
	Studentige Magazinai
	Dr Magazine
	MC Student Mag
	Mudent
	LOL
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Comparison of Student Magazines

First Car - The Magazine for Young Drivers.
Features:

• Interview with well known sitcom actors, and famous drivers.
• Competitions.
• Information on upcoming events.
• New cars
• Old cars
• stories from other drivers
• Help for learner drivers
• Suitable drivers adverts
• Info on bikes
• News on current issues
• interesting things to purchase
• 'in' gadgets
• Fashion

Student ID

• Info on teachers
• info on past students
• revision tips
• Whats 'cool' at the moment.
• Upcoming events
• info on past events
• Info on the college
• leavers
• festival essentials
• book club
• tips.

Youth Action

• different articles
• agony aunt
• information on how to do things featured in the articles.

Action Plan

Week 1 - 15th November 2010
- Create Blog
- Comparison of Student Magazines
- Textual Analysis

Week 2 - 22nd November 2010
- Audience Questionnaire
- Layout Designs
- Photo Shoot

Week 3 - 29th November 2010
- Cover and Contents
- Draft Pages

Week 4 - 6th December 2010
- Audience Feedback
- Evaluation

Deadline - 10th December