Final Design

Here are my final designs for my front cover and contents page. :)

Final Evaluation

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

The key purpose for a student magazine is to entertain students, and to keep them up to date with useful information. There needs to be a variety of different issues in the magazine, ranging from humour and education to music, which may be advertised using cover lines. The front cover needs to include a catchy title, in an attractive font. The colour schemes of the cover must be eye catching and appealing, to make readers want to pick it up. The magazine cover picture needs to be either funny, or something that would relate to a typical student; for example, a picture of some students on a night out would work well because that is what most students do on the weekend. When researching different magazines before I produced my final design, I noticed that there was a lot of information on the front cover and especially the contents page, which I decided against as I didn’t want to clutter my page with information that wasn’t needed. In my magazine cover and contents, I have tried to include all of these conventions to ensure that students would want to pick up my magazine and buy it.

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

Both my front cover design and my contents page are very simple designs, yet effective and would appeal to my suited target audience which was 16 – 18 year olds.

I think if my target audience was to just girls then I would have used perhaps fashion, boys, and make up and cover lines. However my intended audience was simply 16-18 year olds, therefore I had to decide on subjects that would relate to most students.


• How did you attract/address your audience?

It is important that the contents of student magazines are again striking and interesting. If a student has picked up your magazine, then that means that they were attracted by the cover, if they then open it to find a dull and tedious contents page then it would be a waste of time. The contents should be well laid out and organised, but not in a boring list. It should also include the same or a similar style to the cover, and it should perhaps include pictures about what is included in the magazine.

I wanted to include a bright colour on the front cover to make it stand out, so I chose the colour orange. I then decided that I didn’t want my magazine to come across as childlike and immature, so I chose a more sophisticated colour to use with orange, which was purple. These contrasting colours work really well together because not only do they catch your eye when looked at, they also compliment each other, which gives my magazine cover a stylish and classy look. I have used the same colour schemes and layout style for the contents of my magazine which I think gives a neat and organised appearance. I have used a simple bold font for all of the writing, which is easy on the eye and doesn’t over complicate my page with fancy writing, and gets straight to the point.

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

The company that may be interested in distributing my magazine could be the college or student council for students to buy.

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine represents a variety of social groups, which I ensured by including a range of cover lines that would draw in a collection of different types of teenagers. For example, my cover lines cover real life, love and romance, and exam stress – ‘how to prepare for exams’.

I have included pictures of the college bash on my cover, which I think would automatically make any student want to pick it up just to see if they were in it, so social groups was not much of an issue whilst designing my cover. I didn’t want to put too much writing on my cover so I just chose a few main headlines that were the most interesting; I think that if the cover was full of writing and information then it would bore students and make them not want to read it.

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

I only used Microsoft publisher to create my designs, and then obviously a camera to take my images. I also used the internet to get some images for my contents page (love hearts etc),

and to research existing student magazines. I have also recorded all of my findings and research onto a blog and asked for audience feedback, to ensure my magazine front cover and contents are as good as they could be.

Final Contents Page Design

I decided to choose the first design, as it is easier to read the information and has a much more neat layout. The second design has too much colour in it, and the numbers on the contents do not match with the writing. Also there are no pictures in the second design, and I like the idea of pictures to attract the audiences attention into reading it. I thought that there may be too much white in the background, but I think it makes the page looks much more fresh and easier for the eye to read. The first design looks far more sophisticated and organised, and I am happy to use that as my final piece.

Contents Page Designs

I need to keep the same colours and style for my contents page, as my front cover. Here are some initial ideas, any feedback about which ones you prefer and why would be great! Thank you!!

Front Cover Final Design

I decided to choose the second design for my front cover, as I think it looks more sophisticated and the other design was perhaps a bit child like. I like the contrast of the orange and purple and I think it makes the magazine cover really appealing and would hopefully attract alot of students. I also think that there would have been a problem trying to find a picture that would fit into the first design.





The cover lines that I have chosen, could relate to many teenagers and I have tried to use a range of topics to attract as many people as I can - love, humour, exams etc. I have used a black and bold font because I want the covers lines to be noticeable and readable for the audience.




I am happy with my front cover design, and now need to create some ideas for contents page designs using the same colour schemes and style.

First Drafts

Here are two drafts I have uploaded, they are both different in their colour schemes but have the same layout. The first one is very bright and vibrant which may attract young readers, however the second one is more sophisticated and has much more subtle colours. Can you let me know what you think please, thank you :)

Layout Designs

Here are four initial design ideas that I have uploaded for the main layout for the front cover of my magazine. Any feedback from the audience would be a great help, such as what you would like to see and what would be most eye catching. I will also be incorporating the price of the magazine, issue number, bar code, and any other extras on the front cover. A main photograph will also be taking up most of the central space as a background for the cover.

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Weekly review

This week I am pleased with my progress as I have managed to keep up to date with my action plan and get everything that I wanted to do, done. I have researched two existing magazines, taking into account the use of colour, layout, fonts and images they have included. This helped me into thinking of ideas for what my magazine cover and contents will be like, and what will make it appealing to my audience. I have decided on a target audience, which is 16 - 18 year olds. I also created an audience questionnaire that people filled out - this helped me decide what to write for my cover lines and contents pages. I also had some spare time to prepare what kind of photos I want to take in my photo shoot next week. I do not feel like I am behind at all with my plan, and I hope next week goes just as well! :)

Target Audience

From my questionnaire results, I have decided that the most suitable audience to aim for is 16 - 18 year olds, as all of the people who filled it out, were of that age. It would also be a lot easier for me because I am 16, so I can relate my magazine cover design to what would attract me to buy it and what I would like to read. I will use bright colours in my front cover, perhaps graffiti style writing, and teenage related images to ensure that my magazine catches the eye of the youthful audience.

Textual Analysis - Smaart Talent

The picture on the cover of this magazine is of a young woman blowing a bubble out of gum, this instantly portrays fun and youthfulness, which would make teenagers want to read it. A graffiti style font is used above the two cover lines to relate the magazine to a teenagers style. However a simple colour scheme of brown, pink and white is used; this makes the magaine come accross as sophisticated, classy and slightly more grown up than many other student magazines.

The picture is a midshot, and the girl in the picture is looking straight at the camera, this conveys eye contact to try and engage the audience. There is a double meaning of the word 'pop' on the front cover of the magazine; popping of the chewing gum, and pop music that the article will be about. The title of this magazine is 'Smaart Talent'. This is a clever title as it is aimed to make readers think they will be smart if they read the magazine, and also the word 'art' is encorporated in the title which might give the audience a creative boost if they read it.

Bold fonts are mostly used to again attract the potential audiences attention and encourage them to buy your magazine, and around the title there is a shiny effect which catches your eye as you look at it. The cover lines on the magzine are all based around the theme of education - careers, uni, courses etc, which furthermore would make teenagers feel intelligent if they were to read it.

Textual Analysis - Student ID

I decided to research and analyse some existing student magazines; this one is called Student ID and is a student magazine for Ludlow College.

I think the yellow and black contrasting colours work really well together as they grab the eye of the audience and make you want to read it. I also think that bright colours such as yellow, give the magazine a youthful and energetic feel which would again attract teenage students.

The cover lines on the magazine are interesting and interest the readers into reading more, enhanced by the use of bold fonts. The pictures that have been used on the cover, are of students having a good time on a night out. The camera shots that have been used are mid close ups so you can see the expressions on their faces and to portray that they are all having a good time.

The whole magazine at first appearance has a teenage theme to it, and the image on the left is some sort of spinning wheel which again portrays fun and movement.

Audience Questionaire

Could you copy and paste this and answer the questions to help me with my student magazine task please :)

Age?

• 14 - 16
• 16 - 18
• 19 +

Gender?

• Male
• Female

Do you currently read any student magazines at the moment? If yes, which ones?

• No
• Yes .............................

Which of the following subjects would you most like to read about?

• Music/Concerts
• Love
• Education/College
• Fashion
• Going out
• Film/Television
• Real life/Embarrassing stories
• Other - Please state

How much would you be willing to pay for a student magazine?

• Less then 50p
• 50p - £1
• £1 - £2
• Other - please state

Any other comments?

Thank you :)

Action Plan

For my first media course work project, I have been asked to design and create a front cover and contents page for a student magazine. To ensure I will be aiming for the right target audience, I will research existing magazines to take into account what kind of layout, colour and context is being used. My main task later on, is to create a music magazine, therefore I don't want to use all of my ideas on this task, so i will have to be careful which elements I choose to include. I have four weeks in total to finish my front cover and contents page, and here is my action plan to ensure I will keep up to date, with the task given.

Week 1

In the first week I will research existing student magazines to give myself ideas and inspiration for mine. I then need to decide on a target audience to ensure I attract the right type of people. I will also create an audience questionnaire, and ask people to fill it out, in order to know what people will want to read about in my magazine. If I still haven't thought of a name for my magazine, I may also create a poll with various magazine names I could use and see which name receives the most votes. If I have time I will look through some mock designs so I know what to expect in my final piece.

Week 2

This week I will begin to design my front cover and contents and experiment with different fonts and layouts. Once I have decided on what image I would like to be on my front cover, I will need to organise a photo shoot perhaps with my friends, so I have a number of pictures to choose for my main front cover picture. I will then probably have to edit these photographs in a computer programme, tweaking them and making them how I want them to be. In addition to this, I will need to decide which colours I will use - complementary or clashing, however this will depend on which colours are in my photograph.

Week 3

By week 3 I will have hopefully completed my first draft. I will then ask for feedback from my decided target audience and make any necessary changes to my front cover and contents. By the end of this week my aim is to be completely happy with my designs for the cover and contents.

Week 4

In the final week I will finish any unfinished work and also I need to evaluate my final piece, and answer any questions about the task that I will have just completed. I will read over all of my research and work and make any necessary changes. I have now completed task 1 :)