Evaluation of College Magazine

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product is specifically aimed at people aged between 15-19. This is a social group. Teenagers are represented in my magazine as its a sixth form magazine. This is because most people that go to college are teenagers.

The language I used on my magazine is quite formal, may be not the best language to use whilst aiming at teenagers but the audience will still be able to understand the text and what is put on the magazine. The main image is of a college student in informal clothes, I have used this so that teenagers are represented in my magazine. I have also used represented this by using the image of a student having fun which will make the audience believe that college is a fun place. The secondary audience for my magazine would be older people, they will be attracted to my magazine as older people may also be thinking about college as well. 

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

The institution I would use for my magazine would be IPC media. I have used these as they are one of the leading distributors in the U.K, they are responsible for distributing magazines such as NME and UNCUT. Which of course may be familiar to my target audience. Also they cover a variety of media products and on average are read by 26 million people.

Who would be my audience for my media product? 

There is no set or specific gender for my magazine, both male and female readers would read my magazine. I have tried to target both genders, I have done this by not having a gender specific house style. The target age for my magazine is teenages aged 15-19. I have chose this particular age range as at that age teenagers will start to be thinking about joining a college, also at this age they will be in college as well.

How did you attract/adress your audience?

I attracted my audience by making sure that the main image has relevance to college life, my image is a picture of a college student enjoying himself in the autum leaves. Also i have attracted my audience by including some teen related  articles, such as "latest autumn winter fashion".
On my magazine front cover (which you cannot see due to an error with photo-shop) it has big, bold lettering at the mast head of the cover with says "College Life", this will immediately  grasp the readers attention and make them pick up the magazine off the shelf.


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


Before the starting task I had not used Photo-shop before and so I had to learnt everything in a short period of time before doing this main task. My skills on Photoshop at the bigging were poor, I had no clue on how to use it, but after a few goes at constructing a magazine I have improved a lot over time and this task has given me a chance to try out new things on the programme.  
         

 

Magazine Contents page 1

The heading for this contents page is not very clear. This could be larger.


The main image takes up the majority of the page. This is to attract the audience. Also on the main image it is of happy smiling students, and they are all looking directly at the camera. This shows direct contact with the audience.   

This image is of the architecture around the college. This is used to show how formal the college is and how the reader (if joining) will get to study in this beautiful environment.

 This image is of a woman resting her head on a pile of books used to show the relaxed working environment the college has.

 The background to this page is white. This makes the page look fresh. Also it makes the other images stand out, and brings out the colour from the other images.

The contents page has all the article names split into order and what page they’re on. This is good as it shows the reader the formality of the magazine and that it is organised. 

Magazine Front Cover Features 3

Main image: The main image used on the front page of the magazine is shot in a medium camera angle shot. The main image itself covers the majority of the page. This gives the audience the key ideas about the main article. The significance of the image is further emphasised by its positioning, as it is to with the main article. Also the main image makes direct eye contact with the reader. This is used to create intimacy with the reader and the magazine.   

Layout: The front cover has maintained its familiar layout, which is recognisable to its audience. The magazine has a very formal organisation. This could suggest that it is aimed at more mature readers. The colour scheme of the main article is the same colour as the colour of the persons dress in the main image. This mainly consists of purple and black. This is good as it is very easy on the eye and doesn’t have the reader distracted.    

Anchorage text: The main image is of a woman in a purple dress, the text to the left of the woman explains to the reader why she is on the front cover. This is to lure the reader to reading the article inside.

Sell Lines: A range of other topics are positioned around the main image. These are related to other articles in the magazine which may appeal to other audiences.  

Barcode: The price of this magazine is in a very small font. However the magazine is free. Usually the price is in a small font if the magazine is of an expensive price, and if the magazine is cheap the price is a fairly large font   

Magazine Front Cover Features 2

Main Image: The image is shot in a medium camera shot. The image is chosen because it relates to one of the articles in the magazine. The main image is of a rapper, which is a good choice as many of the college students as they are young and trendy would have heard of him, so with him being on the front cover it will get the chosen audience’s attention when they see it on the shelf. The colours of the clothes that he is wearing are used in the actual colour scheme itself. The colours are white and black. Also because the image is of a trendy person, so the layout and text of the front cover looks trendy and young to reflect on the image and appeal to the chosen audience. 

Strap line: This strapline contains a slogan “Everything hip hop & happening” This slogan is good as it reflects on the main image, because the main image is of a rapper. 

Anchorage text: The main image is of a hip hop rapper. And next to this image is the text which relates to the image and it tells us what’s inside the magazine. This is used to lure the reader into reading the article inside the magazine about them.    

Sell Lines: The sell line contain a lot of taster for the articles inside so the reader will want to read into the articles.  

Bar code and Price: The barcode is situated out of the way of the main image and text. Also the price of the magazine is small as it is expensive, if it was a lower price then the it would be in a bigger font.  

Mgazine Front Cover Features 1

Main image: The main image used in the front cover of this magazine is shot in a medium camera shot. The image is chosen specifically as it relates to one of the articles in the magazine. Also the main image is of a very attractive college student, so by having this people will want to pick up the magazine because of the pretty face. The t-shirt that she is wearing is red and so is the colour of the masthead. So the magazine looks more professional and more people will pick up the magazine. Also the picture is placed in the centre of the page which allows more text to be fit in around the page.

Masthead: This masthead has a decent font size which can be easily seen by a passing person if it were to be on a shelf. It is very eye catching. This has a good colour (red) which enables it to be stand out.

Sell Lines: The main image has lots of sell lines dotted around the cover. The colours of the text are in contrast to the main image and are very attention-grabbing.

Layout: The layout of the magazine makes it more appealing to a college audience. The cover is very formal, all of the text is very organised. The colours of the font stand out from the main image.

Colour scheme: The magazine uses 3 colours and 3 only, these are blue, red and black. By using 3 colours it presents itself as more formal. This is properly to attract itself to a more adult and formal audience.

Barcode: This magazine is priced ‘free'