Evaluation

For this assignment I was asked to design and make a front cover of a college magazine and a draft of the contents page.

I started off by researching different target audiences for different magazines to compare which type of audience my magazine would appeal to. Being a college magazine it may appeal to college teachers or students, I decided to make a magazine cover for a magazine which would appeal to students that are going to enrol in a college soon.

When I had a rough idea of what I wanted my magazine to be I had to apply the conventions used on magazines that are sold nationwide to make it seem more professional. The most used conventions, which I noticed, on a wide range of magazines are:

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  Mastheads- Every magazine has a masthead, this is the main element of any magazine because it shows the reader what they are reading and the genre of the magazine. My masthead is “WYKEEP UP?” It is a play on words, I thought this would be a good idea because students around the age of 16 – 19 use “text talk” to communicate. This can also appeal to teachers because the masthead states “why keep up?” Teachers would want to keep up on the things that go on in college.

• Photos- Every magazine has some sort of photograph on the cover, this photograph usually has some sort of reference to the main story contained within the magazine. Photographs on most of the magazines I researched are usually medium close – ups mainly because they show facial expressions as well as body language.
  

• Stories- Again, every magazine I have researched has the inside stories mentioned on the cover. These stories are used to draw the reader in, they give an idea of what will be included in the magazine.
  After taking these conventions into account I had to make a mock – up of my cover, I made three hand made mock – ups using pen and paper then a final one using Microsoft publisher. I was happy with the final design and decided to base my magazine cover using that one.
  

I aimed my magazine at college students and teachers. I chose this audience because they are the main people you will find at a college. By carefully selecting the correct image, texts and colours I think I may have made my product suitable for teenagers, young adults and teachers.

My final design did not come out exactly how I wanted it to because I tried to get a background behind my main picture but I was too slow and had to hand in my work. If I was to do this assignment again I would space out my time more I would have better results. I am happy with the results I have now but I really feel I can improve on this assignment and make it more effective.