Evaluation

When producing and designing my product one of the main things i had to keep in mind was my target audience. The target audience for my college magazine is wyke college students both male and female around the age of 16-19. I wanted to target this age range and types of people as students are going to be the main people who would see the college magazine and most students age ranges from 16-19. To attract my target audience i knew i had to make my college magazine look interesting and attractive to the eye, therefore this would catch the students attention and make them want to read the college magazine more, to do this i needed to take into consideration how images, logos and fonts would look on the page and how they would be represented.

Firstly the main image on the front cover of my college magazine is supposed to be showing students enjoying college life and basically having fun, i choose to make my image like this as i think this would definitely grab my target audiences attention. On the page, my image of the students looks bright and colorful an as if the students are enjoying themselves and having a good time. I wanted my image to have an ideology of students been happy and enjoying the place where they are. When taking my images i asked the models in the images to act as though i was not there taking the photograph so i could get them looking as naturally happy as possible as i did not want the image to look too arranged and as if they where made to pose like that for a reason. I took the images to the side of the Ash building at wyke college as i felt this was a highly appropriate location seeing as my college magazine was targeted for wyke students.

The fonts on my college magazine are just plane and bold, i wanted them to be bold as i think bold font really catches the audiences attention, however i do have italic fonts on my front cover for the selling line and the dateline and also the price this is because these things are not hugely what the audience will need to notice first therefore i did not feel that they should be outstanding and in bold. I mainly have only used font on my front cover for cover-lines and subsidiary lines. The main cover-line on my magazine is the biggest font and the most obvious this is because i want it to stand out against the rest of the cover lines as i would like my target audience to be intrigued to find out what the story is about.

Choosing colours for my magazine was quite a complicated choice as i wanted something that was a good contrast with the main image but also appealing to the target audience. As you can see in my final version of the college magazine i have chosen a white background, this is because with the image been bright i think the white background contrasts with it extremely well and makes the image much more eye-catching, also the wyke logo which i used for my masthead stands out very clearly therefore my target audience will be able to see it properly. Also white is an appropriate colour for both males and females and font normally shows up well against it.

I created my product by using DTP and photoshop. In photo shop i edited the wyke logo and added a selling line and a dateline i then imported it into DTP, in photoshop i also edited my chosen image in photoshop to make it brighter. I the used DTP to construct my finished college magazine by adding cover-lines and images of barcodes. One problem i had when making my college magazine was that because my image was bright it was hard to get font colours to contrast out and stand out well against it, therefore i had a limited colour choice.

Overall i think my final product represents that target audience that i wanted it to as i have planned and produced it properly to the audience. The language, image, fonts and construction of my layout all seem to be appropriate to my target audience however i do feel like i could have spent a bit more time making the text show up better against the main image, this is something i will defiantly take into high consideration in the next task i do.

mock up of my contents page

This is the mock up of my contents page. I created this mock up in DTP, i used basic things such as word art and the square space tool. The mock up shows where the images and list of contents would actually be if i where to make the real contents page for the college magazine.

final college design front cover

This is my final product of my college magazine. I took all of my idea together and created my final piece by using photoshop and DTP. The first thing i did when creating my college magaizine was the masthead, i saved the wyke logo as an imaged and then impropted it into photoshop and then edited the text 'college magazine' in. Underneath the logo to the left i then wrote the selling line for the college magazine which is 'students number one magazine'. To the right of the masthead i then put the date line and price which is 'october, 2009 95p". I then saved this and opend it into DTP on a white background. I then opend the image i wanted to use into photoshop and resized and changed the lighting of it to make it brighter i then saved my image and imported it into DTP. After this i then created my main coverline which reads'wyke students enjoying their first term?' underneath this i then wrote some subsidary lines. Then to the left i did another coverline in orange text reading 'Halloween party' i then also wrote subsidary lines underneath.I Also put an image of a barcode onto my college mgazine to give it a more realistic veiw

Mood board

This is the mood board i created for my college magazine. My mood board shows the ideas i had in mind for my college magazine.

Images;

For my images my ideas, where to get a group of my friends outside the loaction of the college and take photos of them looking like they are enjoying them selevs in a natural and not forced way, this is because i want the images to catch the audiences eyes and make them want to read it. When i took my photos i got some of my friends together and just told them to act act as though i wasn't taking a photo this way i got the natural happiness look. The four images on my mood board are the 4 best images i got.

Colours;

The colours i have thought about for my front cover are mainly navy and purples, however i am thinking about having the background of my front cover white as i think this would be a much better contrast with the images i will be using.

On my mood board i have also looked at cover-lines and masthead's, for the masthead i will defiantly want to have the Wyke college logo. My main cover-line will be something to do with half term as this will fit in well with the students looking happy in the digital image.

college magazine draft

this is a basic layout of my college magazine front cover, it shows where i want my masthead, main image, main cover line and other cover lines. This layout also shows where my selling line, dateline and barcode will be.

plans

These are some of the plans for my college magazine. I have decided on what i want my main image to be. I would like 5 girls to be stood inside the college, with folders for props. I have chosen different types of girls so that the magazine will appeal to a different range of people. I have stated that the masthead on my college magazine will be big and bold reading "wyke college" and will also be in dark purple. The main cover-line on my college magazine will be "Students enjoying their first term". I would like the background for my magazine to be a dark navy colour or white as i think these would be a good contrast to the purple colour of the masthead.

The target audience for my college magazine is going to be students in the college. Therefore i need to make the magazine seem more fun and aimed more at teenagers, rather then been more sophisticated and serious. I will aim my college magazine for around the ages of 16-19. When making my magazine i will have my target audience in mind so i can make it appeal as much as possible.

The software i am going to use to create my college magazine front cover is photoshop and DTP. I will be using photoshop mainly to edit my images for example brighten them and crop and resize them. Then will use DTP to construct my finished version of the college magazine front cover.

key concepts

The media concepts can be listed in the word LIIAR
The L stands for Language- the language that is used is media
The I stands for Institution - The producer of the component
The other I stands for Ideology - Ideas reflecting the aspirations of a social group, class or culture.

The A stands for Audience-who it is targeted at and aimed towards
The R stands for Representation- how the character is represented

when desiging my magazine i need to take these key concepts into consideration

Research and planning

for the first part of my research i am going to research into other magazines, this is so i can get an idea of what type of things are important to include on a magazine. I am going to compare a gossips magazine to a college magazine so then i can get an idea of what i am going to need to include for my front cover of my college magazine.












This is cosmopolitan. Cosmopolitan magazine is aimed for the female generation aged around 16+, the masthead is bold and quite a simple font this catches the readers attention, it is also colourful which also makes it seem more appealing to the audience. The magazine cover has a main image of Scarlett Johansson, the image stands out and would make an impact on the news stand as the woman has eye contact and stands out clearly. This magazine also has a lot of cover lines which are distributed around the magazine, mainly around the image. Also taking up a lot of space on the front cover is the main cover line 'sexy eyes' it is in two layers and in two different light colours, this shows up well against the white background of the magazine and is still bold enough to grab the readers attention.

This is secondary magazine. Secondary magazine is a college magazine therefore it is targeted towards teachers or anyone with a job or interest in the teaching profession. The masthead is bold and simple to the point but also colourful so still attracts the eye. The college magazine has a main image of two regular students of a mixed ethnicity this is promoting that anyone can get a good education and no-body is excluded. The front cover of the college magazine has one main cover line which in turn is the only cover line, it is in a plain bold font and reads 'challenging stereotypes' which is significant to the image. The main cover line is also in Yellow which attracts the reader and is a good contrast to the darker background.


Things i should include on my college front cover:

• Bold Masthead
• Main coverline
• Limited coverlines
• A main image of students(try to get them looking different)
• Date and price
• barcode
• Colours and fonts that will attract the audience but also be a good contrast to the magazine.