College Magazine Evaluation

1. My magazine represents City College students
by the way I used different codes. I used
symbolic codes like colours in my magazine to
represent what the students said they would
find visually appealing and would like to see on
a magazine. For example, in the results from
my questionnaire, the students said they
would like so see the colour black but also
bright colours. I used both to appeal to my
audience.
The photo on the front cover is a symbolic and
a technical code. I took the photo outside on
campus so my target audience would relate to
it because they would have seen the building
before. I also chose that building to use at the
background to incorporate both dark and
bright colours which the students said they
liked in my research. The student in the photo
is looking right into the camera. Direct gaze
draws the audience in because they feel like
they are being personally addressed by the
person in the photograph.
The coverlines and contents are written codes.
In them I used things from my research that
students said they wanted to read about and
are relevant to young people. Another written
code I used was the language. I used the kind
of language that college students would be
used to reading and didn’t use words that
would confuse them or lose their interest.
The layout I used for both the front cover and
the contents page is a technical code. I chose
to lay out everything in a orderly way to look
more visually appealing. If it were to have
things look out of place it would look messy
and wouldn’t appeal to the audience.
What I’m pleased with on my front cover
is my use of typefaces. I used sans serif
because it looks smoother and more
modern which would appeal to young
people more. Another thing I’m pleased
with is the colour scheme and how it fits
with the main image and is very visually
appealing.
I’m also happy with the layout. The
coverlines aren’t too close to the
student’s face and the image is
positioned in a place that wont
disrupted by anything else on the cover.
What I could improve is the size of the
barcode, price and date. They’re too
big and stand out too much so they
could be made smaller to be less
distracting.
I could also use less exclamation marks
because they are unnecessary and
make the magazine look less
professional .

2. What I am pleased with on my
contents page is how I carried the
colour scheme from the front colour
onto the contents page because it
made them match and look like they
do indeed belong to the same
magazine.
Another thing I’m pleased with is the
layout and how it is tidy and organised
to look more appealing to the eye. It
also matches the tidiness of the front
cover which again reinforces the fact
they belong to the same magazine.
Things I could improve about this
contents page is the spaces
between some of the lines of the
contents because some are further
apart than others and it might
make the page look less organised.
I also could have used more images
to allow the audience to relate
more and want to look at the page
more and continue reading the
magazine.