2. How does my Magazine Represent Particular Social Groups
Front Cover: Using a student on my front cover created a
representative link to my target audience which is
students. This means that there is a relatable
element to this cover. Other students will see this
cover and mentally link that one of their own is on
the cover, which make them believe that the
contents of the magazine is going to be linked to
their own self. I chose a female to be on my cover so
that any girls that may come across the magazine
will not think that it is purely targeted towards the
male gender.
From my questionnaire data I summarised that the
majority of individuals that were surveyed were
male. Because of this my results were slightly
swayed to be preferentially male; as a result of this I
chose to include a stereotypically ‘boy-ish’ colour
and did so with the blue font. I chose the orange to
go with it as the two colours combine quite well and
it is a neutral colour, which means that if a girl
picked up this magazine they wouldn’t
automatically assume that it is a magazine for boys.
I chose to place my barcode in the lower
left third, which admittedly follows
convention but it’s position on the page is
clear because of the background colour.
The background of my front cover
depicts a generic, classroom style
computer room. I thought that this
would be the best background to have as
many of the students will recognise the
set up, which will in turn add relatability
for the audience.
On my front cover I have the student dressed
in a smart but casual attire. This fashion choice
shows my audience that it could just as easily
be them sat in front of the computer. As an
underlining factor it also shows my student
audience the correct style that they
incorporate when dressing themselves for
college.
3. I have made my ‘Contents’ title large so that
it obvious to readers what the purpose of
this page is. I have also kept the font the
same as the previous font I have used on
both my front cover and the rest of my
contents page.
I have used this picture because it shows a
student revising in the library. This can depict
that even though college can be fun and
about socialising, it is also important to carry
out work in order to do well. I situated the
location of the picture in the library because
the library can be the perfect location for
students to carry out their work for their
exams. This picture also relates to my “Top
10 Exam Tips That Will Help Get You Through
A-level” cover line.
I chose this background colour
because I thought that it looked
modern and professional. The
colour also makes the text stand out
and easy to read.
This picture was used for my
contents page because it is a picture
that I took at a football ground. It is
related to the “Super Saturday”
cover line.
I used both the same colour and
font for my contents page cover
line. I did this so that there was
consistency and to keep it neat
looking in appearance.
I included City College Norwich logo
because this magazine is designed for
City College students. This will mean
that if it wasn’t already clear to the
audience that this magazine has been
produced by the college.
Contents Page:
This is a picture that represents students
working in a lab. It is related to the cover
line that states “Science Can Come To
You”. Because the picture has not been
staged it show genuine students hard at
work but also talking (possibly about the
work), which shows that there is a social
entity to the college.
4. What Aspect of my Work am I Pleased With and Why
Front Cover:
An aspect of my front cover that I am pleased about is the name that I
have used. When I reviewed the work of other I found their names to
be very generic and a little predictable, they also tended to have very
little meaning. Where as my title does have meaning and is unlike
anyone else’s.
Another feature of my front cover that I am happy with is the way the
background picture has been constructed. By this I am referring to the
setting, the student I used and event the at which the shot was taken.
The setting of the picture is a computer classroom which show that the
college is in touch with contemporary technology, which can be seen as
a positive advertisement. The student was in the picture was very good
at posing in a natural way so that the picture didn’t look forced. The
angle of the shot complies with convention as it is a medium close up
shot but it also complementary to the student in the picture.
A final Aspect of my front cover that I like is the combination of the two
colours that I have used as a part of the text on the cover. The two
colours are complementary towards each other and make the text
stand out on top of the picture. Because there are a multitude of
colours situated in the background picture the text had to be particular
colours in order to stand out.
Contents Page:
A feature of my contents page that I am pleased with is how I have
continued to use the same colours for the text. This has instated a
uniformed characteristic. This adds an entity of neatness and
professionalism.
Another detail that I am happy with is how all of my pictures are in
some way related to the cover lines or to the college. This relatable
aspect ties both the magazine and the college neatly together. In other
words it adds a sense of relatability to the college magazine.
In addition I am also fond of is the positioning of my cover lines on my
contents page. They defy convention of a stereotypical contents page.
In my opinion they act as “stepping stones” for the audience’s eyes,
taking them gradually fro the pictures in the top third of the page to
the bottom.
A final aspect of my contents page that I like is how I have chosen a
duller background in contrast to my busy front cover background
image. This choice of a dull background allow the text to stand out and
adds contrasting factor between the contents page and front cover. The
background also makes the picture that I have used stand out in a
sense that your are drawn to them.
5. What Aspects of my Work Could be Improved on and Why
Front Page:
An aspect of my front cover that I could improve on would be the fact
that I forgot to add both a date and an issue number. I understand that
I would have marks deducted if I did this on my music magazine for my
main project so this means that I will make sure that at least one of
these will be on the front cover of my music magazine.
Another feature of my front cover that I could improve upon would be
that I feel I marketed the magazine too much towards boys over girls.
This has made my magazine slightly more niche instead of being
something that can apply to the masses. A way that I could make my
magazine less “boy-ish” would be through changing the colour of the
text. In my questionnaire for my music magazine I could include a
question that could gain data on my target audience’s preference on
this factor.
A final detail of my front cover that I could improve would be possibly
decreasing the complexity of the title. Even though it is un-generic, I
gathered from the peer feedback that I got that it was possibly too
complex and that the majority did not understand what it meant. I
could correct this by simplifying the title I use for my music magazine
but I will still try and keep it un-generic and different from other
magazines that I have come across.
Contents Page:
An aspect of my contents page that I would improve on would be how my
picture are laid out. Due to time restraint I did not have enough time to
create a flat plan for my contents page, which meant that I had to
improvise on the day of its creation. This meant that the sizes of the
pictures are uneven in my opinion as they are all different sizes although I
did try and work around this by positioning them in a certain order that
flowed with the position of the text.
Another aspect of my contents page that I would improve upon would be
clarifying the pictures, the City College logo in particular, which is slightly
pixelated due to it being stretched to fit. I also found that the way the
picture has been cropped makes it slightly off centre admits its white
background.
A final detail of my contents page that I would improve would be the
colour of the background. Although the background does make both eh
pictures and the text stand out, I do not feel as though it follows the
uniform of that the front cover has set as there is no hint of that colour on
the cover. Perhaps a darkened red colour would have been better as it
matches the colour of the students shirt.
