This document summarizes Jack Ellingham's preliminary task of designing a magazine for university students aged 18-21. It describes the target audience as coming from middle-class families and fitting the categories of "aspirers" and "individualists." The contents and layout aim to portray students as studious and hardworking. The document evaluates positives and negatives of the front cover and contents page designs and discusses skills learned from the process, including time management, using Microsoft Publisher, and blogging.

1. Evaluation of Preliminary Task
Jack Ellingham

2. My Magazine
CAMPUS is a student magazine that is aimed at university
students aged 18 – 21. My secondary audience would be
prospective university students, who are interested in student
life.
As stated in my blog, my target audience have a social class of
C2, D, E and fit into the category of aspirers and individualists.
This is because the majority of students are
unemployed, however, come from a middle class family as
university is becoming ever more expensive. They are aspirers
because they want to be successful; this is shown in my
magazine front cover as I have used a sell line that relates to
their own situation: ‘STILL HITS THE BIG BUCKS’. University
students also have to be very independent as they live by
themselves and have to fend for themselves. This is why my
audience members are individualists because they are in
control of their lives and the magazine also reflects this. This
is shown through the main image as the model is in the
library, making her seem hardworking and determined.
My magazine represents students as studious and
indomitable, this breaks the archetype of how the media
represents the average student. I have broken this because
my magazine isn’t aimed at the general public and students
wouldn’t want to read a magazine that shows them in a bad
light.

3. My Contents Page
The layout of contents page breaks the typical
conventions of a contents page. This is because I have
opted for a layout that connotes a home made feel. This
approach makes the magazine appear more personal
and I liked how, when I asked my target audience
group, they felt that the magazine was made for them
and only them.
The contents page represents students as, again, hard
working because a university student would have a
cluttered pin board – telling us that they have a lot of
work. I have not made my contents page appear busy
this would make it look ugly and would make the
audience feel overpowered by the page.
If I went on to make my contents page, the images I
selected also represent the students as assiduous and
hard working as they show students working and looking
smart. This also makes the audience look up to the
models as they give the impression that they have
successful.

4. Positives and Negatives
Front Cover:
I like how the bright orange attracts the audience into the front cover and the selected puff and sell
lines. However, the left hand side is predominantly orange and I believe that the magazine would look
more balanced and more attractive as the right hand side is fairly dark. To solve this problem, I could
change the main image to one that has a plainer background, this would make the sell lines easier to
read and more obvious to the audience what’s in the magazine.
I also like my masthead font, I think that it represents student life as it is a bold font that connotes
independence . However, the colour (black) that I used is very dark and dingy; this, although it makes it
very clear to the audience what the magazine is called I do believe that I could change the colour to
make the title pop out of the page and make the page appear more attractive .
Contents page:
My contents page resembles a university students pin board, to achieve this I have put the features on a
slight angle which makes the page look home made and more personal; allow the audience to relate to
the magazine more. However, one problem with this is late the page may become too cluttered. If I was
to go on and create the actual contents page , I would make a conscious effect to make it clear and easy
to read, however, for the page to look effective there would have to be a lot on the page. This is a
vicious circle that could make the page really intriguing, as it allows the audience to explore the
page, however, with too much going on, the audience may feel overwhelmed and put the magazine
down.

5. What I have Learnt
Throughout the process of the preliminary task I have learnt many skills that will benefit the final
outcome of my AS coursework. I have learnt skills such as;
1. Time Management
Surprisingly I have kept on top of all my work and have managed to hand in my coursework early.
However, I have learnt that in order to complete my work I have to set my self personal objectives
in order to get the chosen job done.
2. Using Microsoft Publisher
To create my final front cover and contents page layout, I had to learn how to use publisher. I had never
used publisher before and wanted to use in order to expand my knowledge of DTP. I really enjoyed
using publisher as it has many tools that allowed me to create my front cover and I look forward to
using it for my final coursework.
3. Blog
I have also set up and run my own blog so I could present my work online. I have never made a blog
before so this experience was completely new. I had some trouble at first, however, once I got the
hang of it I was soon creating tabs and pages so my work could be presented in a chronological
order.