RESEARCH!

For some research I looked into what certain colours mean, this helped in the induction last task I did because the colours I used gave out a certain message. I went onto Google and put in "colour meanings" and these are some of the results.

This will help me to create a well suited colour scheme and house style.

This will help me stick to L.I.I.A.R or Language Institution Ideology Audience and Representation. The colours will appeal to certain audiences, for example pink is stereotypically more appealing to girls, and black is more appealing to "Goths" or "Emos".

MORE RESEARCH-

all the magazines I have looked at have certain conventions which seem to meet the preffered criteria for College Covers.

1. issue date

2. mast head (title)

3. anchorage (text that ties down the meaning of the image)

4. banner (across the cover)

5. direct mode of address. (were the writing has calls the audience "you")

6. house style (a consistant use of colour and fonts)

7. synergy (using the mag to sell another product)

8. puff (promotional advert for another service, government or council of that are)

this cover has all of the normal conventions of a college magazine, the issue date is above the barcode, this suggests that this magazine has a price, this is different to lots of magazines, depending on the contents of the magazine itself. The mast head is large and bold sticking out well from the background, it also goes with the 'football theme' of the cover. The anchorage is "the SURF THING" showing that the new sport featured is surfing. The banner is in a bold orange and although it doesnt draw the viewers attention immediately, it still stands out advertising 'OLYMPIC PREVIEW'. Housestyle is current with this cover, yellow, blue, white and orange are used, all these colours go well together and match. This makes the magazine a lot more astetically pleasing. There isnt much direct mode of address, but the article titles are in reference to the buyers as they are 'recruiting'. Puff could be represented by the NFL advertisement in the top left corner.

The language used with this cover is well suited to the audience it is targetting, it talks about different sports and different sports players that people buying this magazine will be aware of. It is simple and straight forward this may be because people who are interested in sports are stereotypically not as intellegent as other college students.

 Institutes involved in this magazine are sports based, NFL for example, hence the NFL advertisement in the corner, they will also have had a say in the final print out, as they are represented by this magazine.

Sports ideology is heavy within this cover, this is because it is a magazine aimed directly at sports students.

Audience is mainly sports students but could just be people interested in sports or a passer by intrigued by an article or picture of a sports person.

Sports people are represented immediately, with the images used. One of a potential sports player with sports wear and equipment in the shot, and one of a famous sports person.



This college magazine also has most of the expected conventions included on the cover. It has a very clear masthead which could also be classed as the banner of the cover because it goes right across the top of the magazine. There are lots of sub headings which clearly highlight the articles included inside. It does not have any specific direct mode of address, but it does have some college related language such as the age range 15 being mentioned. The word "campus" and "networking" all words students would relate to easily. Issue date is also included here and a barcode again telling me that this magazine has a price. This could contradict my other research with my survey that will be included later. There is no synergy used on this particular example, this could because the college funds the magazine by itself, which means it does not need any funding from advertising etc, this also excludes 'puff' because the magazine seems to be funded by the college it is writing about.

The image used on this cover is one of a student, this helps imagine the sort of student that go to this particular college. The girl in the picture is wearing a college t-shirt which helps connect the magazine to that specific college, as the masthead used "COLLEGE" could be seen as very vague.  The background is one of a park or perhaps a college field, this represents freedom as if going to this college or reading this magazine will lead to a bit of freedom for the reader. This also clashes with the colour t-shirt the student is wearing. The red of her top has connatations passion happiness and hope, this all makes the reader invisage all these marvellous feelings come from attending or reading this college magazine.

The housestyle is consistant and clear. Makes the cover look professional, the colours of her clothes and the colour of the fonts all match which give the impression of fluency throughout the magazine.



For help with ideas with our magazines, we viewed other college's examples, this helped give an idea of what works and what doesn't. It gave a view on what colours looked good, and how the layout should be. this is the Grimsby Institue magazine cover, the bad points of this were things such as the colour theme. The colours used were fairly basic which gave the impression of unprofessionalism. Also the colour of the people for example are two different shades which also represents unprofessionalism. The images used are un related to college in the sense that because they are cartoons and this does not represent a college. A good point of this cover is the logo is visible, this helps make the magazine cover become familiar.
There is no issue date this immediately goes against the conventions of all the other magazines. The mast head is not in the normal "conventional" place that the masthead is normally placed, this could be seen as a good thing as it is edgey and modern which could reflect the college is is represnting. The web address is placed in a very unstructured area which makes the cover look unprofessional and scruffy. There is no Direct mode of address, again distancing the magazine from students. Lack of synergy and puff shows that the magazine isn't well thought out or well funded all because of the unprofessionalism of the rest of the cover. The font used is a harsh colour which may affect people wanting to read this magazine from first looks. The image used is highly edited which again gives connatations of unprofessionalism. For the housestyle the colours do match and look good together. The image also fits into the housestyle in the sense that the figures in the image are similiar colours to the writing. This housestyle however does not carry over onto the contents page.......
 
Although the next page does have the same fonts and colours as the front cover the images are not similiar as they are photographs not edited images. The same masthead/ logo is used though this creates familiarity between the front cover and this page.
The contents page on the other hand is completely different to both the cover and the inside page. Although the same slogan used on the front cover is at the bottom this is the only visual link to the front page. The colours are different and the images are unprofessional. Image lay out is not well though out as the images overlap each other making it look scruffy and hurried. Pinks and greens are used for the font colour and this is completely different to the blue and white used on the front cover. All this helps me think about what i would like my cover to look like.



This is also very basic which gives the representation of unprofessionalism like the Grimsby one, the colours are very basic and the layout isn't very well thought out. Although the colours connatate feelings of simplicity and peacefulness they are TOO simple in this sense. Just by looking at the cover you can tell it was made in a simple document. There is an issue date but this contradcits the photo because although it may be spring when the mag is issued, the photo represents deep winter. Without reading the caption to the photo were it tells you this is a photo of trip taking place in the present, you question why such an image is used. Also this image does not represent college life or students at all. This could be seen as negative because students will not realise this magazine is about there college. Putting "FREE" on the magazine is also contradictory because if you do not want to charge for the magazine do not put "FREE" just do not put a price on at all. Listing the featured articles at the bottom is also too basic and boring. This will not capture the eye of a busy student.

As with the Grimsby Institute magazine, this contents page does not follow the housestyle established on the front cover, although black and white is used here, so is green which seems odd as there is no green on the cover. The images used are of poor quality in the sense that bits of the people in them are cut off, for example the girl in first image has had her right hand cropped off and this just looks rubbish, like they havent put much effort into these images at all. Also the framing of each image is different, some frames are thicker than others again conveying a lack of effort or skill when making this magazine. Similiar to the Grimsby Mag East Riding Mag is too basic and tacky  looking.

These are all things i have decided to either avoid or include in the making of my magazine cover and contents page.

 i used this little survey to try and meet the requirement of my target audience, I went round my media class and asked them to fill in which colour shceme and which font they preferred on the sheet and then asked them to look through some photos and asked them to choose which they thought was the best and most appropriate for a college magazine. This helped me realise what my target audience prefer and this will lead to a more successful making of my magazine.

The majority vote went on the third set of colours, and the third Font style. The photos were less precisely chosen upone therefore i will choose which i will use out of the ones most popular.