College Magazine: Questionnaire

I made a questionnaire and handed it out in order to get a better perspective on what I should include on my magazine and make it better. I managed to get around 20 filled out. I am going to include the question and the most popular answers.

1.       How old are you?

The responses varied from 16-47.

2.       Male or Female?

Around 75% of the responses were female.

3.       What would you want to see in a college magazine?

Some of the most popular answer were: Interesting news and facts about college, celebrities and well-known people.

4.       What would make you pick up a copy of the magazine?

Some of the most popular answers were: Recognising someone or something on the cover and interesting sell lines and main image.

5.       How often should it come out?

 The most common answer was monthly.

6.       What size should it be?

Most people said A4.

7.       Would you read a digital copy?

Most people said that they probably wouldn't.

8.       Would you pay for a college magazine? If so, how much?

This question got mixed responses but the most popular price was £1-£2.

9.       What would make you pay for a college magazine?

Most answers included a celebrity or a free gift.

10.   Do you buy magazines? If so, what genre?

Half of the responses said they do. The most popular genres were music and fashion.

From this, I gathered that I'm going to need a good main image that will make people pick the magazine up and interesting sell lines that will make the audience want to read more inside and therefore buy the magazine.

Magazine Templates

Template #1 

Template #2

Template #3

I experimented layouts for my college magazine. I tried the Anchorage title on the most common place first: the left, nearer the bottom. I felt that this was a too common layout so decided to try something different by putting it an the bottom. I like this layout but wanted to try something else. The next place I tried was on the left near the top, which is another common place. I think I will go for something similar to the first position as it looks the most natural and will give the magazine the most realistic effect.

Magazine Analysis: Contents Pages

The coursework for this subject includes creating two contents for two different magazines. In order to get a better perspective on contents pages for magazines, I analyzed three by looking at the key conventions.

VOGUE:

 The masthead on this contents page is the name of the magazine. It's in the largest font on the whole page and stretches across the top. This is to make it stand out and so that the readers are reminded of the magazine title. The title also uses the same font as the front cover title, carrying it's theme, . The rest of the text is in a different font from the title which again is like the front cover. The black font contrasts the white background which also makes it standout.
There is a singular image on this page which although it is rather large, it still doesn't fill up the whole page.
The text is split into four sections: 'Cover Stories', 'Fashion', 'Special Features' and 'Subscribe To Vogue'. Each of the sub titles has red font, this differs from the rest of the text which is black and white.
The other text on the page is at the very top and it's the date and the word 'Contents'. These aren't the most important part of the page so therefore they are smaller than the title but they are key things needed on the page so are at the top and are in the same or bigger than the rest of the text.
The main colours used on the page are black, white and red. The white background with the black text overlaid makes it look sophisticated then the small amounts of red text gives the page a splash of colour without overdoing it. The white text on the image is needed to be white so it contrasts the grey background of the image. In front of each of the article teasers, there is the page number so the reader can easily access a certain article.


SPIN:

The masthead of this page is the magazine title and although it is the largest text on the page, it is still smaller than the front cover title. Also, it is almost in the background as the main image is slightly overlapping it.
The layout of this contents page is pretty basic. The article teasers are all in a singular column on the left with page numbers on the left of each one. Underneath this, there is a blue box for the main article teaser that is also on the cover. The final piece of text on this page is a quot eon the top left from an interview in the magazine. The quote is also from the celebrity in the main image on this page.
For this contents page, there is a main image that dominates the page as it takes up the most room out of everything on the page also acts as a background.
There are a few colours on this page but each are used sparingly. There is red which is in the title and also the front cover title. This is used to continue with the original theme and also music magazine use a lot of red. Another colour is blue. This is used for the page numbers, to underline the subtitle 'FEATURES' and the 'ON THE COVER' box. The third non neutral colour is pink. This is the colour of a prop the model is holding: a ukelele. By this page having these three colours, it brighten the page up and makes it more interesting to look at as the rest of the colours, the main colours, are neutrals such as black for the text and grey for the background.


NME:

The mast head for this page is different to the other contents pages I have looked at. Instead of being th title of the magazine, it's 'INSIDE THIS WEEK'. In other words, it's the contents. They include the date below this large text in a much smaller text. They have taken 7 of the article teasers and added a picture to go along side them. On the pictures, there is the page number and then underneath them is the article teaser which consists of a quote and a follow up underneath. Each of these are sectioned off from the others by thin black lines. The rest of the teasers are in their own section under the sub heading 'PLUS' with the page number and then a teaser word(s) underneath.The other thing on the page is an advert for the magazine itself. This is the biggest block of colour - red. This is to make it stand out and encourage people to look at it, see the deals they are offering and then subscribe to their magazine.
The colour pallet used on this page is basic. It consists of three colours: black, white and red. The background is plain white and all the text - barring the advert and the page numbers - is plain black. There there is the splash of colour on the page with the advert being and also the page numbers being red. This colour is used as it is a typical colour associated with the genre of this magazine which is music.
There are multiple fonts used on this page. Italics and boldness are also used for different pieces of text. This variation makes the page look interesting and stops it from being monotonous. There is also no empty space on this page. This is because there is lots of content in this magazine as it is a popular magazine and the lack of space is to show that the magazine itself is also packed full of content.

Magazine Analysis: Front Covers

The coursework for this subject includes creating two front covers for two different magazines. In order to get a better perspective on front covers for magazines, I analysed a couple by looking at the key conventions. I chose to do three different genres and then compare them to see what makes them unique to their genre.


Music:

 

Fashion:

Entertainment:

 

All three magazines have placed their title in the biggest and boldest font at the top. This is so when placed in a magazine rack, it is still visible and easy to see. The music magazine in particular has its title at the top like the rest but unlike the rest, it is positioned on the left instead of stretching across the page.

They all also have a medium shot of a celebrity in the middle, being the dominant and only image on the front covers. However, magazines such as the one below are known to include other images on their front cover as to attract a wider audience as not everyone may like the celebrity in the centre of the magazine.




The main colour used in the fashion magazine is a dark shade of pink. Pink is common in fashion magazines as it is stereotyped as a females colour and fashion magazines are aimed at woman. The other two magazines both use red in their title; the music as a background and the entertainment as a text. Red is a common colour used on magazines especially music magazines. Apart from the red and pink, the only other colours used for the text are black and white. This is also common as they are colours that are easy on the eye, go well with any main colour and don't stand out as much as the title colour.

Each of the magazines have a title with the largest font followed by an anchorage line with an almost equally as big font. This is so you immediately look at the title first and then the anchorage line before any other text. The anchorage line tells the audience the main theme through the magazine. Such as the fashion magazines is 'MUST-HAVE FALL LOOKS'. This tells the audience that this magazine focus' on the fall fashion. The anchorage line also tells the audience who the main interview inside the magazine will be of. Such as the music magazines is 'PARAMORE' which is the band that have been interviewed inside.

The font used for the title always remains the same on every edition. The rest of the fonts may differ from the title or they may be the same. A magazine can used many different fonts on one single cover. The fashion magazine uses a different font from the title for all the sell lines. The music and entertainment magazine uses the same font for the anchorage line as the title but uses a different font for all the sell lines.  Magazines differ their fonts to avoid it looking monotonous and give some variation.

The bar code is usually positioned at the very bottom of a magazine along with the price and date. This is because the magazine wants the content to be the easiest to see and then if the audience want to buy the magazine then they can search for the price at the bottom. Although magazines are known to make an exception when they have a special offer on the price and will have it placed in a more obvious place nearer the top so that the audience see it easily and get persuaded to buy the magazine.
position of bar code and price

On the fashion magazine, there are many sell lines, filling up all the space around the main image whereas the entertainment magazine has more available space as they have positioned their sell lines either at the bottom or grouped together at the side.