Magazine Evaluation

  In this topic, I was meant to create a college magazine using the conventions of existing models which are available for other students. I began the project with research which was based on the film magazine Empire, and the music magazine Q. By this, I annotated their work by stating the standard conventions of any other magazine front cover. Mainly, I learned that the primary information is held in the left third side of the page so that it is faster to read for the consumer.

  I then went on to annotate a contents page, and in addition, the same concepts were used in editing. Most images are shown on the right side of the page. Annotating the contents page was a useful procedure as there is this page in any magazine in the market. Contents pages help the reader navigate their way to certain features which are inside the content itself. Furthermore, I performed a LLIAR analysis to the front page of Empire magazine to understand the basic features.

  Finally, I began creating my main piece which is the front cover. All of the images that I have used are taken by me except the barcode used at the bottom right. I took a photograph of a student outside of the Oak area of college whilst holding books and folders to make the concept of the magazine clear to a possible consumer. I used a medium shot so that the facial expression and work is the clearest feature in the cover. I believe this is a very good image to use as a cover because it is relevant to the genre. I titled the magazine as ‘W’ as it is straightforward, easy to remember and has relevance to the name of the college. I made small headings to reel the consumer into the idea of purchasing a college magazine with articles. In addition, I placed the idea of ‘free posters’ and ‘50% off subscriptions’ as a selling technique which would  make the idea of buying more appealing to the reader, as this is a realistic method that magazine companies would use.

  Through my research with surveys which I gave to my peers, I discovered that people are not willing to pay a large amount for a magazine of this nature. They suggested that it were to be available free of charge, however speaking realistically with my knowledge of business, it would be unlikely that this would be funded by the government if it were to be created. I set the price as £1.99 as it is not a lot to ask and students would be likely to pick this up for a small price. I believe that I carried out this project successfully and my concluding product would appeal to many of my peers.