Audience Feedback and Evaluation

AS Media Studies College Magazine Preliminary Task

Evaluation

My front cover fits the typical conventions of magazines by using common features such as left third, masthead, main feature headline, smaller features, date and issue number, font, colour, graphics, price, vocabulary, anchorage and main image. I chose certain words such as “exclusive”, “latest” and “just in” on my front cover to describe the features to persuade readers to pick it up by making them think that they won’t get this information from anywhere else they will need to read WI Magazine in order to get it. They also tease the audience on what those features might include making them want to read it even more. “How to…” acts as anchorage to signify to the audience what the main image is about. My front cover also features an ident in the form of an asterisk. The asterisk is a logo that represents Wyke College and will imply to the audience that this magazine has something to do with Wyke College. The Masthead tells the audience what the magazine is called and usually includes a publication date and issue number. The masthead might even tell the audience something about what could be included inside the magazine for example WI (Wyke Institution) tells the audience that the magazine includes information about Wyke College. For my college magazine I have decided not to use a barcode, because this magazine is free and will not be sold therefore the only use it would have for a barcode is to know how many copies have been picked up by students therefore telling the people that produce it how popular it is. For my main image I used a full colour photo in medium close up this is also in keeping with the typical conventions of a magazine. My photo is of a high quality, I know this because took it with a 14 mega-pixel camera. My model looks directly at the camera and is therefore engaging with the prospective readers.

I have established my own house style by choosing to use the font, Agency FB, throughout the front cover and the contents page. I think this keeps the product looking professional and consistent. I also chose to use this font because it is bold and readable due to it being a sans serif font I have also used a colour scheme of purple and an olive green, these colours originally stemmed from the asterisk logo that I have chosen to use. It keeps the magazine linked with Wyke College and by seeing the colours along with the logo the audience will know that Wyke has something to do with this magazine. I chose to use this size for the masthead because it needs to stand out and dominate about a sixth of the cover so that people actually know what magazine it is and what they are buying. I have chosen to use this placement for the main feature headline so that it is still in the left third but clearly represents the main image on the front cover, but still fits with typical magazine conventions by being in the left third. I have chosen to place this logo here so that it separates the smaller features from the main feature. I chose to use this photo to represent my main feature, because I like the way it represents the college. There is a lot of light and my model is happy, I believe it portrays a positive image to the audience. For my contents page I decided to use this layout because I was able to use both images and relevant text. In my contents page I still kept the same font and colour scheme to continue with the consistency to help it to look professional.

From doing this Preliminary Task I learnt more about Photoshop and the fact that it has layers and you are able to experiment with using or not using certain layers of your Photoshop document. It also allows you to merge pictures, text and other desired features of your magazine front cover. Photoshop lets you change the size and colour of things individually due to the layers. I also used a digital camera to take my photo. This allowed to easily move the photo from my camera to my computer and enabled me to easily edit it on Photoshop. During the process of creating my college magazine I published ideas and drafts on my blog http://jenniebrighton.blogspot.com/ This blog also enabled me to share my digital draft that I created on Prezi. All of this has allowed me to build up my ideas and track my changes enabling me to know when I have improved, due to thinking about how to make some of the elements better.

My magazine represents the students of this college, in particular the female students of this college because the model that features on the front cover is a female. I think that my magazine’s front cover represents the students as positive, happy, enthusiastic and as people who are generally hardworking. This means people outside of the college get a positive feel of our students and the college itself. The picture happens to be well lit and this will also give people a positive feeling towards the college, where as if the lighting made the photo look dull and dreary people would get the opposite feeling about the college. In a way I think it could represent girls as being harder working than boys, because there are no pictures of boys. Due to gender stereotyping I feel that my front cover will appeal more to girls, because there is no mention of sports for example.

The audience of my college magazine would be the students of Wyke College themselves. They will be aged 16 – 19 and of them 65% are female and 35% male. Also 60% are from Hull and 40% are from the East Riding. I have these statistics and I do think my magazine may attract a female audience more than a male, because I have used a female model other girls will instantly relate to her and are therefore more likely to pick this magazine up. I think this magazine will appeal to an integrated audience as there is something in this magazine for them, because they can get involved but there is also something in it for others. Other people are informed and entertained as well as you. It will probably appeal to those students that are interested in doing well and want to be more involved with Wyke College, as the model on the front cover is shown as being focused and ready to work. If students don’t like college and aren’t interested in doing particularly well then it isn’t likely to appeal to them. My other target audience would be prospective students, people who are interested in coming to Wyke College, but might be on the fence about their decision. Giving them an insight into what really goes and what the students of Wyke think might help them to decide and could, prospectively, sell the college to even more people.

I have attracted my audience through the use of teasing devices by using “EXCLUSIVE” they know that they won’t get this information anywhere else and are therefore more likely to want to read this magazine. I put this word in upper case so that they become more noticeable and easily readable. I also used a photo that is well lit up giving it a more positive feel. My model is happy and looks ready to work also giving off a positive image of Wyke College. When I asked people about my front cover and asked them if they would read it they generally gave me positive feedback such as “I think your magazine would appeal to many people in the college, I like that you have thought out the picture well and the picture looks very natural, I would also get others to read this magazine.” And “I would read it because it looks professional and the picture stands out really well. Also the girl in the picture is my age so I would probably read it more because of this, where as if it were a teacher or a boy I probably wouldn't.” Other people said “Yes I would probably read it because I would want to see the Halloween pictures.” Also “Yes I would, it is very nice!”

In conclusion I think that my magazine would work well if it were a real publication. It would encourage the students to be more proactive and get involved with more aspects of college life. By being a part of their own publication that they have worked on, it could help them to gain experience and decide what they might want to do after they leave college. If I were to advertise this to prospective publishers I think it would be a great opportunity as there is a huge gap in the market for a nationally produced student/college life magazine.