Analysing college magazine covers

Analysing Magazine Covers

I will be analysing two magazines designed for the college, one designed by the students and the other designed by the school secondary. The primary audience for both these magazines is students at the college aged between 11-19 of all ethnicities and for both a male and a female audience. The secondary audience is the parents, grandparents and teachers of the students. I will be analysing the common conventions on both magazine covers to find out how to design a successful college magazine cover and content for my prelim.

The first magazine:

The Masthead of this magazine has no real clear title as the fonts and colours don't make it standout from the rest of the cover. The colour red is used in the mashed which conotates danger, anger or passion which don't really relate to a college magazine.

This magazine doesn’t look like a very professional magazine cover because the cover doesn’t really contain one main image unlike most professionally made magazines, which generally have one clear main picture. However the images used are very busy which suggests the college is a very busy and lively place.

This magazine is also not very well made because the layout isn’t very good because everything on the cover is organised around a small piece of text in the centre of the cover. This is a complete contrast to a professionally made magazine covers, which have a general layout of text, based around a single main image.

Also unlike most professionally made magazines this magazine has no real colour scheme which suggests that this was not professionally made. The only colour which is used is red which connotes passion and danger which doesn't fit into the context of a college magazine. This is also a complete contrast to a professionally made magazine covers as most professionally made covers have a colour scheme which represents the theme of the magazine. For example a fashion magazine such as Vogue usually have the colour red on their cover as it connotes passion and they generally contain the colour white because white  purity. 

The second magazine;

The Masthead on this magazine cover is much better than the one on the first magazine as it is well designed and clearly displays the name of the magazine. This masthead connotes that the magazine is elegant because of the use of fonts and images. The colour silver connotes fluidity, mystery, elegance, emotional and calming. The colour silver may have been used to suggest that the college has a calm and relaxing atmosphere.

This magazine looks more professional as it has one main image of young woman made to look lifeless with no colour in her face.This image also goes along with the theme of elegance and mystery. The main image also connotes elegance and fantasy. This may attract the target audience because of the sense of mystery. Her face is a blue colour which may be used to connote wisdom and confidence which are key things a college student may need. This may help the magazine to relate to the target audience. Also by using an image of a person of a similar age to the target audience can help them to relate to this magazine.

The layout of this magazine is much better as everything is based around the main image. This suggests that this person is the most important part of the magazine.This may attract the target audience as they can clearly see what is in the magazine and whether the stories interest them. This magazine may also appeal to the target audience because the designers have chosen to include very little text which is ideal for  a teenager as most of them don't want to be reading a lot of text. Also by using very little text the magazine doesn't look over busy and simple the magazine may appeal to more of the target audience.

The colour scheme is much better with this magazine as it has a clear colour scheme which is blue, black and grey. These colours also connote elegance especially with the way they are used. The colour blue is used to connote wisdom and confidence which are key themes for the target audience of college students as these are key traits which they may need to do well in college. This may as a consequence appeal to the target audience. Also blue is a very popular colour which means it will grab the attention of more possible readers as it is in a colour which they like.

Finally the words connote that this magazine is based at teenagers as it uses words like "woz on" and "nightmare dates" in order to relate to a young audience. The use of this language may attract the target audience as they can relate to the magazine and clearly see that this particular magazine is targeted at them which will mean the stories are more related to them. Also by using well known singers and bands on the front cover may appeal to the younger audience and they may be more likely to read this magazine.