L.I.I.A.R analysis based on my feedback

Harley mentioned that he thought my first draft was very colourful and detailed, this relates to the language part of my magazine as when I did a LI.I.A.R analysis of my brief, I mentioned that I would need to use a few different colours to create a successful colour scheme. He also mentioned that the masthead of my magazine doesn't really fit with the concept; this goes under both language and ideology.

He also wrote that my magazine could look more professional with some more work, this fits in with how I wrote about representation in my L.I.I.A.R analysis, and about how I had hoped that it would have looked more professional that how it had turned out.

On my second draft, Harley mentioned the representation again, saying this one looked a lot more sophisticated and professional, which is what I was hoping for. He mentioned how the lack of as many colours and more dull font had made it look more sophisticated; this ties in with the language aspect of L.I.I.A.R.

He also wrote about how he felt my second draft would be more appropriate for the more educational students, and the other for the students who want to read something more fun; this ties in with the audience aspect of .L.I.I.A.R

Final product posted for my preliminary task

This is my magazine cover.

audience feedback on drafts and original idea for my preliminary task

"Firstly I think it is very colourful and detailed. With more developement, I think it will look very professional. But, seen that it is a college gossip magazine, the title Campus days doesn't really reflect the contents of the magazine.'' Harley, First draft

''This one looks like it's more sophisticated and serious by the font and lack of bright colours. This draft would be better for a serious magazine, and the other for a more fun magazine'' Harley, second draft

How would I promote the launch of my magazine for the preliminary task

They are several ways in which I think are the most effective when it comes to promoting my magazine;

1. The first thing I would consider would be trying to get a small advertisement or page for it on the college website, or, even better, on Moodle. This could be in the form of a small square image of my magazine, which then goes onto a link in which more information about the magazine would be available. I think this would be effective as those two websites are commonly used amongst the students; therefore the promotion of my magazine would be successful.
2. The second way of promoting my magazine would be to have a display held up in the lobby of the Oak building, or perhaps have leaflets placed in the leaflet stall. Oak is the main place where students meet, so it is a hot spot within college. It is best to place the advertisements for my college magazine in college hot spots as they will be viewed more often. It may also be a good idea to place displays in the other college buildings, although I think that the Oak building is more of a necessity. Having leaflets is a good idea, I think, because they are small and handy and therefore easier to keep or put in a bag, thus my advertisement staying with the students. It would also be a good way to get the advertisment passed around, and making leaflets wouldn't take as much time and effort as some other promoting ideas.
3. Another idea is to have a short video advertising my magazine played on the TV in the Oak foyer. This is a good idea as it would be more eye catching than the other ideas and hopefully would draw more attnetion to my advertisment. I also think that it's good to use more creative methods to advertise my magazine as it will consequently make the audience more interested in reading my magazine. The use of sound within the video (if can be used) would also draw attention towards the advertisement.

Initial Ideas for my preliminary task

• The first idea that I had for my magazine was that I wanted it to be something that the students would actually want to read; therefore I chose to design it like a popular celebrity magazine (like OK!) and feature inside all the latest campus gossip - for example, on my first cover, I did a headline stating the teacher/student affair that was being carried out on the campus (fake story, of course). I liked this idea because, regarding my target audience, I thought I needed to create a magazine people will actually be interested in; I don't see many people (although some will) buying a college magazine which just talks about school-related subjects. I decided that I wanted to feature a girl on the cover of the magazine as I was aiming to create the concept that the magazine was aimed slightly towards females more than males. I went through my list of magazone conventions and chose as many as possible to feature on my magazine - however I left a few out in which I could use on another idea.
• The second idea I had for my magazine cover was one which was a lot more sophisticated and academic; in this I wanted to feature contents such as exam results and tips, and also notes teachers may have left for lessons; therefore the cover of this magazine will be a lot more neutral (colour scheme) than the first, and all cover lines will be purely educational. I liked this idea because I thought that maybe basing a college magazine on gossip would be a bad idea, and wouldn't represent the college in a positive way, whereas this second idea would.

Drafts for my preliminary task

This is my first draft for the college magazine cover. I like this cover because it sticks to a clear and colourful colour scheme (reds, oranges and yellow) and therefore msakes the cover look interesting and eye-catching. However, I think that maybe there is too much colour on the page. I stuck to the brief by using a medium close up shot of a student; I chose this shot above the rest as the student has a nright smile on her face which automatically symbolises that the college is a happy and friendly place to be. I used several conventions including a Mast head, date line, price, barcode, images, vocabulary, cover lines, tellers, kickers and a flash. One critique I have of this magazine cover is that it all seems a bit thrown together and to improve it I could think about how to structure the ocver in a more effective way. This draft is unfinished and will remain to be unfinished. I did another draft of this (below), but in a horizontal fashion, as I did this first one wrong.

(This is just a copy of the first draft but in horizontal form)

This is another draft of mine for the college magazine cover. This time a have used a new convetion (aswell as previous ones) which is a skyline. This is useful for letting the audience know what is featured inside the magazine. I aimed to give this draft design a more sophisticated look, and this magazine cover focuses a lot more on the academic side of college - whereas the other focus on campus gossip. I prefer this magazine cover as I think it looks a lot more professional and sophisticated than the other one. A critique of this magazine cover is that the image of the student doesn't fit the magazine cover as it has too many yellow hues.

Go Animate - Name some conventions of a magazine

http://goanimate.com/movie/0eIJs6YAAbWQ/1

Photographs I took for my Magazine cover for my preliminary task

Here I took an image of some grass as I originally thought that it would be good to use as a textured background. Later though I thought that I definitely wanted to use an image of the college so I kept the picture so that, if I wanted to, I could create drafts using the grass in different places on the magazine cover to see what looked good.

As I thought about editing the grass on the picture I also thought that perhaps I could add a tree to place in front of the Wyke building. On one of my magazine cover drafts I also added some falling leaves to symbolise Autumn, and a friend of mine suggested that I add a tree so that it doesn't look so random, so I could do that.

I thought this was a very good shot to have as it shows the college building but also shows the college name, which I could have used as the magazine name, but I decided I wanted to be more unique.

I finally chose this picture as my background picture as I thought it would be good to use the colours of the windows on the building for the colour scheme that I used. I also thought that this image looked a lot more lively and friendly than the other one.

I chose this picture for the leaves in which I wanted to use in the effect that they were falling, seeing as no leaves were actually falling when I took the image.

I thought this would be good to use as the magazine name, but I changed my mind as I thought it was too simplistic.

Evaluate three magazine covers

The magazine uses a masthead which is in large, bold font; the colour contrasting with the background - this is used so that the masthead stands out and creates a sense of uniqueness about the magazine. It also make the magazine distinguishable. It typically follows conventions by being placed in the top left corner of the page.

Underneath the masthead are the date and issue number of the magazine; this is good to use as it makes the magazine seem a lot more realistic.

As you can see, almost all the cover lines are on the left side of the page - this is known as the left third. The left third is important to use as, when magazines are stacked on shelves, this is the side that is viewed to the public; having all stories shown here will anchor the audience in.

Each cover line has it’s own brief teller; this is to tempt the reader and give them a little bit of information about the story so they will want to read more.

The producer has used an image of a student on the front cover; this is effective as it fit’s the genre and ideology of the magazine. The image is a reasonable size and reflects the feeling of happiness as the student is smiling - this instantly creates a good atmosphere/reputation for the magazine.

There is a slight colour scheme within this magazine cover - or splash as it is referred to - however it isn’t completely decided upon. There are obvious themes of white and blue - this is good as, once you see some write text, you instantly read the other white texts. This is an effective way of linking stories or concepts together. The student pictured is wearing black, and so is the text below her, so it’s easy to distinguish that the main story is about her.

The headline ‘All work and NO Play’ can be used as an example of a screamer as the producer has used certain effects such as different colours, italic, and bold writing to make the headline ‘scream’ out at the audience.

What I did notice is that there are no flashes (adverts) used on this magazine cover, which is unusual for a magazine cover.

The masthead here would be ‘college’; it follows the typical magazine convention as it is placed at the top left corner of the page. The publisher has used big, bold font in a bright colour for the masthead in order to attract attention. Using a masthead is important because it gives the magazine a unique twist and makes it distinguishable. The masthead has been placed behind all other objects – it is the second layer on the magazine; this is a good technique because it wouldn’t look as professional if the masthead was placed above the image of the student.

The masthead of the magazine would be ‘College’; it doesn’t really follow typical magazine conventions because it is positioned in the centre of the page rather than in the top left corner. As you will see, it follows the standard colour scheme. The reason this magazine uses a mast head is so that, not only will the audience be able to identify and recognise the magazine in future reference, but also it gives the magazine a sense of independency and makes the magazine more unique.

As you can see, the colour scheme focuses mainly on brown, green, and white. This is effective because once you see the masthead – which is green – your eyes are automatically directed to all other green items on the page; this makes you notice the grass in the background. This is key as it sets the scene in the picture. Both texts saying ‘2009’ are white; this is good because you instantly notice both and it emphasises the point that the college magazine features the class of 2009.

Underneath the masthead is the issue number and the date of publication; this really makes the magazine look professional and realistic. The date and issue number follows the general magazine convention because they are in small prints and follows the colour scheme; especially the masthead.

There is only one image on this magazine which is the background image, and to be honest, it doesn’t really look like a college. Normally magazines will always have an image of a person on the front that links to the main article featured in the magazine. The good thing about the image, however, is that it does fit the colour scheme.

There are only three cover lines on the splash (whole magazine) and neither of them have any tellers, these are important to use as it lets the audience know what the story is about; if you don’t know what it’s about you aren’t likely to read it. All the cover lines have been placed together which makes the magazine design look clumpy and cluttered.

The main colour scheme used on this magazine is red and black; the main text that the publisher wants you to focus on is in red, the rest in black. The barcode is also red and black. Using a colour scheme is effective as it looks more professional to use less colours and it also draws your attention to other information; for example, you read the masthead then your brain automatically looks for other red items on the page – you instantly read the word Greek, and, consequently, read what the story is about. Also, there are a few black items in the background which helps to relate the text with the background image.

There are several cover lines on the magazine cover – for example, “Spice up your resume’ – which have been used in order to briefly explain other articles inside the magazine in order to promote the magazine and anchor the reader in. The cover lines follow the colour scheme of the magazine which is effective as it links all the articles together.

Underneath all the cover lines are tellers; these are sub headers that explain in more detail what the story in the cover line is about. Tellers are used to supply more information about the story in an attempt to interested the reader and get them to buy the magazine.

There is a barcode placed conventionally at the bottom of the magazine cover; this is good to use as it makes the magazine seem more realistic.

The image has followed conventions by being placed in the centre of the page in a rather large size. The producer has used an image of a student which is good as it fits the concept of the magazine.  The student has been shown as feeling the emotion of happiness which is good as it represents the college in a positive way.

L.I.I.A.R for my preliminary task

L.I.I.A.R - Language

·         Masthead- preferably short (a few words long) which will grab the reader’s attention. It wants to be placed on the top left hand side of the page and should be a relatively large size. My masthead needs to be relevant to the magazine subject that I’m doing (college) and the design of the masthead should fit the colour scheme.

·         My main image should be of a student; preferably a student who attends/attended Wyke college.  Seeing as there is no uniform code, the way the student is dressed doesn’t really matter. I will use a medium close up of my student (shoulders upwards) and she will be making eye-contact with the camera; this is important as it draws the audience in.

·         My colour scheme will match the three most prominent colours in my background picture so that everything connects smoothly. I will then use black for text to neutralise all the colours.

·         For anchorage I will use a headline to illustrate what my main image is about (the image of my fellow student). This is important as I will need to explain what my image is about and it also ‘anchors’ the reader in.

·         I will use a barcode and price to make the magazine more realistic.

·         I will have a ‘flash’ which will advertise a free product or gift that will interest my target audience.

·         My ‘Teller’ will be placed near my main image to show what it is about.

·         I will use a sell line beneath my masthead to briefly advertise the magazine further; for example ‘The best mag in the UK!’.

·         I will hold most of the cover lines on the left third of the magazine.

·         I will have a dateline in order to make the magazine cover look more realistic and professional.

·         I will use a kicker in order to make the audience want to read on.

Institution

·         I am creating this magazine for Wyke College; the reason I am doing this is because it is closer to home and it represents my target audience well. Because I am doing my magazine about Wyke College, all the production will be based in Wyke and done by Wyke students. The magazine will only be given out to Wyke students as it won’t be specific to anyone else; the magazine will not be sold.Ideology

·         The main idea of my magazine will be college gossip; however it will also feature statistics about good grades, exams etc. The reason I have chosen these subjects is because I want it to have a professional side yet I don’t want it to be boring; it must appeal to different students for example academic students and the more energetic students. I also want to include a sports section as this is commonly found in newspapers and magazines and it will help to appeal to the male audience.Audience

·         My target audience will be people who are attending Wyke college specifically; these will be students aged 16-18 of both genders. My audience will probably aim slightly more towards females because it will be easier for me to write for females (as I am a female) however I will try to include features for the male population as well.Representation

·         My college magazine will aim to represent students positively although there will be some fun, gossip based news inside. Obviously I will probably aim to over exaggerate slightly how good the college/staff/students are so it won’t be a completely accurate representation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Audience for preliminary task

The target audience I have chosen is 16-18 year olds because that is the majority age range of students that attend Wyke college, and also it will be easier for me to appeal to that age range seeing as I am sixteen myself; I know what interests people in that age group so I can anchor them in. Also, it wouldn't fit the concept if my magazine if I based it on college and used people who were in their mid forties.

Number 3 on the Magazine Checklist

I have chosen to use to feature Wyke college in/as my magazine because I attend Wyke college so it would be the easiest college to choose as it is close to home. Also I think Wyke has a really good reputation so I would have chosen to write about it anyway, giving it positive critcism. I know more about Wyke college than any other so it would be the best choice to use in my magazine.

Number 6 on the Magazine checklist

My magazine would not be a paid for magazine as I don’t think I would make much profit as it is aimed towards a small target audience; also it isn’t  a professional magazine and it wouldn’t be very well known so I wouldn’t expect anybody to pay for it. Because my magazine is exclusive only to Wyke students, then I don't think it would be fair to make them pay for it because I wouldn't be mass producing a lot of magazines. Also, students may not be able to afford to pay for the magazine as a luxury.

Number 8 on the Magazine Checklist

This is the magazine cover I made using found images from Google.