Conventions of a magazine cover, contents page and double page spread

Conventions of front cover-
Genre
Target Audience
Skyline
Date line
Sell lines
Puffs
Main image
Main headline
Masthead
Footer
USP
Banner
Featured articles
Issue number

Conventions of contents page-
Issue number
Cover date
Page title
Features
Images from articles
Clear font
External advertisements (relevant to the magazine genre)
Quotes from some articles

Conventions of a double page spread-
Page title at the top
Name of the band/interviewees
A continuous house style
Introduction to the article
The article written in columns
Editor's details
By line/credits
Highlighted quotes
Relevant image(s)
Text or image spreading over both pages

Music Magazine Brief

My brief is to produce a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a music magazine of a genre of my choosing. These pages must appeal to a specific target audience, and stay within the conventions of the genre. I must use at least 4 original images, research into my target audience looking at similar products, create some hand drawn and digital drafts and evaluate my finished product. I will use PhotoShop to edit my images and construct the front cover and I will use Microsoft Word and publisher to create my contents page and double page spread.

Contents page mock up

My magazine cover evaluation

My college magazine cover is effective and catches the audience’s attention by looking unique. The target audience for this magazine is college students that attend Wyke college, between the ages of 16 to 25. I started by planning my layout so I knew where my header, footer, image and text was going to be. I then took a range of images and selected the one I thought looked clearest and achieved the correct look for the purpose. This image also represents the college, and it is easy to infer from this that she is a college student at Wyke. I then took the institution logo and put it as the masthead with the name of the magazine “Wyke College Weekly”. I then added cover lines in the same colour scheme and font style. I also added a flash with a USP and a footer. I then selected a barcode and added this to the bottom of my cover. This makes it look more professional as if we were selling it, it would need a barcode. I also added a price so that the audience can clearly see the how much the magazine costs. I had to edit the main image so that there was no shadow, as this looked very distracting in the background. The text could also not be seen clearly over a background with multiple colours, so I edited it on Photoshop and have the image a clear white background. I chose white as this works well with the logo and goes well with the other colours used. I decided to have purple and beige text as these colours are used in the title and institution logo, and also can be seen clearly over the main image. I decided to put a background over the “WIN!” cover line, as it makes the font easier to read and makes this text stand out more, as it is a USP. I chose to put my cover lines as "A new college year begins" and "best a-level results ever!" as these are things you would typically expect to find in a college magazine, as it helps to promote the college and it's values. I think my magazine cover works well as it has a consistent colour scheme and the image is easy on the eyes. The photo is of good quality and is relevant for the institution of the magazine. If I were to do anything to improve this, I would add a date line and issue number. I would also maybe try and add a couple more cover lines or a main headline, and try to make some colours more accurate, to give it a more professional look.

My Magazine Cover

Draft of Contents page

Magazine cover analysis 3

This cover is for a student magazine named "Campus Life". The magazine is aimed at college students or people in higher education. This will most likely be people of ages 16-25. The masthead is seen at the top along with the date line (fall 2008) an the issue number. The magazine has a USP with the chance to win a "Zune" which is appealing to the target audience. At the bottom there are cover lines telling the reader what articles are included in the magazine. There are some articles relevant to the college and some others that are not, but are still relevant to the target age group, like video game reviews. These may go against the ideology of the college, but are appealing to the target audience. This cover also includes a main cover line at the very bottom of the page. The main image is of a young person. You can infer from this and the institution that he is either a college student or someone interviewed in one of the articles. The colours are used well and all text stands out well. The layout could be better as there is a space in the middle of the page with no text, and this looks a bit strange.

Magazine cover analysis 2

This college magazine cover is set out with a masthead at the top reading "college lifestyle". This tells the reader the institution that is behind the magazine, and appeals to the target audience of college students. This cover includes a banner at the top along with the price of the magazine and a date line. The main image is a medium close up and you can infer from the age of the person that he is a student and also that he is stood outside the college, as this is the institution mentioned. The magazine has 3 cover lines and a small overview of what the article is about.The articles are all relevant to college students and these are the expected ideology of a collage magazine. This cover also includes a second image advertising one of the articles in the magazine. There is also a USP at the bottom as they offer a discount coupon with the magazine. The colours used in this cover are used well as all text is clear and readable.

LIIAR analysis of a college magazine cover

This magazine cover was made for the institution of the college selling it. It is aimed at a target audience of college students, around the ages of 16-20. The magazine may also be aimed at parents of students who attend the college. The magazine may also be aimed at parents of students at the college. This cover contains the masthead "College" as a header at the top of the magazine. This makes the target audience of the magazine obvious to the buyer. The cover includes cover lines which tell you what articles are inside the magazine. These articles are typical of what you would expect to find in a college magazine; things like clubs and UCAS information. The main image is of a student standing in front of the college. The student is at a medium close up and you can infer by her age that she is a student at the college. The use of colour in the advert is good as the text stands out and is readable on the background. The lighting is good as everything is clear, however the girl at the front does not share the same lighting as the background, which does look a little odd. You can infer that they are outside of a college due to the fact that the people around the building are all young people.