College Magazine

Research and planning.

Here are some examples of various college and university magazines I’ve found, this magazine uses a fairly simple idea of taking close ups of students in a recognisable setting. Without much information of contents on the cover as it isn’t going to be competing against major magazines on a shop rack and therefore can be more minimalist and artistic in it’s cover design. This ‘Beloit’ magazine has used similar scenes on it’s covers that will represent what students should be doing that time of year (Spring revision, Summer graduation) This magazine has gone for a very educational theme, this is obvious from what's happening in the photo and the lack of elaborate fonts.

This college magazine is a very good example as it complies to most magazine front cover conventions. It has a large dynamic masthead, with a slogo “for the college life” and a skyline stating “the magazine for college survival” both these show it is a college magazine for students. The photos are medium close ups sometimes showing college related mise-en-scene i.e. books. The front isn’t over crowded which I think is relevant. As it is a college magazine and doesn’t need that much to sell itself as it won’t be competing against many if any other magazines where it is sold. This magazine has a less formal style than Beloit, This is shown through the dynamic fonts, use of many different colours and also the cover stories aren’t as academic, and the front cover isn’t as relevant in the example on the right.

Idea sketches

Above are my sketches for my College magazine front cover and contents page. I’ve decided on the Name Study Break, I want a photo of someone studying for the front cover and a Layout for the contents page that looks like photos and scraps of paper cluttered around a desk as this is very relevant to the Topic of the magazine and also I think it is a layout that would appeal to my target audience of college students.

Step by step.First I imported my photo for my front cover leaving space at the top for the skyline.I had to adjust it to be less orange overall however I chose to keep the I then added the skyline a simple red line and a picture of some lined paper which I edited so it appeared hole punched and torn and placed it at the top to go behind my Masthead. I then added the Mast head using two fonts a typewriter font for the word study and a more dynamic, I made this yellow so it would stand out but also fit in with the colour scheme which was reds and orange to fit in with the wood colour of the desk which I wanted to keep as a theme.

I then added The main story, using a third font that looked like handwriting that fitted in with my House style. I also had some plain font with an under shadow underneath, this was for the extra information under the pull Quote. I used the same Red to emphasise the pull quote to fit in with my colour scheme. I then added the Dateline in a small simply font under the title. I then added other stories from my sketch stopping once I Thought the page was filled enough for it’s Genre and used varying sizes and colours (although sticking to red white and black to stay within the scheme, trying not to use the same technique twice except for simple font for Minor information, but also making the writing seem related to the House style. I thought about the size and spacing of text to fill up the left side. I then added my Skyline text and Barcode to create my finished magazine cover.

For my contents page I started with a photo of a wood grain Desk, Adding in the same lined piece of paper picture, however making it a very different size and shape to the one on the front cover- this was to continue the House style. I then added a couple blank boxes for the page title and editors' note, however there stood out as being very white in comparison to the lined paper so I dimmed them slightly and tried to brighten the lined paper as much as I could.

I gave all these objects a drop shadow to give the perception of depth so it looked more realistically like paper on a desk trying making the shadow come out at the same angle as the light source on the wood photo would make it.

Then I added my photos also with drop shadows and tilted them layering them on top of one another to give a cluttered effect. I then added the title and contents, for the title I used the same typewriter font as I had for the front cover, and for the contents I used the font that reminded me of handwriting to stick to my idea and House style. I found placing the contents so it all lined up alright quite tricky, however I am pleased with the overall outcome as it does look very slightly off parallel lines giving it a good rough note look to it.

Finally I added the Editors' note with a small portrait photograph as I had found Editors' note’s to be a convention in several magazines and felt it was appropriate to the Genre.

Evaluation

For my magazine cover I focused the design around the idea of studying as it was a college magazine and I think that would make up the bulk of the content, I took a fairly simple shot of someone reading at a desk to put across this idea. I believe this would appeal to the Target audience as they could relate to it. For my contents page I went for a similar style of stuff cluttered around a desk as I believe this would also be relatable to an average students work space.

I wanted different fonts in the title to make it dynamic, one being a studious typewriter font the other being a more pop art style font that had more informal connotations.

I also used a handwriting style font to give it an almost the look of a notes page, again as I thought this was more likely to appeal to students. Also for minor information on the front cover I used a fairly standard font as I’d noticed when doing my research this was a common convention of magazine covers.

The layout of my pictures on the contents page was done to make it seem as if they were in a pile, I slanted them as it would look slightly more interesting overall, but also to show the desk underneath to make it more obvious that it was a desk therefore showing my ‘House Style’.