AS Media Studies: October 2013

Media- Preliminary Task

Magazine Cover Evaluation

For this task I created a front cover for a college magazine, ‘Wyke Weekly.’ I followed the main conventions of a typical real life magazine cover. This included putting the mast head in the top, left corner of the page with the issue date underneath it, a main image that is relevant to the genre of the magazine, pull quotes from feature stories along the side of the cover, a barcode at the bottom, left corner, a plug at the top corner of the cover and a colour scheme that includes three different colours. I felt as though it was necessary to follow these conventions as they are proven to work effectively for attracting the target audience and maintain a neat, professional layout. Through these conventions, my cover also represents the college and its students. This is especially found from the main image used. The image is a two shot of two Wyke students, Manpreet and Mollie, outside the college building, holding folders. This reflects on the work ethic of college students, portraying them as hard working, committed and sociable.

The target audience for my product is college students, potential students and even their parents, in some cases. The aim of the magazine is to inform and entertain the current students and attract potential students to enrol at the college, with their parents being persuaded by the content too. The whole magazine cover is aimed and set up to attract my target audience, from the colour scheme to the plug. First of all, my colour scheme incorporates the colours purple, blue and white. Purple is not only the eye-catching colour associated with Wyke, but it also portrays ambition and creativity. Blue reflects intelligence and freedom, and white represents success and positivity. This all relates to the image given off by the cover and will attract the target audience because they will see how impressive the college is. The mast head is bright purple and the boldest font on the page which makes it eye-catching and attractive. It will be the first thing a reader of the magazine sees so they will know straight away that the magazine relates to Wyke. The main image is of two college students, holding folders. They are portrayed as hard working and committed as they are carrying their folders and therefore look as though they have been studying. They also look very positive, with big smiles on their faces. This makes them seem happy to be at the college and reflects them as being friendly and approachable; a trait potential students would like to know their peers at Wyke would have, as a friendly atmosphere makes the new start at college a lot less daunting. The feature stories along the side of the cover give an insight into the main content of the magazine, and by picking ones that related to college life, it attracts the target audience as it is relates to them as college students and informs them on what is going on in the college itself. The plug is ‘Win a brand new laptop’ which also attracts the target audience. Laptops are very expensive and difficult for a student to afford, therefore, this chance is great for them as they could be provided with one completely free of charge.

Before I completed my final front cover, I had to go through a specific process in order for it to be the best cover I could produce. First of all, I looked at and analysed existing magazines, by carrying out a LIIAR (Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience and Representation) analysis and stating and explaining the conventions of a magazine cover. I then went on to produce an initial ideas spider diagram, in relation to LIIAR. This helped me get all my ideas down on paper and start to visualise what I wanted the final cover to look like. These ideas were further expanded by my creation of drawn drafts of a front cover, contents page and double page spread, as well as a mood board. Then I went on to take some potential cover photos around the college of my friends and current Wyke students, Manpreet and Mollie, on a Lumix G2 camera. Once I had decided upon which photo to use as my main image, I began to put my final cover together on Photoshop. By using Photoshop once again for this task, I have become a lot more comfortable with it and I have definitely got used to the idea of using layers when creating something on Photoshop. I have also got sound knowledge of where all the basic editing tools are and I have even figured out some slightly more advanced tools, which has helped me improve my work greatly.

Looking back at my previous Media task of creating a perfume advert, I can see some definite improvements in my work, be it planning or the final product. I carried out my plan in much more detail, making sure I had figured out every aspect and detail for my front cover so it could be as effective as possible. I have learnt how important a good plan is because without it, I wouldn’t know where to start and the final product would most definitely not turn out as well as it could have done. As I have previously mentioned, I have also gotten to grips with Photoshop, especially the use of layers and locating where all the main editing tools are. This is clear when looking at the difference between my final perfume advert and my final front cover. I used much more advanced skills on my front cover and there was a lot more detail to it compared to my previous product. These are skills I have developed from doing my previous perfume task and then continuing on to this current task, and I hope to continue developing these skills as I move on through the Media course.

If I did this task again, I would probably make a few changes to my final product. Instead of my main image being a two shot, I would make it a medium close-up as well because that is another convention found on most magazine covers. I would also add a clear headline story which was eye-catching and attracted the target audience even more. Finally, I would make all the text a little bit brighter and bolder so it would stand out more to the reader.

Peer Feedback for LIIAR Analysis

Peer Feedback 1:

The analysis of the different things was very detailed and you looked at the conventions as well as LIIAR itself. There was lots of clear description that was easy to understand and what you gathered from the different aspects makes me look at the magazine and see the subliminal messages. J

Peer Feedback 2:

Time management

It looks like a lot of work has gone into the analysis and it is very detailed so it has taken a lot of time and effort to write.

Areas for improvement

There are not any areas for improvement, I think it is well written and nothing needs to change or be improved.

What they did well

I think the consistency of the same magazine throughout is helpful and the analysis has been well written and in detail. Also, it is very easy to follow. You have understood the LIIAR analysis very well.

My response:

The feedback is very informative and helpful, and I am very happy with what they have said. I will take it all into consideration and make any necessary changes to my analysis.