Evaluation Of Student Magazine.

In what ways does your student magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before I designed my student magazine I researched existing products. They followed similar ideas and conventions; bright colour palette, bold masthead and a central image depicting young people, typically a similar age to the target audience, i.e teenagers. They also mostly maintained a balance between youthfulness and energy/sophistication and grown up. I decided this was essential in creating a successful magazine. To create this balance in the house style I chose the colour palette of black, white and red. The black and white connote sophistication and adulthood, while the red is bright and bold and creates a feeling of fun. I had a bold, black and white title with red borders, this maintained the house style and made it easy to see. For my central image I had three students, one with direct mode of address and smiling and the other two looking to the side. They were stood in front of a tree, it connoted fun and also showed a beautiful natural side of Ludlow. I kept with the convention of having the word student in the masthead. I called it 'Ludlow Student Stop' as the target audience was made clear whilst assuring that it wasn't just a magazine with advice for college. It is a place for students to 'stop' and relax and find out about things to do.


How does your student magazine represent particular social groups?

I took into account my target audience research but I didn't make it too specific for one group. I made it fairly open by having lots of varied content, from film reviews to photography guides; this way there would be something for any student in my magazine. I also made the magazine 99p as the feedback was that it should be very cheap or free for students and money made could go back into producing appealing content for the magazine.

What kind of media institution might distribute your student magazine and why?

I would distribute my magazine through colleges and universities as this is where my target auidence will be most likely to view it.

Who would be the audience for your magazine?

My audience would be students at college and university, so generally young people aged between 16 and 24

How did you attract/address your audience?

I used a colourful, bright central image depicting young people, some of whom were looking directly into the camera, grabbing students' attention. I also used black, white and red for my masthead to create a bold, eye-catching title that would appeal to students through its balance of fun and grown up tone. I did this along with other, varied fonts and colours for my cover stories, creating an interesting, dynamic front page. I addressed the audience in an informal, chatty way to try and relate to students by using puns, relaxed language and direct mode of address without sounding patronising.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of creating your student magazine?

I have learnt that pictures taken that are intended for the central image need to be taken in portrait in order to correctly fit the page and remain clear. I have also learnt that new layers need to be named and in the correct order to remain clear and easy to manage and organise; this way it is easier to move images and text without creating problems for the rest of the layout. Images must also go to the very edge of the page so the ink can bleed to the edges, not just to the margin. I have also found out that the boxes that represent the different layers can interfere with other boxes/shapes so it is even more important to name layers and keep checking how the magazine looks on the review mode so any necessary changes can be made before it becomes too confusing.