For the front cover I mainly stuck with imitating a
conventional look that would attract the audience the same way it would any
other. Using conventions such as have the masthead at the top left hand corner
and the barcode in the bottom right hand corner as well as have the feature
stories surrounding the main image. These are all conventional things that appeal
to the audience and give it a professional image but I have made sure that it
would appeal to the target audience and have included bright colours that stand
out. I have tried to make the front cover as realistic as I could so that if an
audience were to see it they would recognise it as a magazine since it carries
the conventions that you would see on any popular magazine front cover.
To be able to attract the audience to my magazine I tried to
ensure that they would be able to relate or want to relate to the main image on
the front cover. To do this I had to make sure that I had a good model for this
and in the end I had to change the one I had since the image was not fitting
for the front cover I had in mind since it was in the form of a long shot when
it was ideal to have a medium shot/close up. A student that seemed to be
smiling and gave the image that they were 'happy' would be ideal for the
audience since it is targeted towards students and that it would need to be
inspiring for them to be able to achieve high grades such as the student which
is situated on the front of the magazine, and is also why the student is
holding a folder since it links to the hard working and achieving environment,
which is what the main article and pull quote suggests. The representation of
this particular front cover would be that it is successful and high achieving
which would give the idea that they are able to do the same. But it is still
able to keep up a young and edgy look that attracts the young audience it is
intended for, hence why I used such a bold and in your face font/text. Making
sure that everyone would be satisfied with the magazine I had to include a
variety of feature stories on the front page that appealed not only to regular
students but also to those who may take part in some sport for example. And also the colours that were used intended
to attract both genders of the audience. This is the reason why I had used
unisex colours like Purple (for representing the school), White and Black. I
also thought that the fact that I had used skylines and features stories that
give us incites to future trips also made the college look like it was willing
to let the students explore and have fun and having this idea for the audience
would make it more appealing for them. It makes them want to read further since
it was used as a skyline saying 'Win a free trip to Alton Towers' which would
appeal to this audience since it is a famous theme park that anyone is able to
have a chance of going too and it is also vaguely mentioned that there are
trips in the near future saying 'Trip to anywhere, Adventure is out there'
which not only rhymes but also makes the reader want to read on since it may
include something of a trip that they wish to attend. I have made sure that the
image is placed in a conventional position since it is what most magazines tend
to do. When writing the feature articles I made sure that they fit around the
model in the main image since this is also a conventional thing to do in a
popular magazine. The main article is positioned over the main image and has
been made bigger that the other feature articles, suggesting that it is the
main article, so it stands out and is eye catching towards the audience. The
masthead is also enlarged to seem bigger so it would stand out to the audience.
When it came to picking my main image I had previously had a
photo of a student carrying a folder standing next to the lockers. It was a
long shot and this was something that I decided to change due to the fact that
it didn’t fit the normal conventions of a magazine, since most have an image of
a medium shot/close up. The previous image also caused some minor problems for
the front cover since it had a very light background due to there being doors.
So I had a problem of finding the right colour of text, which was limited since
a maximum of three colours was being used (another convention of a popular
magazine). Previously it had to have a box which had the opacity turned down so
it became see-through, but in the end it didn’t look quite right. So I changed
it to a more suited image whilst keeping the student, with a folder, with a
better background in order to be able to put text onto the front cover without
problems. The other image at the bottom of the page was put to a smaller scale
and placed inside of a white box, which was adjusted to a specific size to make
it look like an old fashioned photo taken with some form of Polaroid camera.
This I thought would be a nice touch for the magazine and would have a,
although it being an old fashioned piece of technology, appealing and would
attract the audience to it (kids these days being into all the old and vintage
stuff). To do this, being on Photoshop, I had to scale down the image and
create a white box that I then fit to the appropriate size then merged the
layers. I then rotated it to the angel I wished for it be and placed it in the
correct place of the front cover.
Overall I think that the final product is eye catching and
attractive towards the target audience. Yet the only thing that does bother me
about it is the fact that the font I have chosen doesn’t look very clear and
the black text in the main article doesn’t really stand out. But I think that
it does follow the main conventions of a popular magazine. If I were to do this
task again then I think that I would have to consider the images that I take
and make sure that I rethink what I use as the typeface for the text.
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