analysis of magazine front cover

1. Analysing my college
magazine front cover

2. My college magazine front cover uses the
forms and conventions of real life magazines
because of several techniques. Firstly, my
main image. My main image challenges the
normal forms of magazines, because the
photo is not a medium close up of my model. I
edited my main I image in Photoshop. I firstly
added a blue around the model, which
matches her jeans, therefore attracting
attention on to the model. Secondly, I added
the orange in one corner of the magazine. I
decided to do this because the colour orange is
in the college logo. Also, as this college
magazine is monthly, it has a seasonal feel as
the orange ties in with Halloween. I started
off adding orange to each corner of the
magazine, however, I thought it looked too
clashy.

3. I got the masthead font from
DaFont.com, and chose this one
because I think it’s effective in
attracting an audience. It’s bold
and is the first thing my eye is
drawn to. The masthead also goes
in front of the model, therefore
adding to the eye-catching effect.
The slogan underneath sums up
what the magazine is about, and
explains the magazine’s main aim.
I decided to do the slogan in the
same font and size as the cover
lines, however, used a different
colour that matches the blue of the
image background.

4. Next, for the front cover, I
created my cover lines. To
do so, I simply used the
Text tool and chose a font
that I kept with for the rest
of my front cover design;
used the same colour and
font size. This makes the
magazine much easier to
read. The cover line
subheadings are in the
same font, however are
bold, so make each
category easily identifiable.

5. Taking into account the overall
magazine look, the cover lines were
put in the right-hand side because I
think it makes the magazine look
more balanced. With the orange in
the left-hand corner of the page, I
thought, although normal
conventions mean that cover lines
are put on the left-hand side, would
make the overall look of the cover
looked more balanced.
None of the text on my front cover
have serifs therefore are sans
serifs.

6. The next thing I created was the puff
with buzz words. I created the orange
puff with the words ‘FREE’ in block
capitals. I thought this would attract a
wider audience, considering this
magazine is for college students on a low
income.
I also added the barcode here, simply by
finding an example image on Google
Images and saving it into my files. I then
placed it on the bottom-right hand side. I
think the placement of the barcode for
this particular magazine is not
important, as it is only for college
students, and is also most convenient.

7. My college magazine represents the social
group of young students. This is because its
contents relates to all things that a student
enjoys, or should be doing now that they’re
college students. However, it particularly
represents City College Norwich students.
This is mainly because of the colour scheme. I
chose the logo of City College Norwich,
therefore only applies to students of this
college. This magazine does not exclude
certain types of people however, as it is for
everyone in education and I have tried to
make the cover lines fit to everyone’s
preferences (as found out from the
questionnaire and the audience profile). The
age range for the magazine is 16-18 year olds
and people with a low or no income.

8. My magazine
attracted and
addressed my
audience due to
the colours used
in the
background, the
masthead, and
the cover lines.

9. From doing this college magazine, I’ve learnt the
process of Photoshop. As I went along making my
front cover, I further developed my
understandings of the software and how to use it,
especially when making and editing a magazine
front cover. I have also learnt about what has to
be done before the construction of the actual
magazine begins. The processes of research on
what was to be put into my magazine was simple,
however, definitely needed, otherwise I wouldn’t
have known what information to put on my cover.