Evaluation Of Finished Product: The Cover

I drew inspiration for my text layout from the college magazine I evaluated: “Campus Life”. I like the way the white text stood out against the black rectangle; without the rectangle you would not have been able to see the text. I decided to mimic this for my cover; however I changed the rectangle from black to dark blue to fit in with my colour scheme. I also liked the sparing use of bright colours, specifically red, so chose to only highlight promotional offers in red. Red is the most attention grabbing colour, which is why it is used on shop sale signs and road warning signs, so using it to highlight the fact that the first issue is free will cause more students to pick up the magazine, so when they next see it they might buy it or even subscribe. As 50% of students would pay up to 50p for the magazine I would charge at least 50p for the next issues, but offering the first one free will develop a stronger audience base. I have made my magazine monthly based on results from my questionnaire.

I chose to have my models staring straight at the camera to catch the attention of passers-by. I also chose to have them smiling because I wanted to appeal to the majority of students and project college as somewhere fun and happy to be and study. I placed them in front of lockers to strengthen the title of the magazine.

I chose to put the four main stories on the front because of the results I received from my questionnaire, which said that most students would like to see college news, music, sports and a jobs section. I also chose to include a fashion interest story and a study based story to attract all students.

The results of my questionnaire showed that no one buys the current college magazine, so I have attempted to make mine more appealing, with stories that students are interested in reading and a simple, uncluttered cover design.

Overall, I am pleased with my front cover, however in my music magazine I would make sure the colour of the title and the stories matched to make the magazine look neater and more professional.