Textual Analysis on My College Magazine

I will be analyzing my front cover and contents page of the college magazine that I have designed. In the magazine I have presented, I have a mid shot of a student from the college which I decided to use because it will be an eye-catcher to the audience this will help to represent to the audience that she is perhaps a popular girl in the college and everyone will pick up the magazine because she is on the front cover and possibly of influence to some of the students.     

The picture denotes a girl standing up dressed in very wealthy clothing with a thick knitted cardigan. I picked her because I knew straight away she has an eye for fashion which stands out and a majority of the students love fashion and a pretty girl to glance at. The use of the colour white helps to connote the feeling that she is center of attention and no background is needed to blend in with the picture. The writing is also important as it gives us a little information about her, its shows that not only is she a pretty popular girl, however she is also gifted and talented and has been used as the agony aunt which a lot of the students will like to read about as problems they might have will probably be related in the problems that the students might write to her about. The setting doesn’t look like it is anywhere important but it does help to bring out the mid shot of the model. There is high key lighting used in the magazine cover and this is college life and it is really enjoyable with her smile to represent this.

The writing on the front cover gives an additional help on the college magazine life. It shows that the college is enthusiastic and fun with the competition given away the “free IPAD” also helping the students and tips on how to stay on top of revision, straight away we can tell that the magazine is packed with entertainment and fun but to also talk about the reason of why they are in college and how to help them pass they’re A-levels.

At the top we have a college motto that reads “IN GOD WE TRUST” this helps the audience to identify that they are a catholic college and trust in god and helping this to be presented onto the front cover so that the children will never forget the college motto.  The fonts used are very clear and the colour of the font used is very casual, to help promote what is written on the magazine.   

The non verbal communication given by the model give us the expression that she is happy in her college and wants to excel and help promote their magazine as she knows she is popular and gifted and talented. We can also tell that she is confident because she looks straight at the camera and smiles.

I have used a wide depth of field because I believed whilst making my magazine that nothing was needed to be blurred as everything is blending together well. A rule of thirds is also shown in this picture because the model is definitely main attraction.

The contents page is not as detailed as the front cover because I believe that it is not as important as the front cover because the front cover is what is needed to get the magazine to be of eye catcher to the reader. However I have a background picture of outside helping to denote the information of how to get around the college and a statue of what seems to look like the college’s log, I thought this will be of good use because it helps to promote the college and shows that the college is really easy to get around. There is also two pictures of two girls from the college which help to once again promote areas in the college and they smile to introduce how fun college life is.

High key lighting is also used to explain the mood and emphasize on the brightness you will receive of college life. i used this because i know visitors who come to the college will enjoy looking at the college and how the college helps the sudents.    

Evaluation of college magazine

In the creation of my magazine, I noticed that if I had more time I could have made my magazine much improved however because of timing this was not possible, I will now evaluate my college magazine and talk about the advantages and disadvantages in my magazine whiles the process of making my magazine.

Front page magazine:

The strengths of my magazine:

·         The model I used in my magazine is very clear and there is nothing that is making the model not stand out the background was not made by mistake it will chosen because I knew a white background will bring the model.

·         The font I used is also very clear and helps the audience understand what is written the colours I used are red, blue and black. I chose these particular colours because I knew they will work well with the theme.

·         The main headline that I have used, I placed it at the bottom I believe that I wanted to make my magazine differ from regular front covers of magazines. However you can still tell that this is the main headline because of the size of the text and the red is very bright.

The Weakness’ of my magazine:

·         Because of time, I didn’t get to put a background at the back of my mode, which could have help to promote the college with a picture of the background of the college, however because of time this was not able to be done.

·         I also have never used Photoshop so working around it was very hard and a lot of the time my work got deleted and I would have to start over and help was restricted because help was really hard as a lot of the students was also first timers on using Photoshop.

·         Using pictures from Google was not permitted and I want to put a picture of an IPAD to help promote my magazine more and be of eye catcher to the students. This was a weakness because I didn’t know any one with an IPAD so I couldn’t put a picture up of one.  

Contents page:

The strengths of my magazine:

·         I used a picture of the school information board that will guide you around college. I believe this will help attract visitors to feel welcome in the college and not restricted on getting around the college.

·         The font I used goes with the information board and the font is quite clear, to read.

·         I added 2 pictures of students from the college I thought that this will look really interesting and makes the college look very vibrant and a happy and safe environment to work in.  

The Weakness’ of my magazine:

·         The contents page was very rushed, I didn’t have enough time to add the image I wanted to crop and put into the background also

·         I found it very hard doing so as I have never used Photoshop.

·         The font is not really effective but I was finding it very hard to find a font that blended well with the background.