Newsman & QUAD front cover analysis

Today in class we looked at two university magazine front covers and analysed them. We looked at their colour scheme, editing, use of image, use of word, placement of items and the overall look of the cover. Myself and the rest of the class were not impressed with either magazine and found more criticism than appraisal for both magazine covers.

Both magazines had a very different approach. Newman magazine put forward a very childlike outlook for their cover, using images of young children, childrens toys and even included a story on the effects of video games on young people. I did not like this approach. I found that the message of the magazine and its audience greatly contrasted. The magazine cover confused me as I found that a lot of the images used were extremely irrelevent or unexplained. An image of a money box in the sky was used which entirely contridicted our stereotypical view of a mature, sensible university magazine. However, the magazine did include some positives as it reflected an understanding of editing. You could see that the producer of this cover was well aware of how to edit images and text. I also thought that the masthead stood out well and this benefitted the magazine cover positively. The coverlines used were also a good method of persuading the audience as they were detailed and there was quite a few shown. However they did fade into the background with their dark colouring, which although it was consistent with the rest of the magazine, did still not grab the attention of a potential buyer. The entire front cover used a very dull and dark colour scheme which did not live up to its childlike content.

The QUAD magazine cover, for me was an improvement on the previous. I found it to look more proffessional with its colour scheming and its more fitting use of images. However I was not impressed with this cover as I felt the lack of editing was its downfall. The cover resembled a group of pictures more than it did a magazine cover. Though some images were more suitable for the audience of this magazine, others were just as confusing. The images needed to be explained with captions. I was disappointed that there was not one main image to this magazine cover and this made it hard to distinguish the genre of the magazine. Instead, a group of images were placed on the cover in blocks. This made the cover look very square and it did not flow smoothly. I found the masthead to be very well presented and I thought that it contrasted well against the white background. However, this would have been a good place to use a logo, as this is a promotional method. However they did not do this and only used the logo once, at the bottom of the page.

In conclusion I found the QUAD magazine cover to be presented better and to fit its genre in a more suitable way. I think this is due to its ability to target its audience with a use of images and a look of proffessionalism. I found the Newman magazine to be to immature and the design was too messy to understand its concept, as sometimes, less is more.

Preliminary Task - Introduction

Today we were introduced to our preliminary task. We were told that we were to design the front cover and the contents page for a school magazine. We looked in detail at the areas we will need to study before we start. We discussed target audience, images, languages, contents, attracting the audience and logo's and linked each sector to what would be suitable for a school prospectus.

We then covered "using the image," "the power of words" and "words and picture," learning how we could effectively use them to benefit and improve our work.

After this we were shown examples of the previous years' work. The class conferred their thoughts on the style, images and the overall look of the magazine cover. This gave us an insight into what we were expected to achieve from our school prospectus and allowed us to review and plan with a better understanding of our task.

We were then set the task of venturing around the school and finding images which we thought would be suitable for the cover and contents page of a school magazine. After analysing the previous years work, it was clear that the images used played a major part in targeting and appealing to its particular audience. The representation of the school and therefore the magazine is justified by the images shown.

I decided that I would take photogrpahs that would showcase the schools beneficial appliances and attributes. I thought this would be a good way of showing the readers the advantages the school has to offer. I also wanted images of the students to be shown consistently in my magazine. I felt this would appeal to the audience as well as giving the students the opportunity to get involved with the project.

To distinguish the St. Marks brand I want to use the the logo and colour scheme which the school has become to familiarise itself with. The main colour I will apply will be the maroon which is common among the logo and our school's prospectus. This will immediately clarify what the magazine is about as it will be easily recognisable.

I will diversify the camera angles and lighting effects used for the images so that each image is different and therefore more prominent and contrastable against eachother. I hope that this will allow the magazine to appear more interesting and eye catching.

The main title will be big, bold and bright so that it can stand out and grab the attention of the reader. I will place the title at the top of the page so that it is clear and obvious. Other text on the page will be placed as captions to explain the mening behind the photographs. This text will also be explaining the content of the magazine and what is to be expected inside. The text will also be maroon athis will combine the overall look of the cover page.

The aim over the cover is to persuade and inform. I hope to achieve this by actively amalgamating the use of images and the use of words equally so as to not overcrowd the cover and to also keep a balance between the two aspects.

The aim of the contents page is primarily to inform the reader, however it still needs to include aspects of persuasion and so I will hope to accomplish this by including catchy headlines and images.

I have drawn up a plan of what I hope the finished product will look like. This will give me an idea of how to lay out and design my magazine cover and contents page. This also gave me the chance to go through trial and error designs and come up the one which I felt most suitable.

Here are my plans:

The Nature Magazine And NAture Magazine Audiece Profile

Previously in the week we were given a lesson in which we were told all the basics for using PhotoShop. We were then given a camera and was told to go out and take a picture which we thought would be suitable for a front cover of a Nature magazine. We were given a sample front cover of National Geographic for inspiration before we went out to take the pictures. I decided to go down to the nearest pond and woodland area, and after taking around eight pictures I was happy that I found a suitable picture which I could then use as my front cover. I eliminated the photographs which I was no longer happy with and was left with one which I was satisfied that I could work on and improve to make a good front cover out of.

Here is the picture I chose:

We were then given the opportunity of taking what we had learnt from our Photoshop lesson and putting it to use by editing our chosen photograph. After assessing this image I noticed that the colours were dull and the shadows in the water from the trees and the ripples would look more intense if the were highlighted. I thought that enhancing the contrast would accomplish this. I also adjusted the saturation to make the shadows appear darker, which further differentiated them from the rest of the water.

Once I felt that I had completed creating an impact on the shadows, I felt that colours needed to be brightened so that they stood out more. I Equalized the image which made all of the colours appear more prominent. I then noticed that the colours looked a it harsh, so I searched for a tool which I felt would give the image a glow. I found a tool in Photo Filter which was called "warming filter" I added this to my photo and the image had a pinky/red glow to it.

When choosing the text colour and font for my magazine cover I thought back example of National Geographic which we had been shown. Big bold font was used and I chose to replicate this. I thought a dark green colour for the font would fit well with the magazines woodland feel. The title was Verdana 60pt and was bold, the rest of the text was exactly the same, however was 30pt in size.

This is my finished product:

Audience Profile

When designing this magazine I had a clear audience profile in mind who became the focal factor in the decisions I made when creating the magazine cover. I referred to stereotypes when deciding on the traget market of the magazine. From this I came to assume that the audience for this magazine would be for older people rather than the youth of today, as stereotypically we know that nature and exploration is something generally linked to people aged 40 and over. This will become the basic age group I will aim my magazine at.

Basing my knowledge of stereotypes, I would also assume that a lot of my older audience would be retired. It is a common hobby for retirees to become interested in gardening and nature walks. This is why I believe that I must cater to this audience with articles, stories and images which would attract this audience type. The retired are also known to have a lot of time on their hands. They are often left feeling less complacent as their once busy lives have now become emptier, with a lot of free time. This is where other hobbies come in, and this is why my magazine will succeed.

My target market who will buy my magazine will expect specific aspects to be included. They will expect a magzine which caters itself to nature including advice and ideas. The magazine will offer guidance to gardening.

My front cover uses a very beautiful image of a lake which has been edited to bring out all different colours and contrast them against eachother to create a very pretty but life like image. This will attract my target market as it will reflect the inside of the magazine. My audience will be attracted to this as they are looking for a magazine which fulfills their needs. The front cover is very simplistic and this reflects the relaxed atmosphere I tried to create to be conducive to nature and the outdoors. This will also attract my target market as this will become familiar to them. People who enjoy nature, often enjoy the "peace and quiet" element which comes with it. This is the look I wanted to portray in my magazine so as to grab the intended audience.