Preliminary Task

The task is to design a college magazine with the medium close up image of a student, we must use texts and a masthead to ensure the product looks suited and professional, aswell as this we must make a layout for the contents to demonstrate our use of DTP.

Initial Idea

My First idea of what i want to create is a is a college magazine which would be relevant to the audience (16-18) year olds, I could possibly focus on art students and have deals on pencils and paintbrushes, I think that contrasting the colours would be very important to ensure the final product looks professional and well produced.

Another idea is a style magazine for "back to school" college students as many teenagers in this age group are very interested in style and clothing, this would be a good way to promote well known brands which would draw interest from the audience, putting emphasis on the main subject would be essential as the magazine draws attention to style, I could see this idea being very colourful and vibrant whilst being minimalistic to remain professional.

I could make a magazine where i can make studying seem fun and possibly influence and encourage the age group (audience) to study more by having the subject (model) seem happy and engaged with work at school.

Research

Source 1

• 

This back to school magazine stands out because of its vibrant masthead and bold font which would appeal to its audience. They use a medium long shot of the student (subject) to give us an idea of what kind of people would read the magazine.The girl is positioned in a way to intrigue a younger (male) orientated audience. They also use promotional offers on gadgets like phones and laptops to also intrigue the reader. I would like my final piece to look similar to this as it looks very proffesional however i would choose more subtle colours to make the overall piece contrast nicely.

Source 2

• 

This parent magazine uses a medium long shot of the subject to emphasize what the magazine is about (Back to school), the magazine is successful because the masthead is bold and distinctive yet matches the tone of the topic, this magazine is much more simplistic than source 1 however the lack of flashy colours could be appealing to a slightly older audience since it seems much more mature. The mellow yellow and the green contrast well together to seem welcoming and a suitable read. The girl in source 1 is positioned differently to appeal to a younger audience while in source 2 the girl is smart and well dressed. I know that from source 2 it is important to focus on colours and fonts that are appropriate to the target market as colours can give off different meanings and messages to a potential audience.

Source 3

• 

This magazine is aimed at a family audience since it involves a mother and her young children dressed respectfully, the group shot gives a sense that families should read this magazine, the masthead is bold to stand out and has a warm colour to intrigue and welcome the initial audience (parents). One of the headings "family first" is made bold and stands out from the others because it is a marketing technique to sell the product because many parents will believe in the saying persuading the to buy the magazine. This laid out much differently compared to source 2 since it has lots of sub headings down the side, even though source 1 has an entirely different approach and audience the layout is very similar, this can suggest that it is a very popular and successful layout.