Evaluation of College Magazine

 
After analysing the conventions of existing College magazines on the market, I noticed that many, if not all magazines are set up in the same way. For example, the masthead always runs across the top of the product as a line or in a square on the left. I also noticed certain styles that were unique to different products. These make individual products easy to identify and also effectively draw in their main target audience. I took these conventions into consideration when coming up with ideas for a name. The majority of college magazines were named after their respected campus or target audience like with 'Ridgewater' or 'Beloit.' As a result, I looked at using Wyke as part of the Masthead. Wyke Weekly was my first Idea, Wyke College Times was may second. But I decided to shorten the second to Wyke Times. I shortened the name of my magazine to make it snappier, even shortening it to 'WT.' for my cover colour scheme; I used purple as my main colour to match the current Wyke logo and colours used in the prospectus. I used the purple in combination with white to emphasize key words in my sell lines, and pull quotes. The main quotes and sell lines are placed on the left, under the masthead and the less important ones placed on the right. The ones on the left are often seen as the ones to attract the attention of the target audience. For my main image, I used a student from the college with her folders and backpack and photographed her with the college in the background, following the conventions of may covers, by identifying the target audience. With the contents page, I planned the layout with boxes to have the list of contents to be on the left, under the masthead. A montage of college related images i.e. gigs, sports teams and student ambassadors. At the bottom, the page would have a message from the editor (most likely a student) containing a few words summarizing the contents. The target audience for the magazine is current students, and students looking to enrol. It does this by offering helpful information that will help both audiences, such as, information regarding courses and support and general gossip and banter regarding teachers, students and events within the college. Also, by offering information on things like Trips, NUS Cards and Sports teams as well, students looking to enrol have a good understanding of the kind of things that go on in the college. The integration with social media makes some exclusive information easily accessible to many people around the world. This could potentially draw students nationally or even internationally.