Magazine Front Cover & Contents Page

Evaluation

The denotations of my front cover are :

- Black and white image
- Partial colour to the black and white image
- High contrast
- Bright font colour
- Bold font
- Bold curvy magazine masthead
- Cover lines
- Price of £1.00
- "The Number One College Magazine in the Uk"

The black and white image was a way for me to make the coloured headlines and subheadlines stand out I think I achieved this but with the effect that the image stands out alot in its own way the connotation of this is difference because its unusual to see black and white images on magazine covers.
The partial colour to the black and white image connotes style because even though it is a very simple photoshop edit it brings part of the front cover to life.
The high contrast of black and white image conotes dramatisation because theres are very high levels of black and white which is quite dramatic for any image let alone a magazine cover.
The bright font colour was an idea I had to appeal to the audience and please them visually this connotes happiness and positivity which is the the image that college wants to portray to its students.
The bold font on the front cover was put there the so that it is easy to read and conotes being plain and simple but not in a bad way this was put on the cover to give the the impression of what you see is what you get.
The bold curvy magazine masthead connotes being playful and fun which is quite a good impression I wanted to convey to the audience that the magazine isnt all about being serious.
The coverlines say things such as "College Party" and "Gossip" which connotes attention grabbing because all of the students want to see photos from the college party and read about shocking things that happend and the gossip aspect because gossiping is something that mainly teenagers do.
The price of £1.00 connotes cheapness which is good because students are known for not having alot of money and this price is good for the target audience.
"The Number One College Magazine in the Uk" connotes familiarity and good selling this is good because the students will know that it is a good magazine and the familiarity part is good because the students know what they will be getting.

The denotations of my contents page are:

- Bright colours
- Arrows
- College Pictures
- Page promises
- Competition page

The bright colours connote happiness which is a what I want the readers to feel when they read the magazine and what the college portrays to its students.
The arrows connote contemporary style which is a good way of making the the magazine look more stylish.
The college pictures connote real life because this way the students can relate to the pictures that appear on the page.
The page promises next to the page numbers connote familiarity this is because this is what the students wanted when we gave them questionnaires.
The competition page connotes wanting this is because when young people see an expensive item that they see they want it.

All of the denotations and connotations are acceptable to the target audience which is 16 - 19 year olds this being the main ages of college students; All of the points above are either pleasing to the students eyes or exactly what the students want which we discovered in the questionnaire we gave them.

I think that my front cover was very successful because I achieved the exact style and effect I wanted which was to look stylish, to stand out and to be pleasing to the eyes. I was pleased at how the image turned out and how even the fonts looked right on the cover and I was pleased that I managed to include little details such as barcodes, dates and prices.

I liked how my contents page turned out but it wasnt how I exactly wanted because I think it doesnt look as good as what the front cover does and kind of lets it down a bit so I think the style aspect of the contents page was quite unsuccessful but I was pleased at how I made the contents page look exactly how the Thats Life! contents page looked.

I learnt alot when designing my products mainly I learnt quite alot within photoshop and I have developed my skills in that aspect and I learnt alot when producing them when it came to placing the images and setting the text in the right places where it wouldnt look messy or cluttered. I enjoyed doing this task as I love designing and was pleased that I learnt more skills and effects in photoshop and that when looking at something you can carry on developing ideas until they look stylish and well presented.