Analysis of College Magazines: Front Covers

Sophia Leiper 12FG Media Studies

This is the first magazine front cover that I analysed.

The magazine is called ‘The Reflection’. This could be because the magazine is about the year11 fashion show and they are therefore reflecting on the evening and what happened.

The font in used isn’t very professional but it seems friendly which would encourage the student to pick it up and read it. However, the colour stands out against the black background.

Masthead

Main PictureThe main picture is that of two girls, presumably in the year11 fashion show themselves. They are smiling which adds to the friendly image of the magazine. The colours of their dresses stand out against the plain dark background.They are facing towards us which adds a welcoming tone to the magazine. The shot used is a mid-shot.The picture also represents the target audience; the girls of the year (not many boys would be very interested in fashion). They have very simplistic make-up but hair that has been styled.

Date Line

The purpose of the dateline is to signify when the magazine is from and in the case to show the issue number. Also here it shows the tagline ‘ high quality learning for all’. However, this is usually separate from the rest of the dateline. Also, the writing is done in white so that it stands out from the black background.

Main Coverline

This is an unconventional place to out your coverline as it is not clear for the reader to see what the main topic is. Also it is in very small print which makes it very difficult to spot on the page.

This is the second magazine front cover that I analysed.

Masthead

The title of this magazine is ‘Spotlight’ . This suggests that it will focus on key features of the school. As with the previous magazine, the colour of the font is bright, in this case white, to stand out from the coloured background.

Also, the font used is quite childish but gives the magazine a certain tone of friendship. As the magazine is aimed at teenagers, it is necessary to have a friendly tone otherwise they won’t read it.

Main Picture

In this main picture, we can see that some artwork from the school has been used. This adds to the previously mentioned ‘friendly tone’ to the magazine. Similarly to ‘The Reflection’, the students work was used to garb the attention of the other pupils and make them acknowledge the magazine.

Date Line

The dateline of this magazine; also has the ‘selling line’. In this case it says ‘stoke newington school media arts and science college’; this is more of a slogan rather than a selling line. This relates to the picture that has been used as the main image. It also has the schools website and the edition number in conjunction with the year rather than month and year.

Coverlines

Rather unconventionally, the coverlines to this magazine are put at the top under the masthead. This wouldn’t be practical for another magazine, but here they are drawing attention to the student’s artwork which is the main picture.

As with the masthead, the text is in white to stand out against the purple background. Also, we see that different types/sizes of font have been used. This is to draw attention to the presumably more important topics in the magazine.