Magazine Contents page for college

8 College Magazine Designs

Textual Analysis of a College Magazine

The college magazine cover I have chosen to analyse is called “College”. This magazine is for college students. It would be aimed at both sexes, roughly 16-20 year olds.

The masthead is the title, which can also be the logo. For this magazine the masthead would be “College”, which has been placed across the top of the cover. The colour used is white, which gives it a more modern look. White can connotate stress, which could have been done intentionally because of the stress students’ tend to go through during their time at college. The font design is sharp, which also makes it look more modern. The sharp look could also connotate how difficult college life is too because of the sharp and hard edges.

The main coverline is the text which promotes the main feature article in the magazine.

The main coverline for this magazine cover is extremely hard to find. If I had to decide on a main coverline for this picture I would say it is “Bouncers & Fake ID’s” which is located on the left hand side of the cover in the middle. The font colour is white, which like the masthead connotates stress. Also used to give a more modern and simple look. The reason I think this would be the main coverline is because it is slightly bolder then the other coverlines on the cover.

The coverlines are the short headlines that attract the audience to the content of the magazine. For this magazine cover there are a number of coverlines:

·         “Alex Han Berklee Student & Jazz Prodigy”

·         “From Juilliard to Fox Exclusive Interview with Lie to Me’s Monica Raymund”

·         “Diapers and Diplomas Having a Baby in College”

·         “Crowd Surf with Girl Talk”

·         “Inside Music Internships Rolling Stone, MTV & Spin”

Each coverline is coloured white and yellow. White once again connotates stress and makes it appear more modern. The yellow however has been added to make it stand out against the other white fonts, but also, against the brown background. Yellow could connotate summer, happiness, and in some cases, health. Not only does the font colour change to make it stand out more, but its size also changes. The yellow fonts are slightly larger in size then the white fonts.

The selling line is used as the marketing point or editorial philosophy. The selling point for this magazine cover would be “100% Free” which is located in the bottom left hand side of the cover. The font colour is black ontop of a yellow background. These two colours stand out very well together. However, it is not very noticeable because of its size, which could affect the popularity of this magazine. If this selling point stood out more, maybe the magazine would be more popular then it may already be. Black could connotate something of high standard or something formal. However, in this case, I believe it was done just to appeal the eye of the audience.

The main image is the most important part of the magazine because it is the first thing most people will notice. The image used for this cover is a photograph of a young male holding a jazz instrument. Straight away the image is more appealing because he person in the image is holding a musical instrument. The audience could be attracted to this because they have an interest in the same instrument, other instruments, or just music in general. The figure in the picture represents a college student through his age and clothing. The clothing is brown, similar to the background. It blends in, but not to the point where is it un-noticeable. The male in the picture is smiling, which could represent his happiness during his college life.

The issue number is below the masthead on the right hand side. It is an extremely small sized font which is barely noticeable at all. This is because it is irrelevant information for publicity. It is coloured white and yellow so that it blends in with everything else on the page.  With the issue number, it also says “Summer 2009” which would be the closest thing to the date for this magazine cover.

The barcode is at the bottom of the magazine on the left hand side. It is irrelevant information for the buyer, just like the issue number. Most magazines will try to keep the barcode as hidden as possible because it is purely for quick registering during the purchase of the magazine. The barcode for this magazine is not very big, but it could have been made smaller. In my opinion, it is much larger than it needs to be.    

Introduction.

Ryan McKean. This blog is a record of my Media Studies Coursework.