NME Front Page and Double Page Spread

The foundation portfolio main task requires me to include a double page spread for my music magazine. Here is an example taken from the NME.

The NME is a British weekly music magazine. Featuring 'agenda setting' news, the UK's most comprehensive gig guide with definitive reviews of the weeks hottest gigs, tours, artists, tracks and albums making it the weeks essential guide to the music industry.

It is Also well known for its content of fiery commentary from the nations most opinionated writers, as seen in this double page spread featuring commentary from Beth Ditto. I have displayed both the front cover and the issues double page spread to show the links made between the two.

Punk band, 'The Gossip' are the main feature in this issue of NME. Beth Ditto dominates the photo over her other band members suggesting she is the main singer. This band is well known for being differnt to the other stereo typical bands that are out there and taking the music industry by storm, this is emphasised by the sub headline, 'How three punks smashed the mainstream' this indicates the content of the article.

In the double page spread, although the group photo of 'The Gossip' is situated on the right hand side and the main body text on the left hand side by expanding the love heart background to overlap onto the other page and like wise with the main headline this brings them together giving it a sense of being all in one instead of two separate articles.

On the cover 'standing in the way of control' is in the main headline and has been used as a play on words as it could be indicating literally but is also the name of one of their well known songs. In the double page spread the first line of the headline reads 'standing in the way of... ' and then instead of simply writing control it is written what the band stand up to. For example 'body fascists' as Beth Ditto is not the stereotypical female band member (thin and attractive) but in actual fact is proud of who she is which is what the headline is getting across. Amongst the text a pull quote is displayed in a love heart of which the main body text is made to wrap around this. Also the big background is a love heart on the next page and therefore a link can be made to make it appear more as all one page. The fact that the love heart appears in black also represents 'The Gossip' is different from the 'norm' as a love heart would be expected to be coloured red or pink.

There is a cd type symbol in the middle of the background love heart which re-enforces the music side of things. In the conventional way it is made up of three dominant colours, black, pink and white. Beth is wearing a pink and black outfit and the men are wearing black with one of them wearing white framed glasses, these choices have been made to tie in with the music genre. Pink is a colour normally associated with girls which is why pink has been used to reinforce the Beth's gender. If you notice a drop cap has been used on the beginning letter of the article. This is a common feature used in all types of articles used to stress where the article begins, this particular one been in pink to emphasize further.

The explicit language used it the headline, 'bullshit' shows the strongly opinionated attitudes of the band and by including this type of language the magazine shows it feels confident its audience will not be offended by this but rather on the same wave length. In both pictorials on the front cover and double page Beth is situated in front of her other band members suggesting she plays the most important role. More effectively on the double page spread she is holding his face with the back of her hand facing the reader, indicating that she is more in control and has more dominance within the group.

After analysing both the front cover and double page spread I was able to make key links between the two. I realise that many of the key conventions are similar between the two and I now know how to create a double page spread without it looking like two separate pages and this will help me when it comes to designing my own.

Analysis of Classical Rock/Metal/Grunge Magazines

The magazines below are representative of the classical rock/ heavy metal type music genre.

Mojo's team had originally been involved in the launch of Q Magazine but MOJO's outlook immediately differed. While Q catered for the contemporary pop-culture scene, fitting music into a world that contained film, television, celebrity. Mojo is a magazine that has always been about music pure and simple. Since its first issue it has focused on music old and new and has always favoured the lost classics and ambitious artists, over the fads, starlets and best-sellers pored over by other magazines.

Kerrang! is one of the biggest selling weekly rock magazines. It was initially published as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper devoted to the current New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of other hard rock acts such as AC/DC, who appeared on Kerrang!’s first cover. During the early days of the magazine placed many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover eg Bon Jovi, but later discarded them when grunge acts rose to fame. Kerrang! features new musical trends that become popular focusing on a current emphasis of emo and metalcore music genre. The title 'Kerrang' is onomatopoeic resembling the sound of a guitar being smashed, this is suggested by the cracks amongst the text as if it had been smashed by something.

Both magazines employ a colour scheme made up of the three dominant colours, red, black and white to represent the nature of the music genre. By putting these colours together it gives the magazine a more dramatic outlook. The content represented in this magazine is simply music and artists that are popular in the rock/metal genre. For example on the cover of Kerrang is, '25 extreme metal anthems' and on the cover of Mojo reads, ' Rodger Waters the dark side revisited'.

Mojo is magazine that caters for those who have an interest in classic rock. It was first noted for featuring artists such as Bob Dylan and this particular issue has coverage on Bob Dylan. Also Mojo regularly includes a cover mount CD which ties in with a current magazine article or theme, in the issue above this is shown by a CD which inspired Bob Dylan.

The band 'Trivium' is the main image focus of the cover suggesting the main article inside will be about them. The band member third from the left is dominating the photo as he appears the biggest and is placed over the end of the masthead. This indicates he is the lead singer and also shows how popular and well recognised the magazine is. They are all dressed and appear in similar colour to the colour scheme of the rest of the cover to re-enforce the nature of the magazine itself. This is displayed in 'Mojo' magazine also as all men are looking directly at the audience therefore attract the readers attention as they can feel more involved already.

The music represented in these magazines have a big impact and this is emphasized by such features as the bold and strong words used in both headlines, 'Dylan blasts back' and 'new album will blow you away' and in Kerrang's slogan, 'Life is Loud'. Moreover Mojo's slogan is 'The music magazine', by using a definite article 'the' it suggests that Mojo is the best and the only one you need to read. In addition this is also portrayed through the big and bold text which is used throughout the cover.

In conclusion all the above features of these magazines work together to reinforce and represent the particular music genre of rock/heavy metal and grunge.

Analysis of Mainstream Music Magazines

The Rolling Stone magazine is the 'number one pop culture reference point for over 12 million young adults'. In addition to its high status in music, Rolling Stone’s also features in entertainment, movies, television, technology, and national affairs. Rolling Stone covers everything that’s important, trend-setting, and newsworthy to young adults.

Blunder magazine is of similar nature and it sees itself as 'the ultimate guide to music and more'. Also it is known for its sometimes steamy pictorials of female artists. It is a very in depth music review magazine featuring reviews of an artists full body of work, songs, albums and both best and worst playlists.

These magazines represent a range of different music genres to cater for most types of music lovers. They feature general news about the music industry and include all genres and a range of different artists and bands. This is represented by the range of content displayed on the page. For example Rolling Stone represent Slipknot to Christina Aguilera to Eminem, likewise to Blunder who represent Leona Lewis to 'Grunge madness' such as Nirvana. Also general news young readers would be interested in such as Blunder's '165 songs you need to know' and Rolling Stone representing the 'Olympic style'.

Each magazine follows the conventional style of using three dominant colours which are followed through by dressing the people that take place as the main image to match the covers colour scheme. The covers main pictorials are well known music artists, Christina Aguilera (rolling stone) and Leona Lewis (Blunder) this immediately attracts the audience as they will be more likely to want to read the magazine if they feel they know and like the featured artist. The pictorials on each magazine over-lap the masthead, this shows how well known the magazines are.

Christina Aguilera is the main image focus of Rolling Stone magazine. In the earlier days of her career Christina was seen as a young, fresh sex symbol and this is portrayed in the way she is licking her lips in a seductively cheeky way. She is portrayed as stereotypical 'beach babe' with blond hair, blue eyes and a cheeky smile this emphasises the stereotype and ideology of 'blonde's have more fun' . This is also shown in the way she has her top rolled up and her skirt undone to reveal her bikini bottoms, the bikini bottoms reflect on the 'beach scene' location of the blue sea and sky background to create verisimilitude. Also she is holding a Walkman in her hand, this is brought to our attention as the earphone wires fall across her body and our eyes are drawn to wear the wires are leading, this re-enforces that it is a music magazine.

Leona Lewis is a well known new and up-coming artist who is considered as classy, stylish and inspirational, this is reflected in the classy and sophisticated outfit she is wearing and she is posed stylishly seductive rather than trashy. She also fits in to the stereotype of 'the brunette' who is seen to be more down to earth and sexy in a sophisticated way. The colours that she is wearing are matched to the black and white textual colour scheme of the cover. Moreover the way she is posed leaning down to the right with her arm bent and raised to her mouth suggests she is singing with her arm acting as a microphone, also used to re-enforce that it is a music magazine.

Overall these magazine covers give an insight into what is expected of a magazine of this music genre and all the features come together to emphasise and reinforce the dance/club music culture.

Analysis of Dance/Club Music Magazines

Rave and Mixmag are a good example of a music magazine representing the genre of dance and club music. Each week Rave publishes interviews with international, national and local artists, together with the most up-to-date information on live gigs, tours, dance events and music festivals.

Mixmag is the dance music market leader and has maintained its reputation as the most influential title in the dance sector. This is shown in the sub-masthead at the top of the cover, 'the world's biggest dance music and clubbing magazine'. It created the words "superclub" and "trip hop", released the first legal DJ mix tapes and CDs and is one of the most trusted voices in dance music.

The mastheads of each of the magazines are representative of the music genre, 'Rave' is a commonly used word used to describe a dance party indicating the clubbing scene. Above the mats head reads, 'where to party this new years eve' this backs up the content of the magazine. 'Mixmag' suggests the idea of mixing different music tracks of the dance/club/trance genre together by dj's played in clubs. The content displayed on each cover are representative of what might be expected by the 'rave' and 'clubbing' scenes, for example they both have an article about ecstasy. Also both advertise the best party places to be. Moreover both represent music artists who are popular in the genre of music.

The colour schemes are bright, bold, colourful and busy. For 'Rave' the masthead is bright blue and is the biggest and boldest piece of text on the cover. Also this colour is not used in any other text on the cover in order for it to draw attention to itself to recognise the magazine. Putting aside the masthead the textual colours consist of yellow/green, white and red which are very colours creating a very dramatic effect. The background looks similar to that of flock wallpaper design, this is very unusual of the 'normal' magazine cover background. All of these unconventional features of this magazine cover come together to re-enforce the music genre it is representing.

Mix mag follows the conventional textual colour scheme of keeping to three colours which are white, yellow and red. The yellow reflects sun as it is a warm colour and this is why Ibiza is written in yellow as it is a hot country. The colour red is a sign of danger or prohibited activities etc which reflects on the word 'sin' in the headline. Although this magazine displays some conventional features, the background looks as though it is lots of leaves, maybe palm tree leaves to support the idea of Ibiza, however looks as though it has been placed behind after the photo had been taken. By mixing conventional with unconventional features this represents the title 'Mixmag'. By illustrating the dot on the 'i' as a compact disk this reinforces that it is a music magazine.

Rave's main image focus is 'Fergie', she is a well known music artist, this guarantees that the majoity of readers will know and like her, immediately attracting the audience. The word 'Rave' is associated with wild and out of the ordinary parties. This is reflected in the main pictorial and accompanying headline. As it is very out of the ordinary for a famous music artist to appear out of a huge layered cake, however written across the bottom of the cake is, 'The Holiday Issue' this indicates that it is a special issue that will feature extra content that does not ordinarily appear, reflected by the image. Fergie is dressed in what appears to be a fancy blue swimsuit, the blue has been chosen so that a link can be made back to the blue masthead. Moreover the way she is posed with her body lent to a side and her hands in the air, with her fingers positioned in a particular way that suits the dance style you would be likely to see at a rave. The accompanying headline reads, 'The Duchess of Debauchery Fergie'. The word 'debauchery' translates as a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity, this is what can also be stereotypically described as the 'rave scene'. By saying that Fergie is the 'Duchess' of this it indicates she is regular goer of wild parties etc. This all comes together to emphasise the music sub-genre it is portraying.

The main headline in Mixmag reads 'sun! sex! sin! Ibiza The Real Story', this is reflected in the main photo. Firstly she is wearing a bathing suit, a necklace, a pair of earrings and has a pair of sunglasses, this relates to Ibiza which is a well recognised as the clubbing capital holiday resort. By adding the accessories this suggests she is going to party instead of just going on holiday to sunbathe. Everything she has on is white and yellow which makes a direct link to the heading as the text is the same colour. The woman's body language is very open as she is lent slightly back with her head tilted and is looking down at the reader as if she is almost inviting them to read Mixmag. Her bathing suit is very exposed and she is posed seductively indicating the 'sex' and 'sin' part. As the headline reads 'the real story' by placing the tip of the frame of her glasses in her mouth between her teeth suggests that she knows 'the real story' about Ibiza as if it was a secret and she can't tell. However by taking the glasses away from her eyes whilst still being on her face this creates the effect that she has revealed some of her identity to the audience. This reflects the idea that she is going to reveal 'the real story' about Ibiza to the reader in the magazine article.

On the whole, after analysing thoroughly all the features of each of the magazines above I have found that they all work together to create a magazine which represents the dance/clubbing music culture.

Foundation Portfolio-Main Task

The foundation portfolio main task involves producing the front page, a double page spread and a mock-up of a contents page of a new music magazine. As this is the beginning of the task i have started by looking at how the media key concepts can be applied to produce a music magazine cover using the acronym LIIAR;

Language: The language used will be light, fun and entertaining and appealing to those who are interested in the music industry. The textual colour and image focus will depend entirely on the type of music audience the magazine is aimed at, for example a magazine based around Kerrang would probably use colours such as red and black, whereas a magazine based around a mix-mag theme would use bright, aluminous and eye catching colours.


Ideology: The purpose of my music magazine will be to inform and entertain the target audience. I will do this by including articles about new and upcoming music events the latest music releases and artists and the most recent showbiz/music gossip to make sure I include something for both the general and sophisticated reader. It will promote the music genre i decide to base my magazine upon.


Institution: A music magazine publisher. There are a number of different publishing companies. I have researched the main publishers to see which one my magazine would fall under, considering the music audience they cater for;

Ipc Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher and offers a wide range of different magazines that are suited to almost every reader. These include the very popular music magazine, NME. The NME is a British weekly music magazine featuring latest music news, UK's most comprehensive gig guide, reviews, gigs,tracks and albums and comments from nations most opinionated writes and gives an essential guide to music.

Emap is the publisher of the kerrang magazine, the UK's premier multi-platform music destination and is the worlds biggest selling weekly rock magazine. The six music magazines in the Emap Performance stable - Sneak, Smash Hits, Kerrang!, Mixmag, Q, Mojo - cover a wide spectrum of tastes and age groups but all stand by a reputation of quality and passion. emap Performance also has a variety of websites supporting the music magazines and radio stations.

Future: This publisher is a trusted editorial service and magazines are just one of the media types they publish, to inform, entertain. Future produces over 4 million magazines each month. In addition, Future exports its publications to 90 countries internationally, making them the UK's number one exporter and licensor of monthly magazines. These include, Classic Rock, the UK’s fastest growing rock music magazine and this publisher is the global market leader in guitar magazines.


Audience: Each magazine and magazine publisher have a different target audience for the different genre they chose to represent.

IPC: Almost two in every three UK women and over 45% of UK men read an IPC magazine. That's almost 27 million UK adults. Also the publisher of NME which has earned worldwide respect for its rock music news and features, which are updated around the clock. It offers unlimited access to an affluent young audience and a unique opportunity to communicate with them in an environment that they relate to and return to frequently, Statistics look like this: 65% Male*, 50% 16-24*, 23% 25-34*and 79% ABC1*

The audience profile for Kerrang magazine states that this magazine is read by, individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty.

The Mixmag reader has a median age of 26 and are 72% male, 28% female, who tend to be urban and single. Mixmag has a certified circulation of 37,139 and a readership of 276,000.
The reader tends to have a high disposable income and a high propensity to spend it on:
· Nights out
· Clothes
· Tunes
· The latest mobile and MP3 player
Nearly 80% do not read another music magazine and they spend little time watching TV, especially at weekends.


Representation: This all depends on the music genre the magazine has chosen to represent. For example Kerrang caters for a fan of the heavy metal/rock genre, where as Mixmag caters for a fan of a music genre of the complete opposite, this being clubbing music and represents today's 'clubber'. Whereas Kerang would chose to represent a band member on the front cover, Mixmag would rather opt for an attractive, young female.
NME has chosen to represent the news side of music and after ten years NME has earned a reputation as one of the world’s leading sources for music news.
As my aim is to create a new and upcoming magazine i would probably choose to represent either a dance/hiphop/rnb music genre as these I am most interested in.

Final Peice Evaluation

I have found that throughout the Foundation Portfolio task i have learnt a lot of key skills in being able to recognise conventions of different magazines. I have found it very useful in the sense that this task has given me good practice in being able to analyse thoroughly both text and the language of an image. These skills enabled me to successfully create my final piece of designing the front cover of my own college magazine along with a mock up of a contents page.

My end product is a college magazine, it includes all the traditional conventions and features you would expect to see in any magazine. I have made sure to include such things as; issue number, date, price and bar code, a masthead (sub also), main headline, sub headline main image additional image and a plug which appears bright and bold offering students discounts which relates directly to the target audience. I also included an unusual feature i spotted in 'School Sport' magazine which is a strip along the bottom which indicates briefly the content of the issue.

My college magazine is aimed at students and the target audience would range from around 15-19 years old, this gives potential students the chance to read the magazine also. I designed my front cover using very bright and bold text fonts to ensure the magazine stands out to catch the readers attention. It is unlikely a target audience of a younger generation are going to pick out or want to read a magazine which appears dull and boring. The mast head is the biggest text featured on the cover so that it can be easily recognised and features a sub-masthead above to enhance the title and college it's self.

Throughout the design process of my final piece I was able to look back to other magazines which I had analysed in a previous post to make sure I included the conventions which are seen in real media products. I noticed that in each magazine there was a set colour scheme used in fonts and backgrounds usually consisting of three colours, for example in 'School Sport' and 'Blunder' a colour scheme of black white and yellow is shown. I made use of this particular convention by using a colour scheme of red, white and purple. Although I wrote the word 'striking' in yellow text which steers away form my colour scheme.

I wanted to make a link with the yellow background of the image in the top right hand corner as i realised no other yellow appeared anywhere else. As the image is advertising a sport jumper and the particular headline that I have included the yellow in is advertising a sports win i decided this was a good opportunity to make a related link between the two. I also used a different colour text for my main headline, firstly to make it stand out more and secondly science exercise books always used to be orange and as my headline focuses on this idea it relates well. Also if you notice on the left hand side of my cover is the layout of a more conventional way of a gossip or fashion magazine and the right hand side focuses in on the academic representations of the magazine.

The image of the science student is the main focus of the cover as all the other features are placed around her so that she is dominant over the rest going on in the cover. I edited my photo using photo shop elements to blur out the background of my photo. I did this so that the student would become the main focus and stands out more from the rest of the photo. The student is looking up towards the test tube portraying a positive and optimistic outlook and this is the message i am trying to get across about Wyke college in my magazine.

I put a lot of thought into my main image focus, to ensure that it entirely reflects the main headline. Similarly to the 'Look' magazine and 'School Sport' she is not looking directly at the audience but rather at the test tube in her hand, she is dressed in a science lab coat and safety goggles creating the impression she is taking part in an experiment. In addition to this another reason i chose to include the test tube containing solution is to emphasise the pun displayed in the headline 'Science: A Solution to Succeed', this is written written bigger and bolder in comparison to the other text around and is written across the students arm to emphasise the link between the two. The costume also strongly represents the social stereotype of what a scientist dresses like. My image suggests the student is unaware their photo is being taken implying it has been captured during a lesson creating a sense of realism and verisimilitude.

If I had the chance to make improvements to my final magazine cover i would make changes to the colour scheme and limit them to three colours and only three as seen in the other magazines I have analysed previously. I would change the yellow background colour which I took my photo against in the image of the sports jumper, so that it links in with my chosen colour scheme and is not entirely unrelated. I have boxed some text as part of a headline, however no other boxing appears anywhere else on the cover so i would either not include this or box a whole headline instead of just part of one.

Overall i believe i made good use of the conventions of magazines and I am very pleased with my end product for the foundation portfolio task of creating a front cover for a college magazine.

Mock-Up of Contents Page

My contents page has the general appearance and layout of any magazine contents page. I have kept the colour scheme of red, white and purple, along with the additional text colour of black and slightly different shades of previous colours. I have included images that support a selection of the headings featured on the cover and the page number so it is easy to find. I divided the content into different categories which is what you would normally expect to see in a contents page. I also featured a column dedicated to the editor's letter (usual feature of a contents page)and a Principal's letter, which i thought would be appropriate as it is a college magazine.

Final Piece (College Magazine)

This is my final piece for the foundation portfolio task. After thourough analysis of differnt types of magazines I was able to successfully design and create my own magazine for Wyke College students.

Main Image Medium Close-Up

My main photo has to be a medium close up which only shows from the high waist area upwards. This allows me to be able to include a surrounding area whilst still allowing me to capture detail and emotions in the face and body language.





I have decided to use this 1st picture as the student is looking up towards the test tube portraying a positive and optimistic image and this is the message i am trying to get across about Wyke college in my magazine. You can see clearly the surrounding area of the science lab which creates a sense of realism. When editing this photo i will use photo shop elements to blur out the background so that the student becomes the main image focus of the picture.

I do not think the 2nd photo is a good option as the student is looking down portraying a negative image and this is not appropriate for the outlook of Wyke college. The surrounding area is limited and not as clear and bright as the 1st photo. Also one of her eyes looks almost shut. Overall I do not think this would be the best option to use as my main image.

Additional images

I wanted to include an additional image to represent the college jumpers. My original idea was to get a photo of each type of jumper available to the students, however I had difficulty in getting all three together, so instead i only featured the sports jumper. I chose to take my picture against three different backgrounds so that I could pick which one would best suit my magazine.This picture has the brightest and boldest background out of the three. I have chosen to feature this photo on the front cover of my magazine because the two strong colours against each other will catch the readers eye and attract my target audience. When editing this photo i will be able to crop the right hand side of the image to get rid of the unwanted scenery that is visible.

This image has a more toned down background as it is of a lighter but similar colour to the jumper itself and almost blends in. For the reason that my target reader is from around the age of 15-19 years old I do not want my images and background to blend together as I would prefer them to be more noticeable.

I thought about having a naturalistic background so I chose to take this picture against a window that looked out upon a green/grassy area to create a naturalistic feel. Also because this is a sports jumper you generally associate sport with the outdoors so i thought about relating the jumper to the background. However i decided that with the bars and the lighting contrast there is too much going on for it to be a suitable image.

Final draft for Foundation Portfolio

This is my final draft of my college magazine. I have chosen particular ideas from my last post and featured them in this draft and i have kept the layout the same.

The masthead i have chosen is 'BURST' it represents the college in a positive light,suggesting Wyke is a college bursting with opportunity to do well and succeed, this is also shown in the sub-masthead situated above the title. The colours of my masthead will be very bold and eye-catching, avoiding all dark and dull colours. The whole word is clearly visible ans the lettering is very clear to the reader. I have designed the letters of 'burst' to not quite fit in the designated space (as if it is 'bursting' out), this a creative design idea of the word itself and a reflective idea of the college image I am trying to portray.

In the top right hand corner i have shown how i want my images laying out. Each of the hoodies will overlap the next, including prices to show that they are affordable, as seen in the 'LOOK' magazine. I will use a white background for this so that the jumpers appear bolder, brighter and sharper.


I have attempted to draw my main image, I have decided to use a science theme. I will ask a student to pose as a stereo-typical scientist, dressed in a lab coat and safety goggles, whilst holding a test tube which will contain some solution. Similarly to other magazines the main headline is cutting into and overlapping the image. The test tube is placed inside the 'O' of the word 'solution', this is an effective play on words as the test tube contains solution, which is inside the word solution. The headline is very Representative and reflective pun of the illustrated image.

The background I am going to use will simply be the background of my main photo, this will be a science laboratory to continue with my theme and create further authenticity.
The cover will follow a colour scheme, the additional text will consist of just two colours as seen in previously analysed magazine overs. However the main head line will contrast with the other text to make it appear more dominant over the rest, likewise with the masthead.


I have included four sub-headings, (in the real cover the font will be much larger) each accompanied with a small image that represents the featured story. These stories cover a range of different areas, the first being sporting achievement featuring a story titled 'A striking Success' focusing on the area of a recent football match the college took part in. I think the title is very inventive and a creative way to advertise.

The second sub-heading features a charity event hosted by the college. This gives a very positive outlook as it shows the college is interested in helping those less fortunate. The event advertised is a cat walk which students will take an interest in because students generally like fashion. I came up with the heading, 'Strut your stuff', it's alliterative, reflective and very catchy.
The 'A Scary Sight' cover story is a fun way to attract students to want to read the magazine as most enjoy looking at photo's and because the photo's will be featuring their college peers attending a college fancy dress it is more likely they will be eager to view these pictures.

The 'Basket Ball for Beginners' offers something for new learners or those who want to try something different. By promoting new courses it represents the positive outlook i am trying to illustrate and opportunity.


The plug promises a clear benefit to every reader. This attracts the target audience because people like to know when they can gain from things. Students will want to read the magazine if they know they are at an advantage of getting student discount with this magazine. I will display this plug in bright and contrasting colours to make it stand out and catch the eye of the reader.


Across the bottom of the cover i have bullet pointed the main features of the magazine content similarly to the 'School Sport' magazine I have previously analysed. This is just an additional way to emphasise the content, to persuade the reader to want to buy and read it.

idea layout for college magazine

When designing this magazine cover layout I was able to use ideas from my magazine analysis from the post below to help with my design and layout ideas.


Masthead: To help me come up with a suitable name for my college magazine I have collected a group of words that relate to achieving and learning; excel (excel yourself in learning) passion (passion to want to do well) freedom (freedom to achieve what and how you want) fresh (the idea that the college is new and fresh, promoting modern learning) vivid (wyke makes the future look positive, very bright and clear) blab (ideal name for a college gossip magazine) desire ( a desire to want to succeed) accomplish (accomplish personal targets and target grades) burst (suggests the college is bursting with opportunity) Another idea is to call it 'College Knowledge' i think this is a a good play on words as they both rhyme and could be very catchy. The only disadvantage is that it's quite a long title for a magazine.

Sub Masthead: Similarly to the LOOK magazine I have also included a sub heading. In LOOK it was used to emphasise the type of magazine, however I am going to use it as another way to emphasise the quality of the college. I have come up with a catchy phrase that reflects on the masthead; 'licence to learn', I thought this would reflect well on the masthead 'Accomplish' as heard when completing something people say 'mission accomplished'. In the film James Bond, there is a line 'licence to kill' instead of using this I would change this phrase to 'licence to learn' and use this as the sub-masthead, these two phrases compliment each other and by playing on these words I think it is a creative way to advertise the college.

If I used the masthead 'Burst' my sub-masthead that I would use to reflect this would be 'Wyke College, Bursting with Opportunity'. This suggests the college is overflowing with opportunity which is a very positive outlook.

Main image focus: I will use the same conventions as seen in all the the magazines I analysed, in the sense that I have designed all other text and features on the cover around the main image. I have come up with a few different image ideas for different themes, subject areas etc. If I was to do the main focus on the subject law, I would have a student posing at a desk looking as though the image has been taken whilst in a lesson, with a law text book in view,that students are issued with when they take the subject. The classroom will be in the background, however it would be blurred to focus attention on the student, as seen in the sport magazine I analysed.

Another idea is to use a seasonal theme, focusing on bonfire night. The cover would advertise that the college is hosting a charity bonfire. The image would be of a student, dressed for winter and looking up to the sky, as if to be watching the fireworks. I would include a picture of fireworks in the background to add authenticity to the picture.

I also have an idea to have a science theme, advertising science at Wyke. The image would be student posing in a lab coat, safety goggles etc whilst holding a test tube with solution inside to make it look like the photo has been captured whilst the student is carrying out an experiment.

Main headline: If i decided to go with the science theme the main headline would include the words 'A SOLUTION TO SUCCEED'. The image reflecting this will be a student holding a test tube with solution in it, causing the headline to become an effective play on words.

If i went with the idea of a bonfire night theme for the main image focus, my main headline would include words such as; explosive, bang, colourful, fiery, bursting, bright, display. I have come up with the headline, 'AN EXPLOSIVE NIGHT TO REMEMBER REMEMBER' the saying for bonfire night is 'remember remember 5th of November, so by including the first two words in my headline it has a stronger to link to the event whilst still being creative and catchy. However i would prefer to use a headline which is more short and snappy.

Additional image: I have chosen to include an additional image as seen in the 'LOOK' fashion magazine cover. i have decided to use this space similarly to advertise the range of different Wyke hoodies; Dance, sport and psychology.

Sub headlines: The sub headlines will include things that are happening in the college and different subject areas. I was thinking of including a sport sub headline, maybe to advertise inter form matches or rugby/football events and results. If it was to advertise a football win i have come up with the subheading, 'A STRIKING SUCCESS'.

A sub headline advertising a photo gallery inside from the wyke Halloween party, i came up with the title 'A SCARY SIGHT', this is a good play on words as it could be interpreted as a sarcastic point of view on the actual photos of the students or a scary sight suggesting their costumes where scary, hence it was a Halloween them.

Another idea is to advertise a charity event hosted by the college for 'children in need' for example a fashion show. A catchy subheading for this would be 'STRUT YOUR STUFF', it is onomatopoeic and relates to a catwalk, therefore it is a suitably catchy title.

The magazine should be able to offer something for new for begginers, giving students an oppertunity to want to take part in something within the college, for example beginner's sport corses. I could use the subhead; 'BASKETBALL FOR BEGINNERS' it's short simple and imformative whilst still including the language feature of illiteration to make it more catchy.


Plug: I have some different ideas which the plug will be used to advertise things like a competition for example; to design a poster or a logo for the college and they could win an i-pod. Or to advertise trips out with college to a theme park for example. Or to advertise a charity event in college. Or to advertise student discounts etc.

Textual Analysis of Magazines; Look, Blender & School Sport

In this post i am analysing three different magazines, all aimed at 16-19 year old females. They are all aimed at a different type of audience. From this i am hoping to develop a higher understanding of the key concepts applied to the covers of magazines, in order for me to get some good ideas for my own collage magazine cover design.

'Look' is a very well known magazine aimed at an audience of teenage and young adult of the female gender. The mast head is the biggest text featured on the cover so that it can be easily recognised. The magazine fashion based, shown in the strap line situated above the title of the magazine, 'Glossy High Street Fashion Weekly'. The image of Jennifer Aniston seems to be the main focus of the cover as all the other features are placed around her, so that she is dominating over the rest that is going on. She is not looking at straight at the audience and she looks as though she is dressed to impress, which suggests the image has been captured whilst she was attending an event of some sort.

The main headline reads, 'The HOTTEST celebrity news!', written bigger and bolder in comparison to the other text around. The words are written across Jennifer's body indicating that they used this particular celebrity because people associate her as being an 'A-list' celeb. The head line suggests the magazine is very celeb orientated covering a range of different stars as it does not state a particular one.

There is a lot going on in this cover compared to magazines that just use one image and some text like 'Secondary Teachers'. In the bottom left hand corner a white background is used making the image and text much sharper and stand out more. Opposite this is a feature advertising true life stories, which shows the magazine reaches out to a wider audience to than just to those who are only interested in fashion and celebrities.


Blender magazine is a very popular magazine aimed at an audience interested in the music industry, and the artists involved. Britney spears appears to be the main focus on this cover, as she over powers everything else featured, so much so that she is placed over the letters 'N' and 'D' from the mast head that's supposed to read 'Blender'. This shows that the magazine is one of a very popular nature as the company believe they can afford to not show the full title assuming everyone will still know what the magazine is actually titled.

Recently Britney Spears has received a lot of bad press and the events of her life have been displayed through the media but there has been no real conclusion what will become of her. Which is why i believe she is the chosen storyline. The by-line attached to her reads 'HOW WILL IT END?' with an arrow pointing to her image saying special report. This will attract readers attention as the public are very interested when the lives of celebrities appear to be falling apart. The Mickey Mouse ears hat full of cigarettes and tab ends and empty beer can, represents the drastic changes Britney has gone through in her career, as she started out starring in the Mickey Mouse Club, an innocent children's t.v show and is now shown to be starring on the front of a magazine cover in nothing but a bed sheet.

The only text colours used are black and yellow, which may seem boring and not very eye catching but they are against a white background creating a very bold effect which grabs your attention as the text appears much sharper which would catch the readers eye. Along the right hand side of the cover the text appears in a list format, stating the content of the magazine, including things like interviews with artists and backstage stories etc. The artists names are written in bold text to draw attention to them, as readers may be more likely to buy it if it is made clear who will be featured inside.

In comparison to 'Look' magazine the cover is not as busy in the sense that it only has one image dominating the cover, uses less colour variation and excluding mast head and main headlines the other text is kept to selected colours and smaller size so it is not in your face jumping out at you. However each individual style serves the same purpose.


This particular magazine is aimed at students (the lower end of my target audience)interested in sport as reflected through the masthead,'SCHOOL SPORT'. The main image focus is of Johnny Wilkinson kicking a rugby ball during a match. He has become the main image focus by the blurred background effect, that has been created so that the rugby star stands out from the background of the cover, whilst still being part of the same image. The cover suggests this particular magazine is aimed more at the male gender as rugby generally appeals more to the male species.

As Johnny Wilkinson is possibly the most famous English rugby player, the ambitions of many teenage males would to be just like Johnny Wilkinson. Therefore the target audience maybe more likely to be interested in buying the magazine when they see this rugby player on the front cover.

The text colours are kept to a minimum of white, yellow/amber and black, similar to those used on the cover of Blender magazine. I think this textual colour scheme was kept simple to contrast everything going on in the background of the cover. As in all the magazines i have analysed and is usually the case in all other magazines the masthead is made to be the biggest and boldest piece of text so that it can easily be identified by the reader. In order to stand out from the rest and grab the attention of the readers eye.

Across the bottom is a thin strip of white on black (wob). The wob draws in the readers eye creating the text to stand out and appear very sharp as to attract the readers attention, which is why this is where the content of the magazine is advertised. The sub-headlines highlight the main features of what can be expected in that issue and likewise of both Look and Blender this text is situated around the image making it the main focus.

In conclusion, through the analysis of all three of the above magazines i have found that the media key concepts are all applied to each in their own individual way, yet are very similar to each other. The layouts all follow the same concept of arranging text around the dominating image and each are very representative of their target audience, fashion, music and sport. By using such a range of different magazine types i have shown that no matter how different the content of the magazine the same idea is applied to all the covers.

Textual Analysis of 'Secondary Teachers' Magazine

The image on the left hand side is placed on the back of the magazine and the image to the right is placed on the front of the magazine so that when you open it up it appears like the image shown. Being placed on different sides it separates the two genders reflecting on the main discussion within the magazine.
The two pictures of a girl writing and a boy with his hand up represent the issues raised in the magazine of 'Do boys learn differently to girls? When opened up the girl appears to be looking at the boy and it emphasises that they are both learning in different ways.

Blue is the coloured text used for the boy and pink is the colour text used for the girl also these colours are used for the folders on which they are leaning on, these colours are the usual colours associated with each gender. The pupils are set against a white background which gives the image a sharp impact. The idea that the jumpers do not have a school logo reflects that the magazine is open to all schools not just a particular one.

In today's society there is a lot of multi-culturalism within schools, which is reflected in this image as the boy is of an ethnic appearance. Showing the male with his hand up is used for the effect that boys learn by interacting in class, Where as the girl is portrayed as working best by putting pen to paper which is portrayed through the image of her with a pencil in her hand. The boys arm which is raised is covering over the 'c' in 'Secondary' and his arm is shaped in a curved position indicating that his arm is re-placing the 'c'.

The boy is looking straight on, engaging the readers attention, with a teeth baring smile emphasising that he is happy with the way he learns, which is by interaction with others. The female is looking toward the boy with her arm protecting her work, with a slight smile, showing that she prefers to keep her work to herself. Both students look keen and ethusiastic toward their education and this dismises any bad stereotypical views which are usually related to students.

In terms of the whole picture it represents effectively the particular topic (Do boys and girls learn differently?)open for discussion inside the magazine. The layout is of a very simple content making it seem not so heavy therefore looking more enjoyable.

Foundation Portfolio - Preliminary Task

The foundation portfolio preliminary task involves producing the front page of a college magazine. As this is the beginning of the task I have started by looking at how the media key concepts can be applied to produce a college magazine cover using the acronym LIIAR;


Language- The magazine will be a written in a light, fun, entertaining and informal manner. It needs to have these qualities as to keep the interest of the target reader (students) Using formal language and large amounts of polysyllabic will not fulfill this. The language needs to be kept short and to the point whilst being light and entertaining at the same time. The layout should be kept simple but look fun to read using bright text and intersesting imagery.

Institution- Wyke 6th form college of high achievers, succsessfull in educating people. Excellent pass rate. Needs to portray the aspect of mutual respect of student to teacher, student to student and teacher to student. Enhance the social highs of the college in the sense that it’s the right place for meeting new people and learning to deal with and enjoy new situations, meeting a very wide range of people.

Ideology- The cover should not include extreme explicit language or graphics as these values are inappropriate and could be deemed offensive by some readers. The idea is to get across that Wyke is a great place to avhieve and is open to evryone who wants to succeed. It needs to emphasise that Wyke is a place of mutual respect, equal treatment and many oppertunities for students to take.

Audience- As I am producing a college magazine it is aimed at and will be read by students of an age group of around 16-19. The cover will need to be eye catching, so as not to look boring to attract the target audience. Students may feel unintersted in a college magzine therefore need to make sure it incudes exciting features that the students can gain from and enjoy reading to appeal to this type of audience.

Representation- Issues which students can relate to will appear on the magazine cover and a range of different social groups will appear on it so as to appeal to the wide variety of social groups amongst students today. They will be portrayed in a meaningful fashion so that the magazine is on the same wavelength as the students so they are more likely to want to read it.