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.