College Magazine Front Cover Evaluation

1. COLLEGE MAGAZINE EVALUATION
The magazine was a COLLEGE MAGAZINE which gives more insight to how college
life is and things to expect in College. The target audience were college students. In
order to find out which features to use in order to attract my target audience, I did an
audience research. I used QUESTIONNAIRES as my method of audience research. This
is because, asking questions shows people the whole idea about the magazine. I used
various types of features to attract the target audience. Many of these features
includes; the colour scheme and typography of the cover lines, the background of the
front cover, the gender and facial expression of the main image, persuasive pulling
quote and among others.
To start with was the colour scheme. According to the majority of college students
who answered my audience research questions (questionnaires), YELLOW was their
preferred colour for the cover lines. On a personal note, I also realized that yellow
would be a suitable colour for the cover lines of the front cover. This was because,
YELLOW connotes as a welcoming sign to consumers. On the other hand was the
typography. Target audience opinion on the typography weren’t specific. About 80%
of college students wanted to see a blend of different typography in accordance with
different sizes. The reason given by most college students were because they felt that
the use of different typography enhances the beauty to the front cover.
One major feature that most of the college students were most concerned with was
the main image. This was because the appearance and action of the main image
must relate to the target audience. There were many factors considered under the
main image. Many of these factors include; the gender of the character, the facial
expression, the posture and clothing of the main image and furthermore in which
way does the main image attract the targeted audience. From the perspective of
many college students, the gender of the main image should be a feminine. The
reason given was because females can portray various type of facial expression.
Coming to the facial expression, most readers wanted to see the main character look
little bit relax but with something like books holding her hands to indicate the
significance of studies in College. Most college magazine readers wanted the clothing
and appearance of the main image look little bit of formal but also informal. They felt
that the appearance of the main image should be something in accordance with the
lifestyle of most college students.
With much said from the targeted audience, there started my initial plan. I decided to
carefully evaluate the effectives of the choices made by college students together

2. with my own individual ideas. I began to think about how to these choices were in
line with this preliminary task. I discovered that most choices made by the college
students were much of usefulness in the preliminary task but others were of less
interest. As much as it was of much interest, it also made me understand the
importance of knowing the likes your target audience in a process of making a front
cover.
After evaluating into the choices made by most college students, I decided to move
on to the next step, thus how to apply the features mentioned previously
in my college magazine front cover. In order to do this, I had to do a flat plan. This
would help me in the process of making the final product of my college magazine
front cover. I did a flat plan of my front college apply various types of features. On top
of my front cover was the heading titled “COLLEGE LIFE” with the font colour BLUE.
Beneath the heading was my dateline as “10/09/15-Issue No; 15”. In the central part
of my flat plan was the main image, cover lines and a pulling quote. In accordance
with majority of my target audience, the main image was a female (college girl)
holding books in her hands. Surrounding the main image was some cover lines with a
different typography but same the colour scheme. I choose YELLOW as my colour
scheme for the cover lines as a sign of welcoming. I added a pulling quote in front of
the front cover in order to attract my target audience. In addition to the features
outlined in the magazine was selling lines, barcode, price and among others. All these
features were included in my flat plan.
After making a sketch of a flat plan, I believe that price for this magazine was low
and that this would attract more consumers to purchase this magazine. Also there
was no sort of image manipulation (i.e. airbrush or filter) done with the main image
which I think was a good idea. Also the camera shot set for the main image was a
LONG SHOT which was also of majority of college students. On the other hand, I
realized that I felt short in colour combination as requested by my target audience.
There was no blend of colours, all my cover lines and pulling quotes were YELLOW
despite its differences in the typography. I also realized the lack of an ANCHORAGE
TEXT and a MASTHEAD in the layout of my Front Cover College magazine. I decided to
note it down and make corrections in the main task in order to make my final product
better, thus spent more time on the flat plan and consider the various requirements
and features needed for the structure and layout of the final product.