Task 1Grid Sheet 1

Before you decide on the content of your magazine it would be beneficial for you to research into existing student magazines. Individually, look at the front cover of TNS magazine and fill in the grid sheet in your student booklet. You must ensure that you describe what you see. (P1 M1 D1

The ingredients Use on front cover Masthead (logo) Positioned in the top left corner. This is the first thing the readers look at, top to bottom. The masthead is a large yellow box with a few short text lines within. The lines read: Independent and Free/ TNS/ www.thenationalstudent.com Yellow and blue is a potent contrast combination. TNS is a logo This immediately captures the viewers attention, and draws the viewers eyes closer to the brand name.

Dateline

This magazine features no dateline; there is no clear reason to this. This is breaking convention, as somebody viewing the magazine will not know which issue it is. They may have to rely entirely on the cover lines for an indication of the date. This is not ideal and this may be an indication to why it is a free magazine. As this is online, the date of the magazine may be posted as a title to the link, or other obvious places.

Main image

The main image is a famous athlete, soon after her world championships, and successful feature in cosmetic advertisements. It relates to the cover lines. Featuring Jessica Ennis may also draw people to the magazine as she is a very famous public figure. She has a large following too, and her constant success in athletics only adds to her fame.

Colour

Bright colours relate to a vibrant youth life. Often students are notorious for being active, so bright colours and big pictures attract them. Also, the yellow looks close to a gold shade, possibly to represent the gold medal Ennis received in the championships, if somebody saw this magazine today, they may associate it with her gold in the Olympics instead.

Cover lines

The cover lines relate to the main image, the words overlap the image itself as it relates to that image. Other cover lines are placed in the right third and do not overlap her. This visual cue may be a subtle indication as to which articles are based on the main character.

Main cover line

Again, this is the one that overlaps the main image itself. It talks about the triumphs of the featured athlete, and gives a little intro to the article. The text that does overlap her is yellow, and she is wearing blue, these blend nicely with the overall colour theme of the article

Left third

The main masthead and the cover lines take the left third completely. This flows well as the main image, does not take too much of the left third, especially in the lower half. Conventionally magazines use this for pricing and barcode.

Bar code

This is an internet magazine, thus there is no barcode. Nothing must be scanned, and this is free. Thus a barcode serves no purpose here, there is no chance of losing out on money.

Selling line

Independent and Free, this is great marketing, as people love free stuff. So people will take and read the magazine. Non biased to any establishment, this means it is universal, and opens itself to a wider variety of students, catching a large group.

Task 2 Grid Sheet 2 2

Now look at the website www.thenationalstudent.com and select a double page spread to analyse. (P1 M1 D1) 1. What types of topics are discussed in the magazines and why have they chosen these subjects? Student Perception vs. Industry Reality, it is about what students expect to happen upon graduation, in comparison to the harsh reality. This is a student magazine, so students will be interested to see what happens upon graduation, as that is an inevitable step for them. It relates to the audience, and will fascinate them. 2. How are the images used? What type of meaning are they trying to denote? There is a chair roped to the wall, this looks like a corporate chair. Possibly indicating the hopes of students becoming corporate bodies may in fact be far fetched and the rope may symbolise trapping, whether it be financial or educational. The word career is placed next to it, symbolising a dashed hope of a career. Upon closer inspection however, you can see the rope ends at a space ship either side, docked in a launching position. This ship looks like a wall pattern, and this may even symbolise something to the contrary of what has already been said. Rockets fly up, and up is the main aim of a career so in fact it may mean, the graduate scheme will skyrocket you to CEO-ship much quicker than through work. 3. What colour scheme is used and why? White, cream and red. The first two colours are typical of an office scene, plain colours often fit with the corporate environment. The red however may tie in with the other end of the article, the part about ambition and rocketing. This may be seen as a contrast, which is part and parcel of the entire article. 4. Who is the target audience for the magazine? Students; as this is a student magazine and it addresses students future it has hit its target audience well. The main issue however is trying to relate to students through colour and imagine, often students like to read from pages that are visually appealing, which will contrast with dull textbooks they encounter whilst studying. 5. What do you like or not like about this magazine? I like how a student, somebody who is experiencing this phenomenon first hand, writes the article. This gives as realistic a feel to this article as possible. Also the way images are used, the depth in connotation and how there is power in that image. I dislike that the paragraphing of the article, lines are isolate along other rows and that disrupts the flow of the article.