College Magazine Analysis

Images: There is one main image on the front cover that takes up the middle third of the page.  The image is of a girl the same age as the target audience (16-18) who seems happy to attend college with very casual clothing which shows her comfort and content with college.  The image is this way so that other people attending college can relate and feel the same as the girl on the cover.

Colours: There are three main colours of on the front screen; Yellow, Blue and White are the main colours presented in the text as well as in the image.  These are appropriate colours because they’re bright and joyful which will encourage college students to buy it as they seek comfort away from studies.

Fonts: The magazine contains three fonts which are all modern.  These fonts will attract a young, modern audience as the fonts wont overwhelm them and they would feel engaged to read the magazine.

Content: When reading through the cover lines, I can see that they would clearly appeal to a young audience.  One example of this is when it reads ‘Think about sex all day?’ the use of direct audience here with a rhetorical question emphasises its appeal to young people as they can connected with the subject of sex as well as thee style it is presented to them.  Another example of this is the use of the phrase ‘Goodbye slacker!’ The use of punctuation here shows a happy positive approach to college which is what a lot of students want. This will encourage students to buy the magazine as they will want to learn of to say ‘Goodbye’ to their slacking ways. 

Questionnaire Analysis

From the questionnaires we were able to extract information on how we should produce our college magazine. First of all we found out that 60% of responses were female compared to only 40% male, although from our results its more likely to be a larger female audience we need to make sure our magazine appeals to both sexes.

When asked if any of the students have read the current college magazine 100% said they had not. Which therefore means the current product does not meet its target audience. This is something we need to ensure happens with our product. Next we asked about prices, we gave students a variety of prices they would be willing to pay for the magazine, results concluded that 50% would want it for free, but 40% would pay between 50p and £1.00.

As well as all of this we also wanted to know how often students would want this magazine to be published. On average 40% said they would like it to be published every month 20% every fortnight and 20% every half term.

Another important factor in creating this magazine is what features inside the magazine students would want. Through a tally, the most popular features where Film, Music, Events and competitions.

The actual design and look of the magazine is important too, we need a layout the students would find appealing, which in turn will encourage them to buy the magazine. The most popular colours mentioned (colour scheme) was Red, Blue, Black, Green and White. We also found that the cover image most wanted by students would be of a student themselves.

The freebies that were most popular were Vouchers, Food and Clothing. We will want to include this in our magazine to entice the audience to buy our product.

When asked about what they would want on the front cover of the college magazine 45% of the participants said that they would want a picture of a college student on the front and 25% said they would want to see a celebrity, so the student got the majority of the votes so that’s what will be on the cover, as it’s what the majority of audience want. 

College magazine research

College questionnaire!

1.       Are you male or female?

2.       Do you read the current college magazine?

3.       How much would you be willing to pay for a college magazine?
Free              50p              £1.00              £1.50              £2.00

4.        How often should it be published?
Weekly          Fortnight          Monthly          Half Term

5.        What features would you like to see in the magazine? (Top three)

Film	Horoscopes
Music	Competitions
Sport	Problems page
Technology	Subject page
Events	Fashion

6.       What are your hobbies? (List three)

7.       What colours would attract you to a college magazine? (list four)

8.       What freebies would encourage you to buy this magazine? (within reason)

9.       What type of image would you like to see on the front cover?
Student      Technology     Teacher     Celebrity                      Other   __________________

10.   Would you be willing to contribute to the magazine?