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 werent 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 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.