Preliminary Task - Research Into Existing Covers

I started working on my preliminary task by browsing on the Internet for images of existing school/college/university covers, which kind of follow the sort of structure i would like to use to create my magazine. however i didn't find one to fit my criteria, and so i settled for a magazine called Campus Life.



The first thing that draws attention to this magazine is the image and colours used. the image takes up all of the front cover. It is layered over the top of the magazine title, which is what a lot of magazines tend to do to make the magazine seem more modern. the next thing i noticed was that its a popular person being used on the cover. Its a person from the famous well known band. This would attract fans of this band to buy this magazine. The red shirt the guy is wearing stands out as it is quite bright in contrast to the rest of the cover. The cover lines then stick to this colour scheme, Quite plain (White font) Then the name of the guy (Dallas Green) to attract readers to the magazine is red, so it stands out more, and so it sticks to the colour scheme and Dallas' shirt. The layout of the cover lines is quite neat. It's boxed with a black background, so that the white font stands out more.

Overall this is a fairly simple design, but it is quite effective. Although I like this design, I don't think I will use it for my actual school magazine as it is not the type of design my target audience would appreciate.

Also the class looked at a Magazine called Latino University Magazine. Firstly I shall focus on the image. The creator of this used the image of a typically attractive woman, who looks rather like a model, not a university student. She is fashionably dressed, in medium close up and the cover model would appeal to a wide variety of people. I found this cover stuck to a colour scheme, which seemed to work effectively with the purple, white and beige background. The layout is neatly spread, with the model slightly to the left of the page. The writing is evenly spread on the right and sticks to the colour scheme of purple and white. the model is layered over the top of the mast head, which i found a lot of magazines appear to do.

Overall this is an effective magazine, but more for the use of a fashion magazine, not a university magazine for students. Although i like the idea of a meduim close up image and will be using this in my design for my school magazine.