LIIAR Analysis of College Magazine and How It Was Created

Evaluation

I decided to base my college magazine on Law at Wyke College, and update all the students on all law related topics not only at the college, but outside of the college too. I really wanted to portray the idea of success and high grades from the students. Which is why I photographed my model in front of UCAS and university related posters, to reach out to the audience and inspire them to work hard in order for them to get into the university they want. I chose my model to be female, although boys and girls are of equal intelligence I decided that because throughout most of my research girls were used on the photographs, so I decided it would be good if I did too. I enjoyed photographing my model, holding an piece of work with an A+ on with her smiling, as based on my research this is what was conventional from within a college magazine. I chose the colour scheme of blue, red and white for my magazine, as these are primary colours which are likely to stand out when place on top of a main image on a magazine. The red text was allocated with the risky topic of revision, as this is what students are usually stressed out about. I chose blue as the main colour, as it is very bright and bold and creates the connotation of cool and calm, to relax students and help them with any problems which they have. I want the audience of my magazine to be not only students of the college who take Law, but others as well, as if they are interested in Law there are still aspects of my magazine which they will find interesting. Also, the test paper has a red A+ and the university posters situated behind the posters are red, therefore this links the two together, suggesting that if you work hard, you will achieve success and get into your chosen university. My magazine focuses on looking into the future in particular, as there is no point in looking back to the past.

I also named by magazine Order after deciding many different names, because it is short, snappy and is something that the audience are bound to remember. I also added a skyline which is ‘Audition for Bar Mock Trials now! Can you make it?’ which is likely to grab anyone who is interested in Law’s attention as it is something which could be beneficial to them. I placed a percentage of people who get A’s on the front in large letters to inspire the current Law students to work hard and do well, so they can achieve the positive outcomes at the end.

I also added typical conventions such as the date, barcode and price, these are less significant than other conventions but they are important as they are what the audience look for when they are looking at the magazine.

Just like in my draft and in my research I placed my model in the centre of the page, holding a successful exam in their hand with a high grade achieved on it. Also, as the model attends the college than they will be easily recognizable to the people around, therefore all of their friends and classmates are more likely to purchase it if they see that they know the person who is featuring as the main image. I priced the magazine at £2.20, as it would be quite a thick magazine as I decided it would be published monthly, therefore there would be around 200 pages, therefore £2.20 is an easily affordable price for the magazine, especially as the audience are likely to be students, therefore they will be able to afford this rate on a monthly basis. There are a lot of people who take AS Law, A Level Law, Btec Law and GCSE Law; therefore there is a wide range of people who are likely to buy this magazine, as well as people who just have an interest in general law.

I included a wide range of topics inside, such as shocking case, bar mock trials, law society, a law test, revision and previous grades. As I believe all of these articles are relevant to the theme of the magazine and fit in well with the whole magazine. I chose the layout of the magazine to be tidy, as the audience will probably be quite tidy as they have to keep all of their work in order; therefore I neatly situated all of the articles and text at the sides of the magazine, with the model situated in the centre. This is the conventional layout of a tidy magazine.

To connect the denotations together, I made my model wear a blue jacket to fit in with the blue theme of the magazine, therefore people will realise that the magazine and the model link together through the topic of Law. The audience are likely to look up to the model as they have achieved a high grade in Law, therefore they will want to as well. I enjoyed making my magazine and allocating all the denotations together to create the appropriate connotations, using Photoshop to add the skyline, masthead, main image and articles I produced the magazine. I enjoyed planning my magazine and creating lots of potential idea which I could use and convey onto the practical part of the task, I also enjoyed analysing other magazines and looking at photographs as it helped me with making decisions about my work, such as what articles to include and how to situate my model.

Although, I struggled with taking an appropriate photograph, as completed all the appropriate planning but found it difficult to convey my ideas into the form of a photograph. Also, as Law is really a colourful visual subject such as art or music, it took me a while to figure out what location I could photograph my model. Then I resolved this problem, by finding a big notice board around college with a huge reference to universities and UCAS, therefore I decided it would be beneficial for the readers if they thought about university when receiving their grades, especially those members of the target audience who are excited about going to university, they will be especially interested.

Also, my model doesn’t do Law as a subject, which I figured was another problem, so I gave her one of my previous Law tests and she held it. I think it would have been more appropriate if I had found an actual Law student to photograph, because then they would have had some knowledge about the subject and she wouldn’t of just had to pretend to do Law. This was one of the negatives of my magazine. Another negative is that I need some more practise from within Photoshop, therefore I think that my magazine’s appearance could have been improved if I had knowledge about all the possible tools on Photoshop, although my confidence is increasing when using Photoshop, I still need certain practise. Also, I think I should of taken some more photographs outside as when I was photographing my model I stayed just inside the college buildings and walked around, therefore if I had been outside I may of found a more exciting or appropriate area in which I could take the photograph.