As I am specifically designing a front cover for a college, it is important to put across the right language, you would expect to find on one. This uses the idea of conventions and putting across the right thing for the right audience. One of the things this will include is the main title, known as a mast head. Once I have chosen an appropriate mast head for my magazine ( magazine name), I will make sure that it is bold, eye grabbing and appealing to the audience so that it will make them want to buy it. Without a mast head the magazine would be pretty plain and wouldnt really work well. The audience can get a lot of information from the title of the magazine and this is what I would like to achieve with mine. I will also include a photo, this could include one main one and maybe 2 small ones placed in other parts on the cover.The main photo usually has a link to the main heading and usually is the right type of photo for the type of magazine. In this case the photo would fit better if it was related to wyke college as it would make it clearer that the magazine is for the students.I could also choose to have a slogan to create a more memorable feel to the magazine. Using a tagline could give a message to the audience as well as drawing them in. Its about connecting with your audience and I feel using a slogan is one of the many ways in which you could do this. As I am choosing to have a price for the magazine, I have to make sure my front cover shows a bar code and the actual price. What this does is lets us know how many people have bought the magazine and if it was popular.All of these things are using language and without them, any magazine cover wouldnt look right and so it is important to include the right features in the best possible way.
Institution
The college I have chosen to do this task for is wyke sixth form college. This is the institution in my college magazine. Wyke College is a very popular college based in Kingston upon Hull. It gets over 400 applications each year and 50% of these come from the outside of Hull. It offers places to those between 16/19 and they dont have to be necessarily living in Hull, as Wyke also offers places to those that live in eastriding and other surrounding areas. Bus facilities are available for them so that there isnt a problem with them arriving to the college. This shows that Wyke college is a friendly,welcoming place to be and this could come across really well in my magazine.Wyke has just being rebuilt on a £20 million pound budget and there is now more facilities and room for more students to apply for the college. From the start, Wyke only had places for around 500-800 people but as it has increased in popularity due to the excellence of the college, an average of 1300 people attend this college every year.This may be partly because success is a great at wyke and people have picked that up from the outside, especially with 99.7% of people passing their exams. This is a brilliant achievement and this is something that could be expressed in my magazine.
Ideology
Ideology looks at the idea of everyones beliefs and values being treated fairly and appropriatly. At wyke people are treated with respect and are seen to be kind and considerate students. It is important that the college isnt seen as something it is not and that is why it is glad to have the best students it could possibly have. The idea of bullying and being discrimanted against is one that is looked upon very carefully and that is why there are people that are students are eligable to talk to if they have a problem. On the front of my magazine I may choose to have a student form the college looking happy and determined. This shows that Wyke are a respectful college and deals with the right kind of students. Also at wyke everyone is free to express their individuality and this is something that many students look upon. This is another thing that I think would come across really well in my magazine.
Audience
For many college magazines the audience is usually the students but they can sometimes be for the parents and other people. My specific audience is the students that attend Wyke college and also those who dont attend the college but would like to get a taste of what it may be like (16-19). It is easier for a student that attends the college to access the magazine, then for those who dont, but I have given this some thought and the magazine could be avaialble on the college website. This would be free to access on the website and so the barcode and price tag wouldnt really be needed in this case.As the magazine isnt based on one particular subject and is a general overview on the college, this may interest some of the parents of the students and so the magazine may also appeal to them. This shows I have considered the range of audience members I aim to appeal to.
Representation
My representation will mostly come through on the pictures I decide to select for my magazine. I think having someone who looks quite happy gives a better impression than someone who looks unhappy and miserable. An appropriate dressed model would also work well as it gives wyke a good impression and shows that the students take pride in them selves and therefore may in their work. I hope to get this message across in my magazine when constructing the front page.
The five things above are always to consider when constructing a piece of work in the media. Without them it would be hard to identify the audience you are targeting for and to know what conventions are needed. It just wouldnt work.
No comments:
Post a Comment