College Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Masthead

The name of the magazine is most likely to be the college’ name indicating that the target audience are the students who attend the college or even to students they may want to invite to come to the school based on the cover lines that they are advertising. Its typeface is simple and unlike many magazines isn’t all in capital letters which could connote the simplicity of the school and how it doesn’t need to be exaggerated or dramatic to indicate that if offers a good education. The font is in white therefore doesn’t clash with the background but also again to show the simplicity as well as the fact that it’s equally aimed at both sexes. The white could also associate with pureness and ‘perfection’ which connotes the success of the schools education showing that it’s a really good and positive school.

Main Cover line

The cover line ‘Global Learning’ is in a large bold font unlike the masthead but carries on the same colour as the masthead therefore your attention goes immediately to the title it follows. Also the global invites the audience in and keeps you fascinated at the fact that it may be big news i.e. global warming. The ‘Learning’ word instead, changes to blue which connotes that it’s calming, intellectual and that you can trust it meaning that you can rely on what the cover lines are advertising to you. Below this is a brief explanation of what it’s about; and repeats the idea of Ridgewater‘ education. There is also shadowing on the text to further enhance the cover line.

Cover Lines

The ‘why now’ sounds like a rhetorical question or an answer that the audience should know and therefore draws them in to find out why. The cover lines are features about college and what many students are concerned about where they can relate to them to find a resolution to their troubles. The alignment of the three little paragraphs are almost equal, short and looks like it’s in the form of bullet points perhaps to make it easier to read and absorb the information given. The easy straightforward talk may connote that the text will be the same inside the magazine therefore you don’t have to be a genius to understand it but also to show that it can be easily read and therefore can help you without difficulty.

In the bottom right-hand corner there is an image of a man feeding a seal with the additional questioned text associated to the image. Unlike a magazine it doesn’t have many cover lines but instead questions connoting that it’s more factual/answerable with useful information for the reader. The page insertion given shows that it wants you to skip right through to look at it’s recommended page. Unlike the other cover line it’s alignment isn’t formally structured and instead has easy to read short sentence lines like ‘dream career’ on it’s own as it grabs your attention because of the minimal wording. The design layout of this cover line makes it look as though it’s part of the contents page therefore gives you straightforward information connoting that what’s displayed is truthful and this supports the colours that are used of white and blue which connotes honesty and intelligence.

Main Image

We can see that the intended audience are for college students, in particular ‘Ridgewater College’ students as the main cover image is a photograph of a young girl around the age of a student. In this photograph she appears to be smiling with her face slightly gleaming with highlights connoting that she is very happy in her school environment and that she is stress free. The background used in the picture is perhaps of a school common room with the comfy chairs and the plants. We know that it’s a working environment as there is a globe in the right hand corner of this photograph connoting that you can learn yet still be relaxed. Her composition is in the centre of the magazine surrounded by the words perhaps to connote that her education surrounds her and is spread spacious around the page connoting that there is still more room for other things. The ’Ridgewater College’ masthead’ composition connotes that it is at the top of her mind and therefore of the magazine. It also has a little text on the side of the main image stating who the person is; a Ridgewater student to outline that this person is actually a product of the college.

With the composition of the texts and the images, it’s like a cycle where the colours latch on to one another (starting with the white masthead to the white main cover line … to the blue background of the small image to the globe in the main image) therefore the reader has a sequence order to follow in.

Barcode

Seeing as there is no barcode it is most likely to be a magazine that’s a handout given for free where it is normally positioned in the corners on the front page but instead is replaced with a cover line.

Dateline

The dateline is just below the masthead with the addition of the college’ name where it says ‘Spring 2009’. As it is not typed in a particular month or date it’s likely that this magazine is a term/yearly issue.

Selling Line

Although this magazine isn‘t really one to be sold, the ‘Special Insert!’ reaches out to the target audience to make them aware of what this magazine can offer them which is so different to other college magazines as it is ’Special’, therefore this magazine that they should read is promising.