Font Experimentation

In order for my college magazine to create the best possible impact and to further relate and engage my niche market I have chosen a Sans Serif font as it looks more modern making the magazine appear fresh and new in comparison to other magazines intended for a different audience or age group. As the masthead is a key element to a magazine, and what 15% of people asked in my questionnaire think is most important in a magazine, I have chosen seven different, however similar, fonts to study and consider for my masthead.

I have decided up the title "STUDENT . ROOM" for my college magazine title as I feel it is original and, at the same time, relatable to my audience. The word "student" is designed to relate to the majority of my niche market and the word room implies a safe and private area where people can find comfort, specifically new students. The two words together create a familiar thought of where students can go for help, to study, to meet and talk to friends, as well as other things which helps relate the contents of what would be in the magazine to the reader before they even know what is inside the magazine. I think this is effective as it shows a clear link and "flow" throughout that magazine that is simple and easy enough for all types of people to enjoy. 

I have decided upon using PORTER for my masthead as I feel it is the most aesthetically appealing as well as looking the most "naturally professional" due to its simplicity, spacing and weight. I have also decided to use GEOMETOS as the typeface for the coverlines as it is similar to PORTER allowing the "theme" of the magazine to flow and I will be using Coolvetica as my smaller typeface on my magazine cover as I feel it will fit fluidly throughout my magazine a link well with the main coverlines and masthead. 

Audience Profile

My Audience Profile is based around a college student between the ages of 16-19 (mostly female) who prefers gossip and entertainment magazines and is constantly a part of some form of social media or technology such as Facebook, YouTube or Spotify who also most favours the colour blue.

Research

College Magazine Questionnaire

Q1. What Is Your Gender?

_Male     _Female

Q2. Do You Generally Read Magazines?

_Yes     _No

Q3. What Genre Of Magazines Do You Prefer?

_Teen     _Sport     _Lifestyle     _Music     _Entertainment     _Fashion     _Gossip

Q4. What Are Your Main Interests?

_Sport     _Social Networking     _Photography/ Art     _Music/ Drama     _Cooking     _Gaming     _Socialising with Friends     _Shopping

Q5. What First Attracts You To A Magazine?

_Photo     _Headline     _Colours     _Layout     _Title of Magazine

Q6. What Is Your Favourite Colour?

_Red     _Blue     _Yellow     _Orange     _Green     _Purple     _White     _Black     _Pink

Primary Research - Questionnaire

     The primary data I have collected from my College Magazine Questionnaire will help influence how I construct my College Magazine as I have taken 20 people and asked them fairly basic closed questions in order to understand further what I should include in my magazine in order to attract a wider audience.

    Question 1 will show who the results of the questionnaire were based around: if mostly females answered the questionnaire then all the answers would be tailored to what girls would want out of a magazine more than boys, but I have tailored my audience who took the questionnaire to be as close to 50/50 as I could make the genders.

    Question 2 was used the see who out of the audience would actually read the contents of the magazine and to see how much depth I should put into the written work or the actual pictures which are used to attract the readers in the first place.

     Question 3 was used so as I could further examine magazines with which there is already a big audience for and see what I could do to my own College magazine in order to attract the same kind of "buzz" around my own magazine; the sports magazines came out on top in this question meaning including some form of sport related picture or text on the front of the magazine would attract a larger audience than if I did not include any sport related things. 

     Along with Question 3, I also decided upon Question 4 being of fair significance as it would tell me what kinds of things people would want to read about; likewise with question 3, sport came out as the most popular interest showing the significance of including a sport related subject would be for the audience of the magazine.

     From Question 5, I know that the majority of people look for some kind of flashy image on the front that is familiar in some way to them and this shows the importance of selecting a good image for the front cover of my magazine. 

     And finally, Question 6 showed me which main colours I should use on my magazine in order to further attract the interest of a wider audience. The top colour was blue so I shall be including blue in my magazine as the main colour and with red and green as close seconds I have decided upon using the primary colour scheme (red, yellow and blue) on my magazine cover as it incorporates the favourite colours of 55% of the people who took my questionnaire. 

Secondary Research - Magazines

• Use of primary colours to draw attention to specific content
• Subject wearing simple clothing with no writing to stop attention disappearing from content of magazine
• Medium close-up photo draws attention to the subject
• Darker background will avoid conflict with lighter colours containing information and allows the subject to stand out amongst the background as well
• Typeface at top of front cover to draw attention to the title of the magazine 
• Must have bar code, date (month and year) and issue number (if part of a series)
• Sans Serif Font to make the magazine feel more modern and to appeal further to the college aged students
• Subject in middle of cover over the centre grid to draw the readers attention straight to the magazine
• Subject looking straight into the camera as the direct eye contact engaged the viewer and makes then feel like part of the magazine 
• Contents and further inside the magazine should have the same colour scheme and style as the front cover to make it appear as part of the whole magazine, and not pieces of separate magazines 

Contents Page:

• The courses - routine, time management, exam help and advice
• Students - life around the college as a student, trips, and phone apps
• Social - clubs, activities, opportunities, and school year plan
• Budget - jobs, savings, and the price of college
• Help - career advice/ ideas, map of the college, advice on smoking, drugs, problems, anxiety, depression, and the college counsellor/ helplines and helpful websites (part of a contacts page)
• Competition page to win something

Research

Video Test

Magazine Cover

I like this magazine cover for the use of colour in order to attract the audience as they have used both green and pink (pink being a variation of red) meaning they have used a pair of complimentary colours to make the image stand out. This is different from other Marie Claire  magazine covers as they most commonly use analogous colour schemes. What also helps this magazine cover stand out is the use of a famous actress on the front which is universal to so many people that most people would pick up the magazine because they know who she is. The font has also been used well with a Sans Serif Font to make the magazine appear more modern and the use of different font sizes increases the focus on specific pieces of information.