Preliminary task ~ Contents page

Preliminary task ~ Front cover

Questionnaire results

We asked college students at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, 65% of them were female and 35% were male. We found out that 95% of the students don’t read the current college magazine which shows that this product doesn’t work as it isn’t reaching its target audience. So we asked a series of questions to determine what they would like the college magazine to be like.

The top three colours that the students wanted were blue, black and white, closely followed by red, green and yellow. So I will stick to these colours for my magazine. The next question was how much they would be willing to pay. 85% said nothing or 50p so I won’t charge anything more than that. Then we asked how often they would like it to be published and 70% said monthly or every half-term. Next, we asked about which house style they would like. 50% said informal and 40% said mixed formal and informal, so the magazine will have to be mainly informal with a few formal articles. After this we asked them to select their top three favourite content options from a list we created. The top answers were music, college trips and then equally freebies, fashion and sport. Then we asked what image they would like on the front cover, the options we gave them were a celebrity, a student, an ex-student or nature. 40% said student, 30% said celebrity and 30% said nature, so it would make sense to start with a student and then rotate the kind of image with each issue. Then we asked if they would like a jobs page and the results were 100% yes.

Conclusions

Having looked at the questionnaire’s answers I conclude, the colours I have decided to consider using are blue, white and black as these were the most popular choices. I have decided to charge 50p for it as the majority wouldn’t be willing to pay any more for it, but will include freebies to make up for the cost. The majority want the magazine to come out monthly or half-termly, I have decided to use monthly as that will be ten issues a year and a lot can happen in that time. I have decided to do an informal house style with some serious articles, because again this is what the majority want. The content will consist of music, college trips, freebies, a jobs page and then maybe fashion, sport and/or T.V. and film. The front cover will be of a student as this was the most popular response.

Magazine questionnaire 

A short questionnaire I handed out to get feedback and opinions about the possibility of introducing a new students’ magazine to my college. 

1) Are you male or female?

Male / Female

2) Do you read the current college magazine? 

Yes / No

3) What colour scheme would attract you to the magazine? Name three colours

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

4) How often would you like it published?

Weekly / Every fortnight / Monthly / Every half-term

5) How much would you be willing to pay for it?

Nothing / 50p / £1 / £1.50 / £2

6) What house style would you like the magazine to be?

Formal / Informal / Mixed

7) What articles/features would you like in the magazine? Tick your top three

Sport / Film & T.V. / Music / Fashion / Problems page / 

College trips / Competitions / Freebies / Quizzes / Technology

8) What image would you like on the front cover?

Celebrity / Student / Ex-student / Nature / Student’s work

9) Would you like a jobs page?

Yes / No

10) Would you like to contribute to the magazine content?

Yes / No

College magazine analysis 

The masthead is bright and is positioned at the top of the front cover which makes it stand out to the reader and clearly states what the magazine is about. Only three colours and fonts which work well together have been used which typifies magazines, this is because it makes it more aesthetically pleasing as there isn’t too much information to look at. Furthermore, another typical element of magazines is that the date line is by the barcode which is positioned in the corner, out of the way. The main image is of a young, smiling girl which gives off a positive vibe. Also this is the only image and follows the rule of thirds; it takes up a third of the cover, leaving the other two thirds for cover lines. The cover lines give a hint to who is the target audience as they explain what the content is. In this example they talk about everything to do with young people and students which clearly shows it is aimed at college students –if the masthead wasn’t obvious enough. The main cover line is bolder than the rest and matches colour with the masthead to make it stand out.