Research: Existing College Magazine Analysis

As part of my research for my college magazine I have decided to analyse an existing college magazine. The magazine I chose to analyse was chosen at random from Google images called ‘College Lifestyle.’ The target audience is obviously college students. The main focal point is the image in the centre of the front cover; a male standing up holding some books. The title of the book reads ‘Law, Business, and Society.’ This may have been purposely done to give the reader a clue of what the magazine will include. It also keeps the theme of the magazine closely related to the college.
The male image, presumably a student is wearing a black leather jacket with a white top underneath. His code of dress is stylish; however, the fact that he is carrying books stereotypically contrasts with the fact that he is carrying books. People associate his kind of image with a gangster look. People could therefore relate to this image. His code of expression is smiling, perhaps trying to charm a female audience and therefore attracting them and make them want to read the magazine.
The colour schemes mainly include black and yellow, with the occasional other colour. This is effective as it is not overpowering the front cover with too much colour. The colour yellow supposedly means joy, happiness, intellect and energy. This could in some ways reflect the personalities of some college students. They have used a bold yellow title reading ‘COLLEGE.’ This stands out and catches a reader’s attention. Above this it says in a smaller print ‘Your guide to everything hip, hot and happening. Their use of threes and alliteration makes the content of the magazine seem interesting and exclusive.
Either side of the main image is sub headings in yellow and white alternating colour text, telling the reader what stories are in the magazine. They have related their stories to things that young adults would be interested in, whilst relating them to college and keeping them relevant.
This issue is a summer issue, suggesting that they create a magazine once every season/ term. Releasing a summer issue is very useful however as it allows them to include things that can relate with the upcoming summer holidays. I will have to consider this when creating my college magazine.

Research: Questionnaire

As part of my research for my college magazine, I created a questionnaire in an effort to find out what I would need to include in my contents page in order for it to be successful. After doing so, I discovered that the majority of people asked were unaware that there was an existing college magazine, let alone actually read it. So already we can see that my magazine would need more publicity in order for it to be successful.

When asked if they would be willing to pay, again, the majority said no. Although those who said yes agreed that 50p would be a reasonable price. This then opens the possibility that the first issue could be free, perhaps including a free gift to grab a readers attention. It must be taken into consideration that in order to give away free gifts, some money must be raised; as well as creating the magazine, some people may want to get involved in some fundraising. If the first ever issue is a success, people may be willing to pay a maximum of 50p in the future.

When asked what they would be interested in reading about, they were given a selection of topics to choose from. Most popular topics included upcoming events, personal messages and competitions. This is very useful information, as we now know what must be included for people who want to read the magazine. Including these topics may also attract more readers, who previously said they would not be interested in reading a college magazine. Least popular topics included history of the college, news bulletins and how to deal with the work load.

Question 5 read 'What do you think the college magazine needs to be more appealing?' Answers included grabs attention, more pictures, more publicity, graphics, more exciting and more colour. These are key answers when ensuring I make my magazine as appealing as I can. It appears that most people become more interested by a product by it's appearance. When creating my magazine I will have to consider how often I want my magazine to be released. Results of the questionnaire said they think it should be between weekly and monthly. To compromise and meet the needs of the readers, I could create the college magazine every fortnight. Further on in the questionnaire the reader was given a choice of things that may be featured in the magazine. Most popular choices were upcoming gigs, job availability, cinema listings, fashion, gossip, an agony aunt column and 'facebook' news.

Overall, the results of my questionnaire will be very useful in the creation. The appearance of my magazine is very important as it is likely to attract more readers if it looks good. Also, according to the majority of answers from my questions, people are more interested in reading things not directly linked to college. Hopefully I will be able to include topics of interest whilst relating them to the theme of my actual magazine.