Serkan Coskun: College magazine evaluation

For my college magazine I wanted to achieve a variety of things. My aim is to finish off my magazine by making it as unique as possible and appealing to the audience that will look at it the next time. Firstly I wanted to try out different and bright colours so it gives out a positive attribute to the audience as that is what college magazines are supposed to do, to influence parents to send their children to the school. My three main colours are white, black and blue but the front cover is presented in a bright way. In addition I put up a fellow student as a main anchor and I specifically picked him as he was smiling and holding a book which symbolises him being happy with his education/school. I mainly used Italics as a font to give the magazine a more sophisticated look and to also present it in an appropriate way (It believe it makes the magazine look unique as most magazines use bold and simple text). Furthermore I put the masthead on the top left corner of the magazine with the slogan of the college which is where magazines usually put their mastheads so it’s visible and the buyer knows what college the magazine belongs to. Overall I wanted to keep the front cover simple and straight forward to add more to the inside and the contents.

In my opinion I used/have a good choice of colour scheme as it fits in with the magazine and lets out the positivity I want it to. My cover lines are well distributed and is easily seen by the reader as it’s big and bold. I also used a cover star that meets the criteria of a college magazine which perhaps isn’t unique but is still what I wanted to achieve in a way. On the other hand there’s a lot of things that needs improvements and developments. The front cover doesn’t have much writing/cover lines which makes it look dull and less interesting compared to the others. The text I’ve used is also very difficult to read and the fonts that I’ve used don’t match with each other as well as the contents page, which makes the front cover look odd. The main image also looks rushed and stretched which isn’t adequate with the whole thing.

The comments I’ve received were even (good and bad) and gave me better ideas to what to do. The colour scheme of the front cover was liked by the viewers as it matches the genre of the magazine. I’ve also received positive comments on the distribution of the cover lines and the placement of the writings and puffs which is pushing me more to wanting to add more writing to the front cover as I think it will look more appealing. They also liked the effect of the main image as it’s optimistic and exclusive. However some people said that the image was warped and needs improvements to it as well as the fonts. I’ve also received comments on how the fonts didn’t match and that it seemed very weird to them. Furthermore some said it would be better if I make the colour scheme clearer so they know the actual 3 main colours.

·         My first improvement is going to be matching the fonts and making them all italic as that is what I want it to be.

·         I’m also going to add more cover lines as well as a skyline as my magazine looks very empty and dull (I’m also going to change the colour of the “success at a caring college” to black)

·         I’m going to fix my image and make it more fitting with the magazine as it doesn’t look normal/suitable.