Initial research two

I have written a report which shows the main conventions of the magazine front covers and contents age and how it appeals to the target audiences.
the title was: How do the conventions, content, styles and representations appeal to the audience of the college magazines?

The magazines researched show very different conventions which help intrigue their target audience into picking the magazine up and reading it.  


Firstly the use of pale colours in the masthead such as light blue used in ‘Campus life’ and white used in ‘student magazine’  highlights the sense of innocence about the students which they can relate to in their lives. furthermore the contrast between the text colour and the background can also help portray the innocence and purity more.

The use of students as the boost pictures on each magazine can also help allow the students to relate to the magazine and will encourage them to pick up the magazine if someone of their age is on the front as it can help them realise that the type of magazine is designed for them. In ‘College Lifestyle’ the boost picture is of a young man , wearing a black jacket and white t-shirt.  He is holding some books in his right hand the camera angle shows him facing towards the right side of the cover.  The use of this camera angle shows the model has confidence about school. college and also about himself which could come across positively to the target audience and challenge  them to become aspirers and aspire to be like the person on the cover.  The majority of the boost pictures on the researched magazines show that they are  positioned in the middle of the cover and are using direct contact to the audience, The girl in ‘Honorstudent’ shows direct content to the camera and audience which will help the target  audience to connect with her. The fact that she is completing an action of studying and writing combined with the direct contact allows the audience to connect with her further and much like the other magazines convert the target audience to aspirers and want to aspire to be like someone or something, for example to boost image.   The use of reversed out cover lines highlights certain stories or articles which may be a key interest of the target audience. The use of the bright colours used allows them to stand out against the rest of the cover, and if the target audience finds what is written in the reversed out cover lines interesting then they will be more likely to pick up the magazine.

In contrast the Contents pages also use conventions to attract their target audience. the use of plain colours help make the document easier to read which can also show the innocence of the audience which is shown through basic colours such as white and red. The use of pictures helps the audience to visualise what sort of things will be inside which might be more interesting than looking at a page full of writing. It also has pictures of the people inside who the majority of them are the same age as the target audience which will help attract the target audience and the will be able to connect with the images. furthermore the use of the contrasting colours such as red and white between the background and text also allows the audience to read it better and looks more attractive to them.