Other Layout Ideas For My Magazine Front Cover!

This is a post explaining other layout ideas in which will appear on my front cover!

The masthead, is such an important feature of a magazine, as it is the magazine's name. I think in terms of this magazine being targeted from students/teachers and parents who are included within the college by creating the masthead of the College magazine including the name of the college, it establishes the target audience, and the ideology of the magazine. I would like to include the same logo 'Wyke' College uses on their website, inside their college and on any other publications of theirs example: the prospectus. So this logo is bound to be quite well known by the students/staff/parents of students. I will use the Wyke college logo, however i may construct a piece of text which states 'Magazine' after it, this is a good idea because it establishes what the media piece will be, and as well states that i have altered the logo in some way to make it my own piece of work for my magazine. I would like the text of the word 'Magazine' to be lower case, and just outlined black, i feel by making it too bold and block titled, it's taking the interest off the more important 'Wyke' title in my masthead, however perhaps with the other media language techniques this extra of the title isn't necessary however, I'd ultimately add my little bit on to the college logo, other wise it's not so much my work and that's important to me.

Just left to the masthead i would like a date of the issue of the mag zine. With niche targeted magazine, they are published usually monthly rather then weekly. So these dates will just simply is tiny writing, say 'December 2008 ISSUE 109.' This will be in black text, usually BOW to stand out.

I would also like to have a Tag line above or below my masthead, which connects with the college and i would like it ultimately to be about learning, i would prefer it to be simple, short and snappy. I don't want many unnecessary language skills in the tag line, like puns or just simply making it too long, because these small factors can all degrade my magazine which i don't want to happen. I was thinking of the possible tag line 'Were fun comes first, education comes with it!' or perhaps just simply 'Where education comes first.' I think i prefer 'Where education comes first,' as it's short and snappy and isn't much hassle or too long. I would prefer the tag line to be either above or below the masthead, which ever looks best to be honest. I would like the colour of the text to be a maroon colour, which connects with the main colour of the Wyke College logo. The text i would like to be lower case, so it stands out more then the second bit of the masthead however it will be a lot smaller.

At the top of my page i would like to include 3 plugs, i felt by using 'the power of 3' it was just right as it's not too many plugs, or too little. In these plugs i was thinking to use 'pull quotes' which are inviting to the audience and give an insight into the interview, most interviews display pull quotes on their front page to shock the readers into buying the magazine, they can manipulate an innocent quotation into something really shocking! On one of the educational based magazines, i analysed they used different literature techniques within each plug including: Pull quotes, and image related to the story, rhetorical questions and alliteration.

I would defiantly like to include a pull quote in one of my plugs: i was thinking about the possible quote 'The Drugs sedated him! The Students Laughed!' I would like the pull quote to be something shocking, '20% of Heroine addicts where the Teachers!' and i would like a sub heading under the plug explaining a bit more, perhaps like 'Teacher of the year, explains UK's Worst College!'

In my other plug, i would like to include a rhetorical question. The rhetorical questions are a good technique as they get the audience involved with the stories and the magazine, it's a good technique for luring in the audience.These are a couple i have thought of which are mainly health related: 'Is it easy to spot signs of Autism?' I would like to health related to be connected with children, however young health problems are often diagnosed by the time they're 16! Health problems in over 16s are possibly lifestyle related: obesity, sexually transmitted infections. Instead of printing a health plug on my front page, i don't believe it's going to target the Target Audience of people who have interest or are included in the college. A plug like 'How easy is it to Spot Claudia?' or 'Is your heart 40 years old already?' I feel i would rather go for the more shocking plug, including the Sexual Health information. I also feel this will provoke more interest and also prove to be a worth while magazine, not just a college magazine focused on education!

The third plug, i would like to use alliteration, i feel it's a good technique, it's very memorable and can be quite comical if used correctly. I would like this plug to actually be about learning, perhaps a new technique to make learning fun, i thought of a possible plug 'Art Achieves A*s All Around!' or perhaps to make it simpler 'Art Achieves As!' and a sub heading, could be: 'The highest pass rate in history in Art for Wyke College Students!' This just gives the extra information needed for the audience to partly understand what the story is about.

I would like to use these plugs as they lure the audience into purchasing the magazine, and by using health related plugs and educational related plugs i feel i am widening the target audience and not just specifically to students, but to parents and teachers.

I would like to place these three plugs at the very top of my page, i would like the text to be in bold and i would also like to use mature colours, possibly blues, violets because we have to remember this is a college magazine, not a secondary or primary. I will separate the plugs by using a thin opaque line, not too visible however just visible enough to see they're separated. I will display the sub headings from the plugs in black, smaller text, by doing this is suggest a realism. As in it's okay to place the writing in colour because that's what attracts the audience however, when they've read the stern black text it will hopefully hit them, what's written as a plug is a real story!

I would also, at the very bottom of the page like to include an email and a website of the institution who created this magazine, i feel this makes the audience feel cared for as well as getting them involved with the magazine once more. For this i will just create a BOW text box, in a stern serious font and write the information. By using a serious font i believe gives this bit of the magazine a serious feel, makes the audience feel cared about and puts the institution in a good light, because if there is a problem, or someone is offended with whats in the magazine, the institution appears to care.

I don't believe i will place any puffs within my front page, i feel this is too commercial and is used to target mainstream, mass audiences. However, there is a possible puff i can place within my front page 'Win £500 for your College!' This seems to be the type of puffs used, however we have to remember this is a single college magazine, not a large company so where are they going to get these prizes for? And £500 for your college doesn't even make sense coming from that same college which is producing the magazines. Puffs are most likely going to be used in Newspapers as well, this is rarely a convention in magazines.

These are all important conventions in which i will hope to use on my magazine front page! I've included text arrangements colours and language ideas to help me remember and to look back in a few days to see if i can improve them ideas in anyway!