Print Prelim, Finished Magazine Cover & Contents Page

Evaluation Key Points:

• similar structure and layout to real magazine covers
• two light set up
• main image, masthead and sell line
• college related sell lines
• audience aged 16 to 18
• audience attracted by stories that would be helpful
• informal language
• knowing audience made product easier to design
• Photoshop and InDesign showed how planning needs to be well thought out, product looks different once created
• programs made product look more professional
• photography equipment created professional looking images

Flat Plan

The colours I have chosen to the feature on the student magazine fit the target audience well as I feel that they are very friendly and bright, something which would appeal to a student magazine's audience of teenagers. I do not feel that they would be interested in a dull colour palette as it would not stand out. 


I chose this style of layout because I think it represents a typical magazine layout, something which you would expect to see in a real magazine. Some sell lines will be bigger than the others representing the importance of some stories, these will be featured more than others. The main image will be featured on the right side of the cover, again very similar to typical magazines. The mast head is larger than all sell lines on the page, to clearly show the name of the magazine so it is easily recognisable to the reader. 



The sell lines I have used all fit the genre of a student magazine, offering advice to students, free equipment, and trip information etc. They will relate well to the target audience as it will all be useful information for them. As the magazine would be a free handout I think that it would be more sought after as it is all helpful free advice for students.


The main image will be taken at a mid close up and will be using a two light set up. The only prop will include a folder for the model to represent them as a college student to make them relateable to the target audience. 

Inspirational Texts

This contents page from OK magazine has a very simple layout, images representing the stories featured in the magazine itself. The actual contents itself is aligned all together, it doesn't create that much of a packed imagine so the reader wouldn't just skip past it if they felt it was too much to read. The images are all set in the same part of the page so the reader can view them all at the same time.










This magazine cover is very colorful and bold which shows how it would stand out to it's target audience on the shelf. It also appeals to the target audience which is teenage girls by using a celebrity who would appeal to them on the front of the magazine which would interest them in buying the magazine even more. The masthead is very bright so a reader would not struggle to find out what the actual name of the magazine is. It has no specific alignment for the sell lines they are just placed in dead space on the magazine which means the magazine looks very full so the reader would feel that they would get good value for money.

 This magazine cover again has a very bright and colorful masthead so the reader could easily recognize this when placed among other magazines. All the sell lines appeal to that of it's target audience which again would be teenage girls. This cover has a specific color scheme of orange, yellow and pink which are all very bright and girly, similar to the style of the magazine itself. The main image is again a celebrity who would appeal to the magazine's audience convincing them further to buy the magazine.

Preliminary Exercise

Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up layout of the contents page to demonstrate your grasp of DTP.