Analysis of Second Magazine

College Magazine Research and Analysis 2

Research Sample 2:

East Riding College Student Life Magazine

http://www.eastridingcollege.ac.uk/retrieve/d2343bc1358b3983a89d916f6a988935

The cover of the East Riding College magazine is plain and uses black and white, although these create a clear contrast and make it easy to read there is no point of interest, and no colour. The cover image that has been used does not mean anything without the caption accompanying it. The use of page numbers and advertisement is uncommon in magazine covers and I think that it should not be included unless there are several examples within the same cover or used as a house style. I think that the contents page lacks fluidity and the use of green is odd because it is not used on the front cover, I also think that the alignment of images and border styles is very messy and could be arranged more artistically and with reason, rather than just rigidly placed sequentially.

LIIAR Analysis

Language – The use of language on the front cover is hard to analyse as they have only used one – two word headlines and contain no real advertisement of content, they have obviously not thought about the effect that advertisement can have on whether the reader will just flick through the magazine or actually connect with the magazine ad read sections that are relevant to their lives and relevant to the sector of society that this magazine represents. I think that the use of language in the contents page is slightly better as it has a fluidity to it, and is all of similar detail and is all relevant to the content. Although the way that the text is used in the contents list could be better, some of the links are presented as statements, whilst some use direct questions to advertise the link, I think that to use both effectively in the same contents list requires a divide or section for questions and a section for statement. This could be done either on the side of the list or by using caption on content images, and use the imagery to ask the questions/ answer the questions.

Institution – The magazine doesn’t really represent the institution, as the cover is very plain and dull, and I think that the college itself has to have some personality, even though it is not represented within this magazine. The contents page represents this sense of character slightly better as they have some limited use of colour and contrast, and they have included several images even though half of the images are not self explanatory, or send a message to the reader. I think that the use of captions and the use of page number links would make this contents page a lot more clear and concise. The representation of the colleges personality on the contents page is shown to be very active (image of paintballing and several images taken outside) and also to be high achieving (shown by the image of a student holding a certificate).

Ideology –  The ideology of institutions such as colleges are to inform and educate, I think that the inform section of the ideology is focused on more in the magazine as they report on several different aspects of college life. The ideology of the east riding college magazine is represented as a diverse centre of education that does more than just educate the student within the realms of the specific subject, by educating them about other aspects of their development.

Audience – This magazine will be aimed at the students, staff and associates of the east riding college, it may also be of interest to local businesses and places, as they could be featured in this magazine if they have worked with the college in extra curricular activities.

Representation – The cover page and contents of this magazine represent the centre of education to be informative and diverse but also not very fun and exciting, I think this because of the lack of tone/colour in the pages, also the use of images aren’t very exciting and the use of the image doesn’t seem to promote the Berlin excursion to be very interesting and fun, but advertises it as being quite dull and mature.