Analysis of prospectuses

St. Marks

In the beginning of the lesson we looked at the St. Marks 6th form prospectus. We took a look at the target audience, the images, the language, the content and how it attracts the parent and pupils. I felt this was a good example of a prospectus because of the layout between the pictures ant text, the colours used are not dull and it's eye catchy. It also contains some information on different things to do with the 6th form such as; a course outline, extra cirricular events, facilities and the reason why pupils should come to St. Marks. Overall I think this is a well constructed prospectus which will portray the information accross to the student.

Newman University

For me the prospectus of this univeristy was overall not good. It consisted of the following; the masthead has a big title (name of the prospectus) in white font to stand out from the bright faint green. In the top right corner it has the name of the uni and where it's placed (Birmingham) also on the faint green. On the the left, there is the date and issue number which stands out on a red colour. There is a picture of a young child in the top left hand corner of the page. There is picture of a teacher underneath the masthead. The page includes a small extract of what consists in the prospects. In the bottom left corner, there is a picture of a child playing video games which is linked to the text below it; stands out in red. In the right corner of the page, there is a small toy doll on its own.

I think there is alot to improve on this page. The name and situation of the uni should be bigger to catch the reader's attention. The use of most of the pictures are inapropriate for a university. A random child and a small toy? A bit childish probably. The page also seems crowded with the layout of the photos. The use of colours is dull and they don't go together. I don't think this is a supportive prospectus for a univeristy and would need a completly new cover.

Queen Mary University of London

For me this prospectus is better than the one above but it's not good. The front page consists of the following; the name/logo as well as the date and issue number of the prospectus is put in the top right hand corner on a white background. To stand out to the person lookin at the page. There is a picture of Queen Mary, based on the name of the uni, on the left of the logo (top left). Underneath is a picture of some graduates. On the right of that is a picture of an award ceremony, probably showing the achieved education at the uni. Underneath this is a picture of a stadium, what connection has it got with the uni? In the bottom left hand corner there is an old picture of years ago when the uni was probabably set up. To the left of that picture is three small close-ups of people that work at the university. To the bottom right is their names and small information on what they do. The names stand out in red from the black background. Then underneath the names, the uni's name and logo is set here.

I think this is far better than the Newman's prospectus but it is too plain with pictures. It needs more text to inform the reader what is inside and there is not much of an attractive colour scheme. In the end the cover may work for this university which seems to be quite 'posh'.

Conclusion

Overall I think that the St. Marks 6th form prospectus is far better than the 2 university ones. It's more vibrante and informative. It has far more reason than the Newman and QUAD prospectus. It releases it's purpose in a more attractive and assuring way. I had expected better from the two UNIVERSITIES than the 6TH FORM school.

Premilinary task- introduction

Today i have learnt new pointers on how to "perfect" the front cover of a magazine. I have learnt what to consider when thinking about this task. These include; the target audience, images, language, content, logos/colours and how to attract target audience.

My initals thoughts of the cover to be are;

Target audience- Parents and students
Images- Building of the school, pupils, headteacher and teachers, thinking about the mise-en-scene
Language- Informative, approachable, persuasive, factual and opinions
Content- Courses outline, information about school; (clubs, facilities, tutor programes) and map
Attract target audience- reward systems, trips, presentation evenings, progress of school and results
Logo/Colour- Gold, red, bright, eye catchy ect.

We looked at many more tips and hints on different aspects on magazines and what we should include.

Photoshop lesson

Step 1

This is the image I started off with in the lesson we had to make a front cover for a natural magazine. I copied the image from Google and used photoshop as it is an easy program to manipulate photos.

Step 2

I then added an effect to the picture. This made it more interesting and attractive. I also lightened the colour so the green stands out and the path is lighter. This gave me a suitable background for my front cover. The block effect makes the picture seem it's put together by different sections.

This is the tool I used to enhance the picture. By going on enhance, adjust colour, colour variation. This allowed me to do the feature I produced.

This is the tool I used to include an effect for the image. Extruding is the name my effect which enhances the image for the front cover.

Step 3

This image was also taken from Google and then by using photoshop I extracted just the squirrel and pasted it in my image of the front cover.

This is what it looks like after I croped and pasted thge animal on the image.

Step 4

I then added text to the image as well as a date and price. By using the text tool on the far left, I created this white text to stand out and catch the reader's attention.

Final step

Lastly I added a barcode and title. This ios my final image of the front cover. I enjoyed using photoshop and hope to use it in the future.

Audience profile

My nature magazine is aimed at both male and females. It is focused on people around the ages of 15-25. The pricing of my magazine is £3.00, I set it at this price as it's affordable for the age group and for those who love nature and are interested. The class for this magazine is probably set at people in th C1, C2 or D band. This magazine is going to be released with different stories on animal survival every month.

The front cover colours include green (trees, leaves),brown (trees) and lighter brown (pathway) for the background. Grey for the squirrel and white for the text to stand out from the rest. It includes an image of a squirrel with a bazooka because it's humorous and goes with the magazine's title. The language used in this product is not hard to understand and can be read by 12 year olds! Just that the target audience is set higher as it may not appeal to the youger people. The stories inside include; 'fight for survival', 'who's territory?' and ' greener on the other side'. These stories have one thing in common, it's all to do with the battle of different animals and their survival.

To improve my magazine, I will include a freebie every month to try and keep our buyers loyal.
This will be a small soft toy- keyring of the front cover animal.

PS!

I refreashed my mind on how to use photoshop since year 11. Now knowing how to feather a picture and editing colour as well as text.