Analysis of College Magazine Questionnaire

I designed and distributed a questionnaire to my fellow students of the East Norfolk Sixth Form College; gaining some vital opinions on what is wanted in a college magazine.

Here is what they had to say:

Over 50% of students revealed that they do not already read the college magazine, as they find the current version “boring”. From this answer, I have gained the knowledge of the fact that there is something wrong with the current magazine, it is lacking in something; which is why I looked further into what they really did want.

Many different aspects of the magazine were requested by the students, especially four particular ones; those being a section for sport, music, college events and jobs. I understood that if these sections were present in the new magazine, students would consider buying it. The big question I then asked myself was, how much would the students be willing to pay? In fact, around 70% of the students chose a price of fifty pence to be an adequate amount to pay. Other prices ranged from nothing at all- to two pounds.  Therefore, from these answers- I gathered that fifty pence would be the most reasonable price to charge for the magazine. It isn’t too expensive; therefore will hopefully not hold back possible sales from students.

Personally, when it came to analysing how often the magazine would be published- I believed that every half term would be a suitable solution. Unfortunately, my opinion was not significant on this matter, what mattered was the students opinion. Generally, the answer for the publishing occurrence was either every fortnight or every month. Over 80% of students selected either one of these answers. This still leaves me with no solution, therefore I decided to even the publish date. Every three weeks. Over a fortnight, yet under a month. Hopefully, due to the magazine not being published so often, I will have a richer content when it is published, so the readers are actually entertained.

Although I already subconsciously knew the answer to the next question, I still needed to clarify. The question to the students was what their favourite thing about each day at college was. To my pleasure, I was correct in thinking that they most enjoyed their breaks, and frees. I also know that the majority of students spend time in either one of the two common rooms, or the smokers shed.  I need to work out where to distribute the magazine, so that the students are aware of it being sold. This means that it would be ridiculous for me to distribute the magazine in somewhere were only a small majority of the students go on their breaks. For example, the library.

As technology spreads across the nation, it would be criminal not to offer an online version of the magazine. It is free for the student, yet still produces money from advertising slots. I personally believed that this would be highly requested, although when asked, 70% of the students said they would not read the online version. From this, I decided that the best approach would be to slowly build awareness and liking of my magazine, instead of introducing a fresh product, with fresh unfamiliar options of access. This way, if the magazine was good enough, (which it will be), the students will make more effort to read the online version.

Another great idea was to offer the option for students to subscribe to the magazine at the start of the year. It guarantees sales, and saves the student money. Unfortunately, 70% of students revealed that they would not subscribe to the magazine. I believe that this was because they have not seen one of the new magazines yet, and are assuming that it will be as “boring” as the old version. Ultimately, I aim to offer a subscription offer after the first year of individual sales. This way, students will know what the magazine is like, and whether or not they like it.

I decided to offer the option for students to contribute their own work to the magazine, this makes the magazine much more personal and it will really connect with the readers. Unfortunately, again, this great idea just didn’t attract the students- almost all that were asked said they would not be interested in contributing.

Finally, a much simpler question was asked to the students. This was whether the magazine would be either formal, or informal. As I assumed, 100% of students wanted the new magazine to be informal, as this way- we can really connect to the reader and not seem “boring”. If we want to make sales on the magazine, it has to be for the students liking.  It will be written informally.

To summarise, the information that I gathered from the set of students really broadened my view on what the students wanted in their fresh college magazine. I will pay close attention to each aspect that they had views on, and present the content in a way which they will appreciate.

My College Magazine Cover

My College Magazine Contents page

Evaluation of my College Magazine

When planning the design of my magazine, i took into account the fundamental aspects that i needed to focus on. These were my target audience, and how i could produce the magazine in a way that appealed to them.

   I decided to approach the appearance and content in a friendly, informal way. I ensured that the appearance was contemporary and had an artistic touch, as many students can relate to art and "cool" work. I decided to use a "fashion aware" student called Elliot to be the centre of attention on my cover! I believe choosing him was a good decision as he is well known around the college and dresses appropriately.

  Using the appropiate tools on Adobe Photoshop ensured that my images all looked the best they could.

On my contents page i decided to have one photo, with all of the page titles listed- with the most important pages being in a larger text to stand out. I added an advertising voucher from the local skatebarding brand SHhh! to attract possible buyers to purchase the magazine, and also buy an item of SHhh! clothing with a 20% off voucher. I am not only advertising SHhh! , but i am increasing sales of my magazine as people would want the 20% off voucher on the clothing. Two jobs done in one!

   To summarise, i think i achieved the magazines purpose in being entertaining, i wanted to set a good first impression from the new and improved magazine.



Analysis of another College Magazine cover

 

I believed that this specific college magazine cover would be a prime example to analyse after creating my own. Many aspects of the cover all give off connotations of a young, fresh look. I noticed that the college colours are apparent throughout the cover- those being blue and yellow. In this case, the image is not covered largely by text- it is ensuring that the image is the centre-piece, as the