Student Magazine Analysis

The magazine masthead is Aspire.  This connotes a sense of looking towards the future, which is what students are doing in education, preparing for the future.  It tells the students to think about what they want to get out of life and suggests that this magazine can help them to achieve.  The use of white on green ensures that the title is bold and stands out.  Also, green is a calm and positive colour as it connotes to the environment and nature, and it is a neutral colour that appeals to both the male and female gender.  The font used is fluid and informal, targeting a young audience.

The model used for the central image is smiling and happy.  This connotes to the reader that the magazine will be enjoyable to read.  This is backed up with a landscape background connoting that reading the magazine will be relaxing.

The cover lines in pink and white contrast to the green and brown shades of the background.  They also add a fun and vibrant feel to the magazine suggesting that it is a fun and interesting read.  The cover lines are positioned on the bottom edges of the cover so that they don’t disrupt the impact of the central image.

The contents page uses images to break up the text.  This makes it more appealing on the eye and less like a newspaper.  The use of green echoes the theme first presented on the front of the magazine making it look professional and well thought about.  Laying it out in two columns like a newspaper makes it seem grown up and mature, which most students want to start to feel.

The masthead of this magazine is Impact.  This connotes to the audience that the magazine will have a large effect on their lives.  Using a formal and structured font connotes a sense of being grown up and mature, showing this is for students who want to get good grades rather than those who want to party.

The grown up feel of the magazine is also reflected in the central image used.  The striking black and white contrast of the image makes it stand out and appear formal.  The formality may be to make the reader feel more grown up and well educated, to treat them like an adult.  The lack of human features and bright colours shows us that the magazine is going to get to the point of informing us without messing around.

The contents page is spread out on a double page spread, allowing for an introduction to the magazine from the editor.  It also allows for the contents to be laid out in an aesthetically pleasing shape, in order to engage the interest of the reader.  The use of yellow attracts your attention to parts of the page that are viewed as being of significant interest and it also breaks up the page to make it more interesting for a youth audience to look at.