Research and Planning - Plans and Ideas

The research I carried out has led to a series of progressions in my planning work. Magazines such as 'vibe' have had a huge impact on inspiring my own magazine. The magazines I focused on have allowed me to narrow down my options, I have decided that in order to keep my magazine fairly upmarket, yet still appealing to a younger audience, I will use one vivid colour, and one or two shades. This will keep the magazine fun and appropriately youthful, without making it downmarket. Again, drawing on my research, it would be best if Sans serif was used as the main typeface, this will reduce the risk off the magazine becomming too upmarket. However, some serif font may be used for important text, perhaps where education is mentioned and sophistication is relevant. The title and the main text of the coverlines could be written in capital lettering, this would reduce the ascenders and descenders and make the cover look neater. The result of this is a more clean cut finish.
Various image styles are used in the magazines, the main image should be medium close up,it could have a plain background to keep the focus of the reader. This would also prevent a possible bleed, which could make the magazine more downmarket. By keeping the magazine sophisticated, it would send the right message to parents about the college as well as entertaining the students.
The banner could be quite small so as not to distract from the content of the magazine, the price could also be small, but coloured so it still draws the eye of the reader.
The layout of the cover should fit the theme of the magazine, it should hold the upmarket style by being neat, almost in a grid formation. It may be easier to hold this style if the images or text are horizontal as opposed to angled, as sometimes this can make it look more casual and downmarket.
The fillers used on the cover should be necessary and contain valuble information so as not to decrease the overall views of the magazine.
The title of the magazine should reflect the educational side of college, whilst incorporating the fun, entertaining elements. Some ideas are:
Pathways
Stepping Stones
Flames
Buzz
Groove
Turning Pages
These ideals also apply to the main image on the cover; it should reflect the youthful, fun side of being a student, whilst enforcing the feature and serious tones. In order to convey this correctly, many suggestions have been made which should be considered for the main image:
1) A person reading: this conveys the educational side of the magazine.
2) Someone who works in the cafeteria holding a prop such as a spoon or a spatula: this could relate to the main feature story.
3) A male wearing a hat and glasses holding a book: this would incorporate the education whilst keeping up to date with the latest trends amongst students.
4) A person with a party blower: this would convey the fun aspects of the magazine.