The proposal

This my proposal to the design of my college magazine.

 I am aiming my magazine towards college students, it shall be more typically aimed at those of 16 years - 18 years of age as this is the type of ideology we expect of a student, I also think that the content within the magazine is targeted towards your typical college students.

My magazine will be the typical college magazine that many students know of, it shall be informative and factual but also have an element of fun such as competitions and freebies. I think that the idea of incorporating competitions and freebies is a good element to have as i feel that this will entice the student into reading the magazine.

Cover lines are the main source of information for a magazine and I have focused on three cover lines in which I feel will grab a students attention. These are:
Main cover line - Enrichment Opportunities
Cover line 1 - Student discounts
Cover line 2 - Southdowns breakfast
I feel that my Cover Line 1 will be something all students are interested in and would read of.

My magazine shall be called 'Happy Days' the reason why I have chosen this as my title is because college is full of opportunities that can be satisfy any student, also many adults have told me that College days are the best days of your life and I wanted to reflect this through my magazine title. As well as this I feel that Happy Days is a unique title compared to the likes of Student Life, SDC, College Days and College Life, however these were a few of my initial ideas when reading the brief. The following titles I have just listed are ones of which I am going to reject, as I think they are too common and not original enough.

When considering fonts, I would preferably use a font which is a sans serif and very striking for my masthead title. Also for the cover lines I would use this idea of a bold striking font although the minute information may be a typewriter based font as this is more casual looking on a student magazine. I want my masthead to be simple and plain, as I think over decorative features may distract the student from what the magazine is actually about.

I haven't really considered using taglines for my production of a college magazine cover as I believe that they are not needed when creating this type of magazine. A tagline is often associated with a women's fashion magazine which is a weekly issue whereas something like a college magazine is more of a monthly based issue.

When publishing my magazine I shall think about the seasonal changes and reflect the seasons through my main image, i.e. - during winter I will have a student wearing typical winter clothing such as hats,scarves and gloves. I also think that a popular issue would be when new students are starting college for the first time, the magazine may guide them through the first beginning weeks of college and finally another popular issue may be on open evenings for the college itself, in this case I would preferably have a group of students embracing the college facilities as I think this will portray the college in a positive light.

The kind of image I am considering for my first issue is a basic portrait, mid shot of a student. I will ask a student in my Media class to be my main cover image before going out with a digital camera and choosing a suitable location for the student to strike a pose, I have considered the following locations:
Stairs
Reception
Cafeteria
Green/Outside
Sign Post
Finally I am going to use props when taking my image and these shall be some college textbooks in which students typically carry such as a Pukka Pad or Coursework handout.

I myself would want my college magazine to be published on a monthly based, my reasoning for this would be because I think that a monthly issue will sum up the general month in college.

I want to stick to the typical codes and conventions when considering the dimensions of my magazine, and these dimensions are of an A4 sizing. I do think that A4 is a suitable size as it small and compact and can fit in a students bag quite easily.

My final proposal question is what images/colour I am going to use on my contents page. I am not to clear on what I am going to use yet but I am considering using another student that has a completely different look and style compared to my main page, as I think this will reflect the difference in college and the idea that everyone is unique. Colour wise, I am trying to stick to theme of Red,White and Black so am pretty sure that I am going to use these colours throughout the magazine design.