Preliminary task: Research and planning-Textual analysis of student magazines.

Analysis of student magazines.

Impact magazine.

I have chosen to analyse the University of Nottingham’s student magazine ‘impact’. The title has connotations with strength and influence suggesting the university is powerful. The masthead sticks out as it is written in white against a black and dark blue background. ‘Impact’ is underlined, written in the biggest font on the page, in capitals and a bold font, again this makes it stick out and ties in with the idea of power.

Underneath the masthead there is an issue number, date and website address written in a very small font. There are some cover lines relating to articles in the magazine.  They contain buzzwords such as: bright, explicit. 

Overall this cover is very neat and professional looking. It suggests maturity and sophistication, this will appeal to the target audience.

The contents page is also very neat. It is set out sort of like a timeline. There are two sections: features and regulars.

Retro Magazine.

The second student magazine I have chosen to analyse is ‘Retro’. The title has connotations with technology and computing. In the masthead the o in retro is represented by the on/off symbol used on most gadgets nowadays. This links in with the technology theme.

This cover uses cover lines down the left hand side to anchor various images. For example there is a picture of a pint of beer and the anchor reads ‘Biggest UWIC pub crawl this term’.

The central image of the cover is a low angle shot of a building. This is anchored by the text in the box that reads: ‘Sport to go to the valleys’. The buzzword ‘exclusive’ is used, written in capitals in white on a red background, making it stand out.

The cover uses mainly calm colours like, blue and green. Red is used very effectively to make the phrase ‘exclusive news’ stand out.

The top of the contents page reads ‘Welcome’ this is very friendly and makes the reader feel relaxed. Like ‘Impact Magazine’ this contents page is also divided into sections. This makes it look organised and easier to navigate.