LIIAR Analysis of 3 Other College Magazine

The magazines of which I have chosen to analyse which will be the main competitors against my college magazine are The LC from Lewisham College (Autumn 2010), GX Magazine from Grimsby Institute and East Riding College magazine (Spring 2010).

The LC from Lewisham College:

Language:

The masthead is a bold, simple white stating the name of the magazine “The LC”. Behind the headings and anchorage is a MCU shot, followed by a heading “We meet choreographer to the stars Simeon Qsyea”. Underneath this heading there is a list of features. At the bottom right corner is an ident for the college, with a logo. There is no price on the cover, suggesting the magazine is free.

On the content page there is a list of content organised as the information and page number. There is one photograph above the table of content to highlight an issue followed by the page number. It would have been a better addition if the magazine had multiple photographs with page numbers, rather than a table of content. There is no obvious house style, but on the content page there is a combination of blue and pink writing.

Institution:

The publisher of the magazine is the Lewisham College as it is stated on the content page, emails and web pages for the students to address if they wish to join the team that write the magazine.

Ideology:

The LC magazine has a lot of content involving leisure activities such as dancing and sports in general. I believe that the magazine is attempting to promote the involvement of sport and activities to the audience, more specifically the students. 

Audience:

The audience to The LC magazine is obviously students that attend the Lewisham College.  This is shown on the front cover, a heading stating “Find out what’s on around college”. There is also proof of the audience in the content page asking if any readers want to join the team that produce the magazine.

Representation:

The magazine represents the students at Lewisham College in a positive way. On the content page next to the table of content, there is an acknowledgement section, showing achievements of students, such as “Student Wins National Award” and “Volunteers’ Achievements Celebrated”.

East Riding College Magazine

Language:

On the front cover, the masthead is visible, big and bold. The colour scheme of black and white is very plain and boring. Small headings of different articles, not very visible. Photograph in the middle of the page to highlight main story,  yet not very good photograph (Long shot of students facing opposite way from the camera). Despite this, it is obvious that the students are in Berlin because of the anchorage and page number on the frame of the photograph. The logo for the college is visible in the bottom right corner of the page. The logo still adopts the black and white colour scheme, which I know is not actually the colours contained on the logo.

On the content page, there is still the black and white colour scheme, yet framing the table of content in green and white, which I know to be the colour of the logo for East Riding College. The magazine should have used this green and white on the logo on the front cover to give the magazine a house style colour scheme. As in The LC magazine, the content is organised in a dull table. There are photographs surrounding the table of content, yet it is unclear which article is related to which photograph. The borders around the photographs are uneven and inconsistent, making the magazine look untidy and unorganised. 

Institution:

The institute that this magazine is published by is the college. One of the headings reads “ Student Reps” showing that the students from the college are the people that organise and publish the college magazine specifically for that college.

Ideology:

The East Riding College Magazine has a sense of community and involvement in fun activities which we can see on the front cover "Media Students In Berlin", as well as over on the content page on the thumbnail pictures, we see the students taking part in various activities.

Audience:

The audience of the magazine is students of the college. This is made clear by the photographs on content page, around the table of content. The photographs show students in various activities, such as a picture of one paintballing and one student with a camera.

Representation:

The East Riding College Magazine

GX Magazine from Grimsby Institute

Language:

The masthead of the Grimsby Institute magazine is big and bold, in white against the blue background making it stand out. The house style colours make the magazine look contemporary and modern with white against a bright blue background. The main image on the front cover is two people who represent students of the college, one male, and one female. The people are not images of real people but images with no facial details, no eyes, and mouth, like a stencil. The male image is stood with a white shirt on with the GX logo on with his arms crossed looking youthful. The female image however, is in the background and face is slightly covered by the masthead “GX”.  The pictures of none facial features, I believe is linked with one of the headings “Not Just A Pretty Face the model life of a glamorous Grimsby Institute student”. This is part of the anchorage for the main story. One of the headings about a Grimsby Institute visiting China includes a photograph of what looks like a Chinese city. The front cover also includes the Grimsby Institute logo. At the bottom of the page written in the same house style colours (blue and white) is a slogan reading “the word on the street…”.

The content page continues the contemporary house style colour scheme of blue and white, yet this time adding other various colours, especially to the table of content, which has a colour sequence to it. I believe that this is done to keep the reader interested rather than keeping the magazine font one plain colour.    

Institution:

The publisher of the magazine is published by the student union of the Grimsby Institute. On the page opposite the content, there is a page dedicated to the history of the magazine.

Ideology:
The posture and positioning of the images on the front cover of the GX Magazine show a laid back and a sort of youthfulness about it, very much aimed at the target audience. This is similar to the posture of a stereotypical teenager, crossed arms e 

Audience:

The audience of the GX magazine is, as in the other 2 magazines, the students of the college as well as students in the area. On the content page, there is a small paragraph explaining that the GX magazine is aimed at “young people”. This is a non specific to the audience, yet gives a general idea that the audience are students of some degree.

Representation: