College Magazine Questionaire

College Magazine Questionnaire: Analysis and Conclusions

According to the questionnaire, 80% of the people asked said they wanted a college magazine. This shows that there is a market for the product. However, 45% of these people said they were not willing to buy it, and another 45% said they were unsure if they would buy it. Although 60% said they would pay something for this magazine, the amount of money they were willing to pay was not much. This leads me to conclude that the consumers alone will not be enough to pay for the costs of making the magazine, so advertising may be needed to receive income. However, if the first issue of the magazine makes a good impression, the 45% of people who were indecisive may decide they will buy the magazine after all. The questionnaire also said that the magazine should be fortnightly or monthly, which may also have an impact on the costs and profits of the magazine.
For the magazine contents, the top five highest scoring ideas were: a gossip page, a college info page, a course info page, an events guide, and a jobs section. These results suggest that people wanted a practical magazine that they could use as reference material. This would have an impact on the overall design of the magazine, as it will need to be easily readable.
When asked what would encourage them to buy a college magazine, several ideas were mentioned. The magazine should have bright, primary colours to make it eye-catching. The magazine should have photography in it somewhere, preferably of students. And the magazine should contain important news about the local area, reinforcing the ideas that it should be a reference-orientated magazine.

College Magazine Analysis

Graphical Analysis

• Logo of the college is present and easily viewable, so as to tempt students of the college into picking it up.
• Colour scheme uses two main colours: green and white/grey. It blends nicely with the grey background.
• The pole in the foreground contrasts nicely with white text. It also serves as a place to put the logos without them being rendered hard to see by the white sky.

Textual Analysis

• Texts describing what features are in the magazine are at the top, so anyone can see at a glance what’s inside. Alternating the colours makes the list easier to read. The text itself is simple and easy to understand at a glance.
• Title is in the middle of the cover in bolded font, so as to be more noticeable.
• Magazine’s main feature is right below the title, in bolded font and dark green lettering.

Other Analysis

• Having a free copy will hopefully entice students into buying the magazine later on. This is an important marketing technique, so the text appears alone in the corner, surrounded by a red bubble, a colour that appears nowhere else on the cover.
• Background is a row of suburban houses, a cloudy sky and some tree branches. They give the magazine a sense of being in touch with reality. From a design point of view, they give the background an interesting appearance without appearing too loud and looking tacky.
• Graffiti appeals to “urban” culture. The message is positive and inoffensive, which allows the magazine to appeal to Londoners without making them out to be violent yobs.