Conventions Analysis

When researching the conventions of magazine covers and more specifically college magazine covers, I think this particular one is not as effective as others that I have seen. 

There are too many different colours on this magazine cover, making it less visually attractive and therefore much less appealing to the audience. This is because it doesn't follow a specific colour scheme like most magazine covers. For example, the main image is of a man who is dressed in a smart shirt and trousers and is all in white. It looks extremely bright and I don't think that it is the type of clothes that I would expect a college student to wear. The sell lines on the cover also do not follow any particular colour scheme, instead they seem to be quite random colours and they're all in different styles of font. 

The representation of the model in the main image does isn't very effective because he isn't displaying similar attitudes and beliefs as the target audience, his facial expressions are very serious and very posy, not a more natural smile that you might expect of a college magazine. 

  

However there are some good points about the magazine cover, for example the plugs are very relevant to a college student. The iPad is a new technology that a college student would use for when studying or just socialising with friends, and the glasses are a fashion accessory that a student might be interested in purchasing during the summer. The skyline on the magazine cover is also very effective, it has an effective brief explanation of the magazine that contains alliteration that makes it sound more appealing, and also contains the date which of course is necessary for all magazine covers.