Existing products research

All these magazines have conventions, such as:

• the date
• barcodes 
• mast heads
• main image
• Colour scheme
• school name
• sell lines
• language
• other small images
• captions
• For example, this magazine has a barcode so that it can be sold.  Also the mast head tells us it's a 'COLLEGE SPORTS' magazine.  We can also tell this by the sports person on the front, which is the main image.  The colour scheme for this magazine is quite minimal.  The only colour that stands out is yellow which my link into the college or it may just be a vibrant colour chosen.  The main sell line that stands out is 'THE SURE THING'.  This obviously will have some relevance to the college.      
• This magazine is a college issue from the New York Times.  They have produced a collage of images for  the background.  This could be linked in with work that students do in some college subjects.  The name of the magazine is in small print at the top of the page with the mast head, 'The College Issue', in the middle of the page letting the buyer know its related to college life.  There is small print text backed with bright yellow paper, these may be sell lines to tell the buyer what's in the magazine.  They have backed the text with bright yellow paper to make them stand out to the buyer from the collaged background.