what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

For this project I had to learn how to use Photoshop and Quark express. Both software's are used to make my magazine look like a real media product in different ways. They both have different tools and techniques to give different effects to my magazine. I used Photoshop to edit images and used tools such as brush tools, colour editing, contrast editing, cropping, brightness editing, and an airbrushing tool. Photoshop was used to create my front cover and contents page.

I also learnt how to use Quark express effectively to make my double page spread. I used columns for my interview so that my layout and font looked professional.

When taking the pictures to feature in my magazine, I had to use a digital SLR camera and learnt how zooming in and contrasting of colours was useful and effective. I also learnt how different lighting affected a picture, as it can make certain features stand out, and also different backgrounds for the photo's are effective as this can make the model stand out, or blend in.

My preferred software to use is Photoshop, as I found this is was a lot easier to use than Quark express, and I had used it before so I knew what tools to use. I also found it made the magazine look a lot professional as I knew what I was doing. It's very easy to use once you know what the tools are, where as I found Quark express took up a lot of my time as I had to toy around with it and once I got the hang of it, it became easier.

I also found using the internet to gather my research was a great help. It meant I had a wide area of research and meant I could view magazines I had never even heard of before. I also used 'dafont.com' to get different fonts for my magazine to make it unique. I then used 'Blogger.com' to keep a blog of every step of my magazine process. I had never heard of blogger before, but found it very easy to use straight away.

who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product would be both men and women aged 16-25, who are into music that has meaning. My magazine would feature interviews, fashion and other articles such as the lastest news and reviews. On a jicnar scale they would be about C1/C2 and they would be aspriers and hedonists.

what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My magazine is aimed at a younger generation aged 16-25, who are loyal readers and will buy the latest issue as soon as it comes out. My magazine is mainstream and therefore be distributed by larger distributors such as Frontline. They are one of the largest distributors and distribute to the largest retail outlets across the country. The benefits of having my magazine distributed through a major company is so that my media product is more accessible to the public, which therefore results in profit and larger sales. My magazine would be sold in large stores such as Tesco, WhSmiths, newsagents and music stores, such as HMV which are the stores my audience visit. This is so that it can reach a wider audience, and is available to more people.

how does your media product represent particular social groups

Media Powerpoint

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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product.

Flava - My magazine (urban)

Q magazine (indie/rock)

Top of the pops magazine (pop)

Vibe Magazine (Urban)

My magazine is similar to the real media products in many ways, such as language, technique, style but is also different in these ways to make it unique.

Talking about my magazine, in comparison with other music magazines (as shown above Q, Top of the Pops and Vibe) you can see many similarities between my magazine 'Flava' and professional music magazines. Firstly, all have a masthead, straplines, puffs, fonts, screamers, coverlines, use of text and images etc so therefore I have included all of these in my magazine. However it's easy to see which magazine is for which genre due to differences they have to target their audience. For example Top of the Pops have reversed out coverlines, as this gives a younger look, whereas I felt reversed out coverlines gave my magazine cover a less sophisticated look and made it look out of place and unprofessional. I also chose not to use a Serif font as I felt this made my cover look less sophisticated and more towards a female audience, as it looks more swirly than sans-serif, therefore I chose to use Sans-Serif. Q, Top of the pops and Vibe all use this font. My magazine contained no bleeding as I had my picture as a background and all the text on top, however all 3 of the professional magazine contain bleeding on the masthead, this connotes that the magazine does not need to show the title in order to sell. The colours used depend on what audience your selling to. Top of the pops uses pinks and purples to attract to young girls, where as Q has a much more sophisticated look and uses red, black and white, and has a mellow effect. Vibe use blue, yellow, orange and white which have a professional image but also makes it stand out, so it doesn't blend in. For my magazine cover I used the colours red, blue and white so there is no colour clashes which makes it look a lot more professional and not in your face, but makes you notice it. My magazine also features a contents page as does the real magazines. It features page numbers, articles and pictures. However it can not be compared as all contents pages are laid out differently. As long at it features these 3 things, then it should look like a real magazine contents page. Also most magazines will feature more than one double page spread. I had to only make one, however if I was doing the whole of my magazine I would have created more. Most magazine's double page spread's are interviews with celebrities. Therefore this is how I chose to do my double spread. Most interviews will feature numerous pictures of the celebrity or celebrities and then a small paragraph before the questions start. The questions will be in either bold or a colour, with a different colour/style font for the answer so you can tell them apart.

Both my magazine and real professional magazines, have all the right sections to a magazine and look like real media products, however all magazines have different styles and features due to what musical genre they are, therefore meaning they don't look the same. How the magazine is styled and wrote depends on what genre they are as this makes them look different to other magazines. As real media magazines have a lot more money and software to use on their products, theirs looks more professional than mine.

I chose to create a urban/hip hop magazine called 'Flava'. I chose this name as I felt this best suited the genre of the magazine, as it's an urban word and is wrote in a slang form. I chose to use my friend Shelley Haden as my model, as I felt she could give the image that I wanted.

Front cover

Contents page

Double page spread

audience reasearch - results.

I have created a moodboard with images that relate to the audience of my magazine. I posted it on Facebook and also asked 16 people what they thought. With it i asked a questionaire. Underneath the questions, is the most popular answer.

1. Do you agree with the artists I have chosen to demonstrate a hip-hop magazine? If not, please state what artists I should add?

Yes.

2. Which colours do you feel suit the magazine most appropriately?

Black and blue.

3. Do you agree with the fashion labels I chose to represent hip-hop clothing? If not, what other brands would you choose?
Yes.

4. Do you feel anything is missing, if so what?
No but maybe more 'bling'.

5. What name do you think suits an urban/RnB/Hip hop magazine most?
Flava.

6. Which font style do you think is most suitable?
3rd & 7th font style had joint amount of votes.

7. Do you think I should include extras such as music reviews, interviews, and other musical genres (reggae/grime/drum and bass) in my magazine? Why?
Yes, to add variety/make it more interesting.

8. What is the maximum price you’d spend on a magazine of this kind?

£2.76 (average price if added together and divided by 16)

9. Where would you expect to see my magazine sold?
Large stores, supermarkets and newsagents.

10. What age range do you think is most suitable?

18-27.

11. What comes to mind when you think of an ‘Urban Magazine’?
'Gangster' 'black people' 'money' 'cars' 'music'.

For the first question, most people agreed with the artists i chose to represent hip-hop, with a few adding extra names such as 'kid cudi' and 'drake'. This is because i only chose 6 artists, therefore people may feel their favourite artists are missing, so therefore add them in. However 13 out of 16 people said they agreed.

For the second question, everyone had different opinions. 9 people said black, 5 people said blue, 4 people said purple, 4 people said gold, 3 people said bright colours, 3 people said red, and 2 people said silver. As I gave a variety of colour choices, the answer was likely to be varied.

For the third question, everyone agreed with the fashion labels I chose, with no suggestions being made.

For the fourth question, everyone agreed with the images and words I chose to display on my moodboard, except for a few people thought I needed to add more 'bling' to give a stronger 'gangsta' effect.

For the fifth question, there was almost a split amount of votes between 'trubble' and 'flava', with flava gaining more votes.

audience research.

The audience for my music magazine will be of mixed genders aged 18+ as my magazine may contain adult content. They would prefer to read about lyrics and meanings rather than just browse the pictures as music is a story to them. They would buy the magazine for information not for gossip, however the female readers may like to know the latest news.

They may not have a favourite colour as i doubt they care, but if they did, it'd probably be red, or blue, and probably hot colours for the women. They would probably like to look at the pictures to see the latest fashions and gadgets, and the men may like to look at pictures of the women.

The readers of my magazine, may not live with their parents and may be in a full-time job or in the music business. They may not be in education due to 'attitude' but they may be in college, the females studying 'hair dressing or beauty' and the males studying 'mechanics or building'. They may work in sport shops or high street fashion shops, but never somewhere down market as this is bad for their image. Some of my readers may not have a job and be on the 'doll' but still aspire to be something, but don't have the motivation. If they do live with their parents they may stay at home in the days as they probably don't go to school, and then go out on the night with their friends. If they drive, they probably drive around the city/town they live in, playing loud music of their favourite artists. Otherwise they may go out to underground nightclubs, and maybe illegal parties.

They most likely smoke marijuana and cigarettes. They may shop at JD sports, JJB and High street fashion shops such as 'Topshop and H&M'. For designer labels, they may get it cheap from somewhere or online. They may watch programmes such as 'my wife and kids' 'skins' 'pimp my ride' 'cribs' and 'run's house'. They may watch music channels such as 'MTV base' and 'Channel aka'. They may have alot of tattoos, and most probably have a criminal record. This may not relate so much to the women. The women most probably like to dance and drink bacardi and coke, or cocktails. Whereas the men may drink alcoholic drinks such as 'Budvar' or something more upmarket to make them look good. The men may have posters on their walls of their favourite artists, where as the women would have the men they are most attracted to, half dressed, as their phone wallpaper or computer background. The women have acrilyic nails on a regular basis, and both genders wear alot of jewellery.

They will wanna know all about up coming concerts, album releases, new artists and other latest information about their favourite artists.

My magazine will be distributed every month by Frontline and sold in major stores such as WhSmiths and large supermarkets so it is easy accessible and has a wider reader scale. A website and radio station would also be created, to allow the audience to listen to their favourite music and to know the latest updates inbetween issues.

research - distribution.

There are two types of magazine distribution, Major and Independant. The scale between the two is the main difference. Major distributors are well known for selling popular magazines, for instance, Frontline is one of four mainstream distributors along with Marketforce, Comag and Seymour which distributes major magazines such as Heat and Take a Break. These type of magazines produced are main-stream and appeal to a wider audience who will frequently purchase them. The companies that publish these magazines are huge conglomerations such as the BBC, Haymarket and Bauer, Bauer publish the most popular monthly music magazine, Q. The audience for this type of magazine are people that are set on achieving what they want and have a strong love for music. Q uses a 'multi-platform strategy' of distribution, such as a music channel on television and radio, which therefore makes it accessible to a large audience and also people who may want to know the latest music news without having to buy the magazine. Mainstream distributors are very money motivated, and a profit and good sales are their main aim. Mainstream magazines are sold in places such as Adsa, Tesco, WhSmith, newsagents, and other large stores that sell magazines. This shows how much money goes into planning and distributing these magazines and how large the scale is in which magazines are distributed.

Independant distributors are very different from major distributors as money is not there main priority. Vice is an independant magazine sold in stores such as Urban Outfitters, Size and Retro Bizarre. The audience of Vice, are commited audience, and will go to the places Vice is sold and know exactly the type of magazine they are purchasing. The audience of Vice are alternative and non-following metropolitans aged 18-30, who like to set their own trends and live in large cities. Vice are their own distributors which shows independance and a tight company. Sales of Vice do not need to be near enough as large as Frontline, as Vice are their own publishers as well as distributors, they do not need to make a large fortune to break even, as not as much money has been put into it.

detailed research into forms and conventions part two.

I have chosen to create a music magazine of the Hiphop/RnB/Reggae/Urban as this is the genre of music i know most about, so will beable to write a lot and use my knowledge in my magazine. The readers of 'Vibe' and 'XXL' are Aspirers/radicals, Hedonists (social value) and of a C2/D jicnar scale. Reasearching magazines from my genre will help give a better idea about my magazine as I know who my competition are but also I can use them to get a better idea as to what the magazine has to be about and what it should feature. I can use the different styles and layout to make my magazine unique and maybe combine the two.

detailed reasearch into forms and conventions.

For my main task i am going to produce a music magazine cover, contents page and a double page spread. I have chosen the hiphop/RnB/urban/reggae musical genre. I searched for 3 magazines similar to the one i will be creating. These are 'the source', 'XXL' and 'Vibe'. I have chosen all covers with Lil Wayne on the cover, so i can get a true comparison. On all front covers, the three main colours used were red, black and white, this shows quite a basic layout, with not very much variety. However it gives the cover a sophisticated look. other than magazines such as 'popstar' which have bright colours to grab attention in a more childish way.

For my main research i will only use two magazines, which will be 'vibe' and 'XXL' as these are the most popular. i will use these as inspiration for creating my magazine, as they are from my genre.


Here is a cover of Vibe magazine. The rapper 'Lil wayne' is the main feature. Vibe in the english dictionary means 'a distinctive emotional atmosphere; sensed intuitively'. However vibe is a very common slang word, used regualrly by people of an urban nature and younger people. I went on the urban dictionary (searched by Google) and it states that Vibe means 'rhythm', 'signals or messages sent out to someone' and 'chill'. This then links to the genre of the magazine, as it's a music magazine so 'rhythm' suits perfectly, and you normally 'chill' with a magazine. It is also used frequently by the audience of the magazine, so therefore has a less formal approach to it's readers, as it can have various meanings. The cover uses red, white, black and yellow fonts, which arent sexist colours, so therefore the magazine is for both males and females. Some fonts are in bold, italic and outlined, this is so certain text stands out and it doesn't all look the same. The main feature is rap star Lil Wayne, who is pictured in a medium close up, wearing a black suit. Text along side him says 'I'm more afraid of life than death' which may relate to the suit (funeral, judgement day). Lil wayne bleeds into the title of the magazine, which suggests he's the main appeal and the magazine doesnt need to show the title for readers to want to buy it. It also suggests that he may be more important than the magazine or that the readers dont need to beable to see the magazine title to know what magazine it is. The magazine contains music reviews, celebrity gossip column, up-coming artists and several photo spreads with the latest fashions. This links to the fact it's a music magazine as legendary hip hop artists such as Sean Combs (P Diddy), Nelly and 5O cent have all created urban clothing labels. Vibe usually shoots artists, rather than bands, seeing as there aren't many bands in the hiphop/RnB genre. Most other features within the magazine, are displayed along the right hand side, with some on the left hand side, which appears to break up the amount of text. The text 'Lil Wayne' is the only other font in red apart from the masthead, which immediately attracts your eyes. This shows that Lil Wayne is very important and this is what they want the reader to see first. He's the only picture featured, which shows he is the main sell for this issue. The cover features alot of straplines, but does feature two screamers, 'Yeah!' and 'Bowlin'!' which are both quite informally spelt, as most young people and some older people spell yes as 'yeah' (and also say it like 'yeah') so its then connecting with the readers. Also many people of an urban nature and alot of young people, drop the g's on the end of 'ing' words when they speak. 'Bowlin'' is a perfect example of this, and therefore gives a laid-back approach.






As you can see, XXL magazine is very similar to Vibe as the colours selected are almost identical and they both use a Sans Serif font in bold and italic. However, the title this time is a red filled square, with the letters XXL in white. XXL means extra extra large, which can be in collosal/mass, or in clothes size. This doesnt relate to the genre of the magazine, as this has nothing to do with music, however it may relate to how popular and big the magazine is, as they may think its very popular and well-known. This gives an 'ignorant' approach as they may feel the magazine is 'extra extra large'. This time Lil Wayne isn't shot in a medium close up, but in a medium long shot. Once again he is covering the masthead, just like Vibe, which shows the magazine doesn't need to show it's name to sell. This magazine doesn't have any screamers, but does have one strapline. 'Lil wayne' is written as a reversed out coverline in black, italic font, with a white background. It's the largest text on the cover, which therefore immediately draws the readers attention. He is wearing a black t-shirt with 'I am hip-hop' written on in white, which immediately gives away that he is a legend in the industry, or so he thinks he is. He is posing with both thumbs facing towards him, with a smug expression on his face, as if to say 'look at me'. This matches Lil Wayne's personality as in many of his lyrics he states he's the 'best rapper alive' and that he 'is it'. The magazine contains nearly identical features to 'Vibe'. XXL features music reviews, celebrity interviews, and the latest fashions. Fashion is a crucial part of the magazine, as the one of the most important things to the urban lifestyle, is their 'swagger', this involves looking the part, and wearing the latest clothes. XXL is focused more towards rap and hip-hop, whereas Vibe is more RnB. XXL is more male orientated as there isnt many female rap artists, with only featuring a female on the cover once. However, this does not make it sexist, as if there was more female rap artists out there, I'm sure they'd be featured. It IS a unisex magazine, but just features male artists. Underneath the masthead there is a puff, which says 'Hiphop on a higher level'. The cover looks a lot more bare than the Vibe cover, as there's not a lot of text, which gives it a less professional look.

Here is the cover of Lil Waynes, new unrealeased album 'Rebirth'. He is pictured slouching on an old fashioned sofa, which gives the effect, he doesn't care and is laid-back. He has an electric guitar on his lap, but isn't touching it at all, which connotes he's not bothered about it, and that he's done using it. He has a mean expression on his face, but even though hes wearing sunglasses, you can still tell exactly what his facial expression is. The album title 'Rebirth' suggests that he has been born again, which may indicate that it's a fresh start, or a new beginning. There is very little font on the cover, with the only words situated along the middle of the cover saying 'Lil Wayne Rebirth'. Lil Wayne is wrote in bold, white font, which makes it stand out against the beige background. Rebirth is then wrote in red, which doesnt stand out as much as the white font. This may be because his face is far away from the camera, and he has sunglasses on, so people may not know who he is, and at a quick glance, all they see is the words 'Lil Wayne' which will sell it its self. The album cover is different to the magazines as it has neutral tones, and no bright colours, where as the magazines, have white, black and red, which are all quite in-your-face colours. This is something to consider when creating my magazine.

initial research into forms and conventions part two.

After finding three magazines from different genres, i have decided to base my magazine on hiphop/R'n'B/grime/reggae genres. This is because this is the type of music i listen to and know alot about, and also i feel there is not a magazine like this in the magazine industry. I now need to find 3 magazines from the musical genre i have chose and evaluate them.

initial research into forms and conventions.

I have chose 3 magazines from various music genres so i can see what different magazines contained and what they have in common. I had to look to see what was different about the cover, contents and the artists they featured.



Vibe magazine.


This magazine is of the urban/r'n'b genre. 'Vibe' is quite an informal word, and is most probably used by the sort of audience the magazine caters for. The title is in a bright colour to attract the audiences attention. It uses the same colours throughout the cover which gives it a professional look, as the colours arent clashing. The model is rap artist 'Lil Wayne' who is pictured on a thrown in the center. This represents a cockyness and an arrogance, as he is center of attention, thinks he is the best and should be feared (like a king) which he frequenty states in some of his lyrics. This attitude is common with this genre of music. He is crouched with a smug expression on his face, which may add to the arrogance. His head slightly covers the title of the magazine, which shows he is the main seller.


The audience is mainly people aged 16-25, as some of the artists shown have explicit lyrics. It’s aimed at young, urban followers of the hip-hop culture.

The contents of this magazine feature columns of musical culture, celebrity guests, celebrity gossip, upcoming and new artists, and also clothing. It’s a young, trendy magazine, aimed at a younger market, who strongly believes in music.





PopStar magazine.



This magazine is of the pop genre. ‘Pop star’ shows that the magazine is mainly about pop music and mainstream artists. They mainly produce music about love, or happiness without any explicit lyrics as their main audience are younger and are girls. They use alot of bright colours, that clash together, which shows its aimed at a younger generation. The cover shows no organisation, however it doesnt need to be in order to sell, as children and young teens don't care, and are easily bought. It is covered in pictures of the latest popstars, which is what sells. The pictures mainly consist of medium close-ups, with not alot of font.


The audience is mainly younger girls aged 7 – 13. It’s aimed at girls who may like make-up, Disney channel, Pop Party Cds (etc.)

The contents of this magazine contain celebrity gossip (e.g. latest couples), television programmes, and posters, usually of Disney channel stars.





Kerrang magazine.

This magazine is of the indie/rock genre. The word ‘Kerrang’ is an onomatopoeia, which refers to the noise made by an electric guitar. This name suits the magazine as most artists which feature have electric guitars involved in their songs. The models are the two main members of indie band 'Fall out Boy'. They are pictured in a medium close up shot, posing with comical facial expressions, which connect to the subheading 'rock's odd couple invade the UK!' They also are covering nearly the whole of the magazine title, which is taking a risk, however you can still tell exactly what magazine it is, which shows they can afford to not have the title showing, as the magazine sells itself. The colours used are quite mellow, such as white, pale blue, and yellow, which show its for a more mature and laid back audience, and not so in your face as a dance or pop magazine.


The audience is of both genders, with a sort of emo/goth approach on life. They may like to be different to shock or to rebel.
The magazine can be for any ages, mainly from 16 as some lyrics are explicit.

The contents of this magazine are interviews, news, gigs, posters and reviews.

main task: magazines.

I have been asked to create a front page, contents page and a double page spread of a new magazine.

The research and planning (work, layout, etc) has to be handed in by the 8th of January.

The production (photos, etc) has to be handed in by the 15th of January.

The post-production has to be completed by the 12th of February.

The evaluation (preparing coursework for moderator, putting files onto DVD, etc) has to be completed by 5th of March.

three things i would improve ...

I got an overall grade of 66/1OO. However if i was to improve this grade then i would have to improve the evaluation question. in the question 'in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products' i did not state the answer clear enough and it sounded very similar to the question 'how does the magazine attract/address the target audience'. if i were to do it again, i would spend more time answering the question and ensure i was not repeating myself.
i would also improve my technologies. I'd experiment with certain programmes such as photoshop and quark express, so then when it came to producing my work it'd be quicker and Id know how to use all tools.
Lastly, Id use my time wisely. I found i spent longer on a certain part of the task than another. I also found i fell behind alot and had to complete the work in my own time.

Front Cover

Contents Page

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

You can tell that this is a magazine front cover because it uses the conventions of media magazines. For example, we have used screamers throughout the cover to give emphasis on various articles that are to be featured within. This is common within magazines and used in the industry a large amount. We have also used a masthead to display our title of the magazine. This makes the front cover easily definable as an industry cover because the audience is targetted through the name and style. We have also used a puff to big up our magazine which would definitely taregt our audience through the use of promotion and a bold colour. The colours we have used on the cover are eyecatching to the target audience, which is mainly girls. I feel that the use of pinks and blues contrasting would help the audience show initial interest. The bar-code, date, title and issue number are all typical of a magazine front cover but are a neccessity, as opposed to trying to grab the attention of the audience. We have used a column at the side of our magazine because when we researched previous magazines that were already on the market and similar to what we wanted, this was a feature most of them used. We put fashion advice in the column to keep the audience interested and make them want to read inside.

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When looking at our magazine, you can see that it is a magzine by some media conventions that are used throughout the industry. Firstly, it has a clear masthead 'Breeez' which clearly states the name of the magazine and is in the traditional place of in the top right corner. The puff 'number one for student fashion' is underneath the masthead, which is common for media magazines. This is because the puff is bigging up the magazine and therefore should be close to the main title. The mainsell is also a feature of a real media product, and our magazine has one in the centre of the page. This shows the main story in the magazine and draws the attention of the teenage target audience. There are also many screamers such as 'SHOCK!' and 'WOW!'. The date, issue number, price and barcode are also typical of a current magazine, such as Look.

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your product?

The audience for our college magazine are 16-19 year old college students, mainly female. I think that on the psychographic profile they would be Aspirers and Radicals. They would be Materialists on their social values and C1/C2 on the jicnar scale.

Evaluation: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

We have learnt 3 main new technologies while creating our magazine cover. Firstly, Adobe Photoshop was the programme we used to make the actual front cover. We learnt how to layer the different parts of the front cover so that everything was in the correct order and made sense. We also learnt how to crop photos and edit various parts to the cover. We then used QuarkXpress to create our contents page, which was more complicated than Photoshop. The importing of photos was more complicated on this programme due to the more text and having to make them smaller. We were able to overcome this by placing the pictures in appropriate places that does not obstruct the text from the contents page. We also used a Digital Camera to take the photos, of which we had to edit and crop ourselves. We did this in Photoshop which made it able to be completed with ease. The use of the scanner was helpful because we had to get the front cover and contents pages of other various magazines that were already on the market. The blog itself was extremely useful because we were able to arrange all our work into a simple system that was easily recognisable.

contents page

We chose contents pages from 'Look' and 'Closer' because they share similarities to the magazine we're creating. The features that they share are pictures of celebrities, inserts about fashion, a letter from the editor and the articles are separated into different categories. Both contents pages contain columns and a central picture. The letter from the editor is also a key component of the contents page. Both of the pages use an informal mode of address because this is most suitable for the target audience we have selected, an example of this is 'hubby' or 'celebs'. Other ways in which they appeal to the target audience, is through bright colours and bold lettering, this helps the main articles stand out. A house style is obvious between the covers and the contents pages of both magazines. They both use the same colour schemes and writing styles. Also there is a picture of the front cover featured in the contents page.

audience research

We have been asked to create a student magazine on a subject matter of our choice. Our magazine is going to be based on fashion around college. The target audience for our magazine will be a 16-19 year old females, who are C1/C2 on the jicnar scale. Their demographic profile will be either Materialists or Aspirers. here are some statements about our typical reader..


They would rather have a spray tan than just not show their skin.

They would listen to Radio 1.

They would rather have a cosmopolitan than a pint.

A life without a phone, make-up or Facebook would be a life not worth living.

They would rather pay double for a taxi than be seen on a bus.


Why spend mine, when i can spend yours?


They would rather party all night and sleep all day.


They would buy other weekly gossip magazines, such as Heat and Look.


Why watch a comedy with your boyfriend, when you can both cry at the notebook?

Five things we need to do to target our audience effectively?

1. Use a chatty, informal tone to catch their attention.



2. Use bright colours that make it seem more upbeat.



3. Use a Serif font with a more rounded edge.



4. We will put details about stories inside about celebrities, gossip and fashion to attract their attention.


5. The photo on the front of the magazines would be a heavily made up model.

Research

We were asked to research three current magazine front covers and analyse what we found. We used Look, More and Teen Vogue. We had to pick three magazines of near enough the same content and pick out the similarities and differences. We chose magazines which included the subject matters of celebrities, fashion and gossip. This targets a young adult audience of mainly girls or homosexual boys. The different magazines contained different colours, however they all had a running theme of pink throughout. More uses grey and yellow as their subisitute colours; Look uses blue and Teen Vogue uses orange and black. The 'stand out' colours attract a younger audience. Look uses the common Sans Serif font which is like many other magazines. This font is usually used for a more mature audience, which is Look's preferred approach as opposed to More's Century Gothic. Teen Vogue however used both Sans Serif and Century Gothic to give the approach of maturity and a less formal one. All three magazines uses well-known celebrities for their front covers, in a medium-long shot. They are all heavily made-up and smiling directly at the camera. The magazines have an informal approach using words such as 'rocks', 'bombshell' and 'wow'. They also address the reader directly, using words like 'recharge your style'. The covers are bright and eye catching, with offers for money off on spray tans and shoes, which is what the typical reader would be happy with. They have columns along the sides displaying latest fashions, shown inside the magazines.

preliminary task.

We have been asked to create our own student magazine cover and contents page using DTP and an image manipulation programme. the cover needs to include a medium, close up photograph of a student and plus some articles advertised surrounding the picture and a masthead. We must also do a mock layout of a contents page to demonstrate our grasp of the programme. To help us with the task, we were told to look at some examples of previous student magazines to give us a better idea of how to create our own. As a class, we analysed Squash magazine which was easily recognisable as a front cover due to the key conventions used, such as a masthead and a medium, close-up image of the student. We came to the conclusion that the target audience were unisex students aged 16-19. They would be C1/C2 on the jicnar scale and their psychographic profile would be Aspirers or Radicals. The magazines front cover targets this audience in many ways. The cover picture of the student features the library in the background, which shows the academic side of college. However, the student in the picture is pulling a facial expression which portrays a more laid-back approach to college life. The name of the magazine, Squash, has a fun element to it instead of something, for example, 'Books Weekly'. The main colour of the front cover is light blue which has a calming effect on the reader, whereas a harsh colour, such as orange, would be overwhelming. It also has a mature effect. Finally, there is not much writing featured on the cover, as this would not be appealing to the target audience, and would be thought of as too much of an effort to read.

initial analysis

for our second task we then had to analyse further using our understanding of the key conventions.

magazine front cover : key conventions

for our first task of the year, we had to pick a magazine front cover and then analyse the key conventions.