Example of Content Draft.

I have made many changes to my contents page. I have decided to continue my house style from my front cover through to my contents. I have continued the blue background theme. This is effective as all professional magazines have their own personality and consistency, with this in mind I wanted to ensure that there was a level of consistency for my magazine. At this stage I feel that the contents is lacking several things.

• I feel I need to add more images to make the general look of the contents more exciting. By including more images it will attract more attention to the reader for the separate articles. 
• I will need to vary the colours of the text, I feel that the white is very basic. It does not advertise the articles and grab the audiences attention of my audience. To solve this I will vary the colours and use this to emphasize the importance of certain articles. This way it will be clear as to the exclusive interviews that I feel need highlighting.
• My final improvement is to vary the size of the fonts, in the same way the colours will be used to highlight the different articles the font size will gain the readers attention.

Change of 2 Page-Spread & Contents

This was originally going to be my two page spread, however I decided to change it. The reason for this was because my front cover has one main image of a Edward Chua, therefore I thought if the main featured article did not relate directly to the main image on my front cover then it would not portray that of a professional magazine.

Throughout my research I noticed that it was extremely common in magazines produced professionally to all have their main article based around star on the front cover. Therefore I changed this 2 page spread to link in Edward Chua's exclusive interview with his large image on the front cover.

This was one of my first drafts for a contents page but there was a number of things that I thought were missing or could be improved:

- Research has shown me that contents are full of images, having just the one image left the page quite boring and dull.

- I felt that the difference between my covers background colour scheme and this contents did not match together, therefore I cut out the background around the model to allow me to add in a background 

- I wanted to maintain the house style of font colour, my original thoughts were because it was a female image the pink would go well however once I reminded myself of my target audience I knew that it had to be neutralised

- One minor detail that I changed for my final piece was that the numbering of pages within magazines is not always continuous (1-2-3) there are many adverts which would disrupt the flow of numbering eg (1-2-5) therefore I included this within my numbering 

This week I have created my own bar-code in paint by making each individual line and creating my own number to put in the bottom to make it look realistic. I have also been experimenting with the font I will use within my magazine to be the main heading. I have decided to use Mister Sirloin for my main title within my magazine with Century Gothic as my content font. 

Evidence of editing images within Photoshop

I have taken this print screen to show my progression using different media programmes such as Adobe Photoshop. Within my preliminary task I had only used basic photo editing software such as paint. However after using Photoshop on a consistent basis and using YouTube tutorials to help me gain some extra knowledge I have been able to edit images to boost their personal performance. As you can see there is a clear difference between these two images as I have used the features that Adobe offers to make this image look much more appealing and professional.

A Number of Images and Analysis of Shooting Images

These are the images that I have taken and decided to edit and include within my magazine! I have chosen to include an exclusive article with a girl band of 3, and also an individual article of a solo female artist + male artist. 

What went well - 

• Quickly gained knowledge on positioning of those being pictured, which helped in producing professional-look images
• Learnt that the use of props increase the content of the image significantly 
• I quickly learnt that the lighting can had a direct effect on the overall outcome of an image
• I felt I was able to come to terms with the technology of zooming in etc quickly
• I soon became comfortable with the camera stand to allow a set shot every time

What I struggled with - 

• Positioning the lighting to enable good picture quality without shadow
• To ensure background white is fully covered in the image
• I struggled with creativity after an hour, I felt I was limited to the images I could take, this was because we were in a classroom with little room to move the set 

How I Overcame Those Struggles - 

• Lighting - I took various trial images to enable lighting was perfect without shadow
• Instead of changing big things with an image, I simply moved around the set to enable a full clear background
• I spoke with peers and the models to see what they felt would work well then tried what suggestions were made

First ideas to be used within my magazine.

Here are some images that I have taken as a practice to become more comfortable with the camera use, with different lighting effects and camera angles. Throughout this trial I have learnt that the lighting backs a big difference, if the picture is too bright it can show up minor details that make the image look like it is unprofessional. I learnt to find the right balance between the camera angle and lighting to produce the perfect image. I understand that the images at the moment are not ready to be put straight into a magazine but I will use my skills that I had acquired previously in the year to edit the image using Photoshop. One other technique that I found was to create a natural fun look on the person used, having a fan to the side of the shoot to blow the hair to generate a natural look works really well and adds to the fun look within the image. I will possibly use this technique in my own magazine once I have collected the majority of my final images. 

Publication Plan

Name of magazine: UPDATE!

Font of name: Mister Sirloin

Positioning statement: Central

Frequency of publication: Monthly

Price: £1.99

Distribution: Newsagents across the country, Airports and Supermarkets.

Rationale: (what is the thinking behind the magazine - have you identified a gap in the market?) – The thinking behind the magazine is to grab the audiences attention with an eye catching front cover, consisting of many images and competitions to encourage readers to purchase.
Audience: Young female/male interested in pop music and R'n'B

Style: Fun with a professional tone/look

Regular content: Full of interesting articles, images and competitions. Advertising a variety interviews with different size fonts.

House style: Formal but not boring, set colour scheme. 

Analysing two page spreads..

The two magazines that we are analysing are ‘We love pop’ and ‘Q’ magazine. The first clear difference is the target audiences, the pop magazine focuses on female pop viewers. Where as the 'Q' magazine is targeted at those who enjoy rock music. The specific audiences are easily identified by the certain characteristics that the pages include, i.e the images used, the colour scheme and the topics that are advertise for within the magazine.

One use of colour is consistent in both magazines is the way in which during an interview the questions and responses are clearly indicated by the use of two different colours. The questions are highlighted in red (pop) and black (Q) and then the artists response is in red (Q) and highlighted in yellow within pop. In Q there house style colour scheme is very basic, quite formal with its dim yet effective use of grey. In contrast the modern pop themed magazine uses an array of different vibrant  colours to attract and advertise the certain aspects of the article that you are reading. With blues, whites, yellows, pinks and reds flying about everywhere it is impossible not to find out what is happening with one quick glance, this is very effective for sales as the target audience will be immediately attracted into the goings on within this particular article. 

Both articles have decided to manage the articles by using the artist that the article is focused on and have used a full page image of that artist. Tulisa and Biffy Clyro are all published in natural images to portray a positive aspect of those characters, again used to advertise the fact that the magazine has to opportunity to interview these famous stars. We love pop has used a variety of different images of their main star with other celebrities to possibly widen the audience that will read the article, with Tulisa in photos with modern day celebrities Gary Barlow, JLS stars and Rita Ora. In contrast in Q magazine, the main article is focused on the context. One large full size image of the music band on the second side to graphically show the audience of who is involved in this issue.

One other technique that was familiar in both magazines, that I will include within my own music magazine is quotations. They have been enlarged to give the reader a small inside into what has been said within the interview/article, both magazine have used this. The layout of we love pop is very busy, there is an awful lot going on the page. From images to quotes and sub titles there is a lot to take in, where as in Q magazine there is a basic lay out with there being a set place for everything with allow the reader to comfortably read through the article. I will take this into account when creating my own magazine to make sure that the audience are able to take in a lot of separate details but without bombarding them with useless information. 

Analysis of Contents

The contents page that I have analysed in that of 'We love Pop'. The genre of the magazine is music pop, this is the first technique used to have the name of the magazine relating too the genre to ensure that the target audience can easily see what the magazine is going to include. I will use this within my own music magazine to allow the immediate attention of the reader to be comfortable and sure about what the magazine is focusing on. One major thing that stands out is the amount of images used, there are a total of 18 images used on the contents. This is to regain the balance between text and graphics to continue the attention span of the audience, its obvious but if there was no images used within the contents and all the reader could see is a long boring list of articles then the chances of them continuing with the purchase would be minimal. Again this will be a feature that I will prioritise within my own version of the magazine, I will use graphics and imagery of use of text to attract and maintain the attention of my target audience. The images used directly relate with the articles from within the article, this allows the reader to not only read about what is included but also to glance at the provided images. This will be a clear indication as to what the specific articles are about and also as to what other features such as posters will be inside the magazine.

The second most striking feature of this contents is the array of colours used. Not just any colours have been thrown in, the use of bright electric colours such as yellows reds and blues are used to generate a mood from within the magazine. Pop relates well with up-beat fun music, this is portrayed through the different colours chosen. The main image is of a pop star wearing red and black, this colour scheme is continued from within the text of the contents and a bordering scheme. This adds focus on the main image more so as it relates directly to the whole house style of the contents, therefore adding importance to the article for the reader. The caption below the contents main image is a quote from the following article, again this is used to add extra information that will grab the attention of the reader. Giving an insight into what the article is about will all add to the chances of a customer purchasing the magazine. If you notice the articles that are highlighted through size and image are all of major stars within pop, with the huge amount of following that individually the stars get it appeals well to the audience. This is because if they see there favourite stars then they are more likely to be interested is what the following article will contain.

In contrast to the vibrant colour scheme in 'We love Pop' colours are minimal in the contents of 'Mixmag'. However this does not have to be seen as a negative as I feel that mix mags contents looks more organised and formal although its target audience is not strictly formal. With the basic colour scheme of black and white it offers stability and ensurance of what is going to follow in the mag. On the other hand this colour scheme is countered by the main image, which fills 75% of the contents. The stand out pink jumper that the main character is wearing, along with her bright blue make-up enables her and the following article to jump out of the page to the audience, and subsequently onto the till for purchase. Although there is such a difference in the amount of images provided between both magazine, I believe that 'mix mags' are more effective. As there is only 3 but the sizes are very intentional, the main article relates directly to the large scale image on the contents of the lady, followed by two sub articles with images below. All images continuing the house style of the colour scheme in the corner with the page number in either white or black.

From the two contents that I have analysed, I have learnt that the importance of imagery and colour as well as the important of relevant articles is extremely high. Target audiences would sub-consciously judge the formality and context from within the magazine by the colours used and the style in which the images are presented. I have evaluated the different features from professional contents and there are certain things that I understand are critical to include within a contents page, I will use those features to enable the best possible outcome of what I produce for my music magazine. 

Examples of a range of professional contents pages.

Analysis of Results & Graphs

Summary 

These three graphs are evidence of my results that I collected from my survey that included opinions from 20 separate people. They show the results from the age ranges found, the favoured type of music and the time scale in which they would purchase the magazine. The age range varied from 13-16 to 22-26, this will be the age range that I will be targeting within my music magazine.  The most popular genre of music was pop, this has persuaded my to use this genre for my own magazine. Using images and articles relating to pop charts and artists from within pop. 

What Can I Gain From Graph No.1?

The most conclusive piece I have been able to gain from this graph is the clear favour towards Pop music. This is very helpful towards the planning of my own magazine, relating this data to the age ranges allows me to ensure that I have a specific target audience who my magazine relates to. Before this questionnaire I was unsure what genre of music I should target as I had a rough idea of what age range I wanted to target. However having analysed the results of my survey it is now clear that there are clear links between age range and genre, which has concluded that I will appeal to those interested in pop music.

What Can I Gain From Graph No.2?

The results from Graph 2 were slightly more varied. This had led to me feel that in my own magazine I must spread my target range to appeal to more readers. This is in contrast to limiting my followers to for example 15-17. This can be a positive as it can lead to more variety of articles to offer interest for a wider range target audience. However with these results I have decided to target my magazine for an age range of 17-23. This must mean that there is a balance of fun entertaining articles and then a level of articles that will appeal more to those of the later age. 

What Can I Gain From Graph No.3?

Results from my final graph analysis are clear, the dominant choice was to produce and distribute my magazine on a monthly basis. This has a direct effect on the time scale in which articles can relate to (E.g News from early in the month can still be touched upon). This also effects the amount of articles I must advertise on my contents page, readers will not purchase a monthly magazine if it only advertises 20 pages. It will simply not be appropriate to expect a consumer to purchase a magazine for £1.99 (what I intend to charge) to view 10 articles a month! I have noted this and will ensure that my contents will be suitable for a monthly subscription.

Survey Questionnaire

This is a questionnaire that I have created to gain some further knowledge on what the my perfect target audience would be, including data such as age ranges, favoured genre of music and the distribution timings (daily, weekly etc).I handed out a questionnaire to 20 different people in order to gain some added information on what it is that I should make sure that I have included within my magazine. The main thing in which I am hoping to gain from distributing this questionnaire is to gain a variety of different opinions on what various people want. I could have just made up an age range and genre but I felt it would benefit me in the long term to gain an understanding of what different age ranging what genre wise. Also to gain the link between the answers collected. 

Summary - What I want to gain from this Survey:

• Appropriate Music Genre
• Suitable Age Range
• Preferred Distribution Time Scale (Weekly, Monthly)
• What Attracts Readers
• Whether Content or Images Are More Important

Music Newspaper MoodBoard

The main target audience for my newspaper is going to be both young men and women. Specifically those who like pop music and are aged between 16-22. I will target my audience by having a number of graphical images to attract the audience on the front cover, including global stars from the music industry.  In order to achieve ensuring my magazine targets both males and females I will include features such as the colour schemes that appeal to both. I want to use colours that are stereotypical linked to males (blue) and then possible a more feminine colour such as yellow. I will include both male and females on my front cover to attract both whilst seeing my magazine in the shops. If it is dominated by just one sex then it can prevent a reader from purchasing, however if both females and males are presented on the cover it appeals to a wider audience. 

The reason why I chose to create this mood board this way was to remind myself of the genre of the magazine, it is a music pop magazine. This way whilst creating my 3 pieces I would be reminded that I could get ideas and inspiration from magazines that have previously interviewed pop stars and be made for the audience of pop fans. Through my research I was familiar with the magazines 'Pop'. This was where I gained my knowledge on what in usually included within a pop magazine, and also the type of interviews/questions that are also included within those types of magazines.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

What Have I Learnt From Preliminary Task?

The first major thing that I learnt from my preliminary task of creating a magazine is the software I use to create it. I used the very basic programmes of PowerPoint and word documents to create my magazine. I have learnt that there are far better programmes that offer a wider range of features that will help make my magazine look as professional as possible. In the real magazine I will be using In-design for creating the whole magazine and Adobe Photoshop to edit the pictures.

I have also learnt that just placing images onto a magazine has a major affect on the overall look of the magazine. Therefore I will be focusing on the editing on my pictures, mainly cutting out backgrounds and re-sizing images to get the full potential from my images.

The third area that I will be focusing on in my main magazine and something that I have learnt from the preliminary task is the contents page. In this task I only included 8-9 articles spanning over about 20 pages, after analysing it once I had it finished I found that this was not realistic. A customer is not going to spend money on a 20 page magazine, therefore I know that I will have to include an appropriate amount articles and pages in order to attract the customer.  

I am genuinley quite dissapointed with the general outcome of my preliminary task magazine. This is because I feel that I could have made it a lot more professional, through using a variety of different programmes. However I understand that it is better to learn from mistakes in the preliminary task and to learn from them in my main task. One positive aspect from my magazine was the layout of the front cover, I thought the layout looked professional including a variety of images. This is one thing that I will want to ensure I include within my main task that there is a good variety of appealing images. From my general research I have learnt that all magazines attract their audiences through their front cover, therefore in my preliminary it is a different emphasis as it would be given out free to parents and students. In terms of my main magazine I will be advertising for an audience to purchase it, therefore I must make sure that my images that I will take will be attractive and apropiate for the genre of my magazine.

Regarding my contents page I feel that it is very basic looking. In order to improve my main magazines contents I want to make sure there are a sufficent amount of relevant articles, I also want to ensure that it has a professional look. If I was to re do my contents page the one thing I would also like to change is to vary the font sizes. For example if I include a main article that is particularly

attractive to the audience, then I will want to advertise that article as much as possible. A way of improving the advertising of an article is increasing the font size, changing the font to make it stand it. I will also make sure that I include a related image to further advertise an interview for example.

What Have I Learnt From Researching Publishing Companies?

What Have I Learnt From Researching Publishing Companies?

 

The main thing that I have learnt from my research into Media Companies is from Baur. I found that throughout all forms of the magazine in which they distribute the front cover was very appealing. It was common that front covers had a variety of images, this was a technique used to not only attract but inform an audience of what was to be included within the magazine. This is what I have learnt to be able to have a lot going on in my front cover, to appeal to as many differnces people as possible. Including people that might like the genre of music, a particular artist or even simply for a competetion which I could advertise. My inspiration for this was from Baur's magazines such as Closer and Zoo where their images are key to attracting audiences. The importance of being able to grab the readers attention is key to selling a magazine, therefore in my peice I will ensure that my images are relevant and clear in order to advertise all features I will include (e.g Competitions, Artists, Articles).

 

Another thing that I have learnt from my research into Media Companies is the varieties of font, font sizes and colours schemes. I noticed that the vairation of different font sizes and actual fonts was extremly common through Baur's magazines. Therefore I want to ensure that I have a mixture of font sizes to encourage important of different articles. If I am using a quote from an article on my front cover to advertise the article then I will use a larger font size. I also learnt that all magazines have a particular house style, I would like to maintain a colour scheme throughout my own magazine to ensure it has the professional look as if it had been made by Baur themselves!

Research into Different Media Institutions

BAUER MEDIA

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Collectively, the Group employs some 6,400 people.

Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators.

Their business is built on influential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. Their strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through our broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Their wide portfolio of influential brands gives us advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors.

Women's Magazine - More, Closer, Grazia, Heat, Mother and Baby, Pregnancy and Birth and Yours.

Men's Lifestyle - Zoo, FHM.

Entertainment and Music - Empire, Kerrang, Mojo and Q.

Specialist - Golf World, AM and Horse Deals.

HEARST MAGAZINES (NATIONAL MAGAZINE COMPANY)

Its major interests include magazine, newspaper and business publishing, cable networks, television and radio broadcasting, internet businesses, TV production and distribution, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

Examples of magazines they publish - All About Soap, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Good Housekeeping.

FUTURE PUBLISHING

At Future they base everything they do on communities of enthusiasts who are passionate about their interests. From computer games to film, from cycling to music-making, from photography to fast cars, we provide magazines, websites, multimedia content and events that inform, entertain and unite these communities.

The aim is to be the number one provider of trusted editorial services for enthusiasts in every one of our specialist sectors, and to be the number one partner of the companies who want to do business with these enthusiasts.

They share the same passions as our consumers. These insights and our expertise are helping us to build and exploit the market-leading positions across different platforms in all of the core sectors in which we operate.

Examples of Magazines they publish - MacFormat, PC Plus, Total Guitar, Fast Car and Metal Hammer.

Final Draft of my Magazine

This is my final draft of my magazine. I have decided to add in a blue background to correspond with my school colour scheme. Using images to attract the readers into continuing to look through my magazine.

'Ruislip News' is alive..

After a lot of editing and changing images I have finally come up with my first draft for my first task for creating a school newspaper front cover and contents. 'Ruislip News' is up and running!  The name was the first task I gave myself, I thought just some sensible would be more realistic so I went with the boring yet reliable headline of 'Ruislip News'.

The newspaper is a monthly issue and this current issue is the January Edition. I thought it would go well to include a small graphic wishing the reader a happy new year. This is a visual feature that is clearly there for all audiences to see, also used to interact with the reader. This image is used on both the front cover and contents to act as the main house style of my newspaper, this is included with the colour scheme and the consistent font used throughout my newspaper. 

The images I have chosen are for specific reasons, to begin with I have stated that the school is welcoming never seen before images of the brand new school hall. This being the main story covering this months edition is the reason for the main image being of that new sports hall. Part of the main task was to include a medium close up of a student from your school on your front cover, I have achieved this by creating a 'Student of the month' award that involves a student picture of the appropriate angle that was required. Again with the timing of the issue, heading towards summer I have included an advertisement that was found in my own schools PE department that advertises Community games which encourages youth to get involved in sport. 

And to end with I had added two addition features to my front cover, having a 'Sports Day' count down to inform but also remind all students of when the sports day is going to take place, and especially important as it will be the first within the brand new hall! Offering competitions as well towards the bottom of my front cover with page references that relate to the contents well to allow the readers easy accessibility to which article they wish to see. The colour scheme of my newspaper is light blue, this is due to the colours of my schools logo is this colour and also it fits in well with the main image with the flooring of the new hall also being this colour. 

Within my contents page I have layered the images very intentionally over lapping themselves. This is due to the never before seen images having this 'wow' factor of being seen for the first time. It adds a bit of fun to the layout and keeps away from the formal boring view of just listing images next door to each other. One other image is used throughout the newspaper is a wide shot of the back of the school, this is used just to add one more consistent graphic to the pages to let the reader be involved with. I have decided to again continue my house style colour schemes and font in my contents, the name of the newspaper is still there whilst being accompanied by the rhetorical question of 'What will you find inside' again a way of interacting with the reader. The idea of keeping the newspaper layout cheerful and fun is used by the positioning of the text, all central to the page is just a small technique that can cause a big difference in maintaining the attention of the audience. 

First Draft of Contents..

First Draft Of Newspaper Front Cover

Example Images I Could Use Within My Magazine

Newspaper Front Cover Plan

This is a basic plan of my school newspaper front cover. I have decided to focus mainly on a PE department issue that will targets everyone involved in PE at my school. I will be advertising on my front page the schools brand new school sports hall, this will be my main front cover image. I will have three seperate articles that will attract the audience by involving students through certain articles and quizes that relate well to all pupils.

 

 

 

 

 

Possible images that I will use within my Magazine

This is one example of a large variety of images that I have used for my school newspaper. I have taken this photo of the school sports hall at a higher angle to use as one of my article related pictures.This image shows the range of sports that will be able to be used in the schools brand new hall. I have decided to make this the main purpose of my front cover to show never seen before images of the new hall. 

Due to the fact that my newspaper will be focused on the schools physical education department it will advertise other articles including fixtures, reviews and sports personality of the month winner within the contents. This will attract readers (students/parents) to see who has won the award and also to see the images of new sports hall for the first time!

More examples of Images I have taken for my Ruislip Eye Magazine

Here are more examples of the collection of images I have taken to possible use within my magazine. I chose to gain a variety of different angles and settings to offer as much variation within the magazine as possible. For example my main focus for the cover and contents will be the schools brand new sports hall, with this in mind I have taken several images from all different angles of my own sports hall. I have also taken images of the facilities at Ruislip High's PE Department. During my research one feature that was common was ensuring that images used are related strongly to the articles within. Therefore I have taken images of anything sports related. This includes a Mid-Shot image of a student who won PE student of the month. With these images it was intended to achieve a collection of images that are appropriate and that related to what my magazine is advertising.  

Ideas Collage for school magazine!

We have been set a task to create a school magazine front cover and a contents page. I have decided to do a PE department focused magazine. I have decided on this department as there are many varieties of sport that can be included within the magazine. 

Different sports, competitions and reviews of games in which the school are involved in are all different categories that I can include in my front cover and contents page. Within the task we must include a picture of a student from the school, to do this I will stage a student in the PE department either playing sport or demonstrating a sport and use it as my main image.

I will include images of the schools new PE sports hall which I have personally taken. I will take a picture from outside the school which would be included in the contents to show that the magazine is a representation of my school. I am going to include a main background colour to eliminate any white space that is not filled with images or text.

Research Analysis of Men's Health Contents

This is an image I have taken of the Men's Health Contents Page - 

Content Analysis

- Well structured contents page, with clear numbering's for each individual article. This ensures that readers are comfortable whilst searching for the specific article they are looking for, or even just to have a look as to what is included in that issue of magazine.

- There is a clear variety of fonts and font sizes used throughout the contents. This is one technique of making it clear to the reader which articles are more important/exclusive. This is one thing I would like to include in my preliminary task and main magazine task.

- The use of images is also key in the contents page, similar to a front cover the images brighten up the page and give a slight more detail into the context of relating article.

- The text stands out clear against the white background whilst the sub-headings are all in different colours again to alert the reader of what the articles are sectioned into.

- The number of articles is important as well, a target audience would not pay £1 up to £5 for 10 pages with a few pictures and interviews. There is always a realistic amount of articles, full of competitions  interviews and quizzes to interact with the reader as much as possible. 

Decoding Magazine Covers

Today I learnt the McMahon and Quinn technique of decoding a magazine front cover.

- Technical Codes
- Written Codes
- Symbolic Codes

This is the easy way to understand and analyse the different hidden meanings behind magazine front covers.

Such details from simple colours to more detailed persuasive language which is used are all features that are thoroughly designed before the magazines reach the shelves.

The main ideas of the front cover are to appeal to the target audience and to catch their immediate attention. These aren't the only ways in which they grab the eye of those in the shops, the variety of fonts and colours are used to inform efficently those who want to know more about whats inside!

Source: http://curryrecipe-jp.net/health-2/mens-health-magazine/

What would you expect to find on a magazine cover & contents?

FRONT COVER

- Pictures - Relating to articles, one main focus with other various images 
- Fonts- Different sizes and styles
- Bar-code and pricing
- Mast-head (Name of the magazine)
- Date
- Issue Number (e.g 112 Issue/December Issue)
- Cover Lines- (tell you what's in the magazine, use of persuasive language, colours and fonts.)
- Main house style (Colour Schemes)

CONTENTS PAGE

- Ensures that it is easy to navigate around magazine

- Article names, advertising what is inside the magazine

- Page Numbering

- Quotes from individual articles

- More images related to articles

- Introduces other articles not included on front cover

Magazine Front Cover Research - Closer

- At least 8 images have been used on this front cover which is very useful in attracting the target audience into purchasing this magazine

- There is a variety of colours used throughout the cover, all bright colours that are effectively making the articles themselves stand out.

- There is a issue number and bar-code in the bottom right hand corner.

- I have noticed that 2 images over lap the main name of the magazine 'Closer' this suggests that because it is the 495th issue readers are expected to know fully that this magazine is closer, therefore there is no problems with covering slight parts of the heading.

- In order to attract readers to purchase the magazine Closer has used eye-grabbing quotes from the articles inside, this is used as a taster to convince audiences to want to read on.

- One other technique used to attract audiences is offering competitions and free items, this way the reader will want to purchase the magazine in order to gain the free item. For example offering a chance to win an iPad would be an excellent way of attracting more readers.

- There is plenty going on in this front cover, portraying to the reader that there is a lot to read within the magazine. Subsequently meaning more sales if there is plenty of news.

Signs and Signifiers

 

In lesson we discussed and analysed what we felt the hidden meanings were to different colours, fonts and images. This was beneficial as in order to attract my target audience perfectly it is important to be able to appeal to that audience using signs and signifiers. For example using colours that would be predominately related to males or females, or being able to identify those colours that are more neutral that would appeal to both sex's.  

 

 

This task has allowed me to be able to understand the deeper meanings behind every day colours and fonts seen everywhere through advertising etc. For example the in depth thoughts in Red uncovered analysis such as seeing a Red font colour as danger/love or romance. This analysis can be used within my magazine to target a specific audience, blue symbolizes a calm relaxed feel. Therefore I intend to have a blue consistency throughout my magazine to make the reader feel relaxed and comfortable whilst clicking through my magazine.