Mock Up Plan Of Contents Page

Mock Up Plan Of Front Cover

Questionnaire Results Graphs

Textual Analysis of a Student Magazine Cover and Contents Page: 24 7

The colours of both the front page and the contents page of the student magazine, 24 7, are very vibrant and ‘young’. The colours are all very bright and eye catching and look very fresh and new. The contrast of the pink against the green makes the writing stand out and contributes to the magazine being so eye catching.

It seems the magazine is quite female based, as the design of the contents page especially is quite feminine. The drawing on the contents page is of a fantasy animal that could be a fairy type creature that is particularly feminine. I think this is a negative point about the magazine and I will aim to make my magazine unisex and appeal to both genders.

The layout of both pages is very well considered and organised. I like the effect this has and I will consider a similar layout for my magazine. While the contents is quite busy because of the image, the text itself is in easy to read chunks and categorised so that understanding the pages and selecting what you want to read is very easy.

Overall, I think the layout and colours are all quite modern and vibrant. I think the gender is too focused on females and I will learn from this and make my magazine more appropriate for both genders and include unisex colours and topics. The images are very appropriate for the age range and I will ensure I use relevant images in my magazine also. 

Textual Analysis of 'Closer' Magazine's Front Cover

I have chosen to analyse the devices used by Closer to attract the younger target audience of teens or young women. By focusing on this magazine I should get a good understanding of how to appeal to the student audience as it has a similar age range in the target audience as my magazine will have.

The colours are a very important way of attracting the young target audience. The colour pink is the main background of the cover, which clearly connotes that it is stereotypically aimed at females. The other colours on the cover are all bright and contrast to the pink, which makes the cover very eye catching. The masthead is in white which contrasts with the pink and makes the name stand out so it’s clearly visible. Also, the colour white has connotations to purity and innocence that may be seen as contradicting the behaviour of the celebs on the cover.

‘Closer’ as a title is very effective for giving the readers the impression that they are getting ‘closer’ to the events and the news around the celebrities. Can also be signifying that readers can be getting ‘closer’ to the celebrities themselves.

The graphics of the cover allow for all of the images and text pieces to compliment each other. All of the images have captions which give a brief taste of the story within which makes the audience want to buy the magazine to read the full story.

Women are the only gender on the cover with tag lines of what could be seen as gossip. This links to the typical stereotype of women being gossips and bitchy. Also, the target audience are those that are interested in celebrity gossip so the captions are relevant and effectively create an appeal for the magazine.

Buzz words such as, ‘exclusive’ are used that catch the readers attention. The word exclusive suggests to the reader that they are getting information that nobody else knows. The word also suggests that Closer is the only magazine to have the photo so the word advertises the magazine to the audience instantly.

The wording is all in in short and snappy lines that makes the magazine appeal to the younger audience as they are less likely to want to read large amounts. Whereas the older generation might be more willing to read large amounts about topics in the magazines of their choice, the target audience for Closer may prefer to read smaller amounts or may not have the time to read as much.

By showing that the celebrities all look very glamorous, it emphasises how poor the lady in the cover line in the top left corner looks as she is a member of the general public and not celebrity. Also, the caption includes the words, ‘incest’ and ‘dungeon’, which could be implying that she is being disgraced. Her direct mode of address as she looks directly at the camera (and the readers) and the close up on her face both connote the sense of a crime. This is because the shot is very similar to that of a mug shot of criminals.

Introduce Preliminary Task and Action Plan for Preliminary Task

DEADLINE FOR PRELIMINARY EXERCISE: FRIDAY 6TH JANUARY 2012
For the preliminary task, I will produce the front page of a new school/college magazine featuring a medium close-up photograph of a student along with some appropriately laid out text and a masthead.

Week One:

• Introduction to blog. 
• Research generic conventions of magazines. 

Week Two:

• Create a textual analysis of a magazine. 
• Devise a questionnaire to research students as an audience. 

Week Three:

• Produce a mock up and begin to design the front cover and contents page. 
• Begin to take photos for my magazine. 
• Post research of target audience on blog and review findings. 
• Post mock up  magazine front cover and provide commentary. 

Week Four: 

• Designing of front cover and contents page.
• Post final front cover and contents page on blog. 

Christmas Holidays:

• Work on evaluation questions. 

Week Five: 

• Complete evaluation. 
• Post evaluation. 

DEADLINE.

Introduction to the main task. 

Introduction to Brief

As part of my AS Media coursework, the brief requires me to create the front page, contents and a double page feature spread of a new music magazine. I have created this blog in order to record my research and planning which will help me to produce a successful magazine.