Charlotte Reynard

Our first task was to create a school based magazine as a preliminary task. To do so we studied the main conventions of a magazine.

This is the end product;

MastheadStands out from the rest of the text, draws the attention of the reader’s eye to it.

HeadingGives the reader an idea of what to expect from the articles inside

Main image – aimed at target audience of parents

Tag line – school motto

Barcode

I started to do some research into a style of music magazine. I have chosen to create a Pop music magazine. To research the pop genre, I looked at past magazines such as Smash Hits and Top of the Pops.

Top of the Pops was established in 1995, so is a fairly new music magazine. Its demographic was shifted from the same audience as Q magazine to young girls and the amount of music related articles was cut down to include more  audience-friendly features such as celebrity gossip, embarrassing stories, an agony aunt and reviews of movies, DVDs and upcoming singles.

I also researched Smash Hits magazine. Established in 1978, it was edited by Nick Logan, who had previously worked for the New Musical Express. Smash Hits was originally set as a magazine for an older demographic, but during the 1990′s the audience was changed to younger girls when the magazine’s circulation dropped (due to Top of the Pops being released). This meant that a lot of the music content had been replaced with celebrity columns and stories.

•The main principles of a magazine are that it grabs the attention of the reader and that the front cover will show the reader exactly what genre the magazine is and what kind of articles will be included inside.

•Also, it is important not to overwhelm the reader with too many articles or colours included on the front cover, this is why I chose to stick strictly to pink, purple, white and yellow on my cover.

•The name of the magazine also has to be snappy and memorable so that you can build brand recognition.

•The background should be a plain colour so it doesn’t draw the readers eye away from the main stories and featured articles on the page.

Magazine publishers handle a lot of the business side of the publishing process.

They make sure that the magazine is making enough profit, handle circulation of the magazine, sales, the production process and sometimes even become the editors of the magazine.

•Memorable magazine title

•Main photo in a MCU

•Visible colour scheme

•Thumbnails of other articles

•Price of magazine

•Teasing contents

I want my front cover to be in the same style as the Top of the Pops layout, as this magazine has the same target audience as ‘bubble’.

The main picture on my front cover will be like the one shown here, with a medium close up of the featured artist, and smaller images around the edges for the teaser articles.

I want the front cover of my magazine to follow a colour scheme, like this one does. The difference is that mine will follow a strict pink and purple theme with white parts (like in TOTP) for emphasis on the other articles.

I also like the creative cover image on this magazine, but will not be taking inspiration from this for my cover as it is too unconventional for a pop magazine aimed at girls in their early teens.

Popular celebrity featured to attract young audience

Smaller picture of front cover shown to help audience find the desired cover article

Clearly set out headings

Basic layout, bright colours and lots of pictures to make it look attractive

The double page spread I analysed for my magazine was in Top of the Pops. The article followed a question and answer format on the left page, and an image of the artist on the right. I have chosen to follow these conventions in my article.

I also picked up on the smaller images there were on the page, and the quotes that were picked out and highlighted in the article.

My magazine follows many of the conventions that other teenage music magazines such as Top of the Pops and Smash hits includes. The genre of music I have chosen accompanies the style, layout and images used in my magazine.

Like many other magazines aimed at girls between 9 and 15, ‘bubble’ also includes fashion and gossip columns to make it more marketable.

I researched other girl’s magazines such as Teen Now and Shout which have the same target audience as my product to ensure my

magazine would appeal to the same audience.

After researching publishers, I have come to the conclusion that my magazine would most likely be published by either Bauer Media or DC Thompson + co Ltd. This is because there are many other magazines targeted at young girls with a similar format to my magazine

published by both of these institutions.

• The audience for my product is young girls aged between 9 and 15 that are interested in pop music and celebrity gossip.

• It will be the same sort of audience that buys other teen magazines such as Teen Now, Mizz and Shout – but is primarily aimed at young girls interested in current chart music.

• I will follow the key concepts used to target young girls as an audience for my magazine. For example;

• Include an attractive cover model on the front of the magazine who looks wholesome and like a good role model.

• Bold lettering and cartoon-style fonts• Feminine colour scheme (pink and purple)• Simplistic language

• Firstly, I had to decide on the type of magazine I wanted to create. I chose pop music because I thought that the target audience for it would be easy to cater for, as I read Top of the Pops when I was younger and already knew what the articles inside the magazine were like.

• I decided that my magazine would be sold nationally, as it would showcase lots of up and coming British artists.

• I then began to look at how much I would sell my magazine for if it was real. After looking at some of the magazines in a newsagents, I found that the price for a magazine of this type averaged out at about £3 an issue.

• I then created a rough layout of my front cover, showing exactly where the main image, headlining story, masthead and other featured articles would be placed.

• I propose to create a magazine for girls aged between 9 and 15, to be sold in supermarkets and newsagents and sold by subscription.

• I will include a front cover, contents page and double page spread article.

• I have studied the work of Abraham Maslow. I found that the Hierarchy of Needs (especially the ‘love and belonging’ section) is important to the conventions of a magazine, as I explained in my evaluation.

• I also studied the theory of Stereotypes, which I feel relates to the magazine industry as we tend to stereotype people in society.

• These classifications can be positive or negative – they reflect ideas or characteristics that certain groups of individuals have, for example, someone who likes to read and learn might be referred to as a ‘geek’.

• Stereotypes appear in the media because writers and producers like to put people in certain social categories because it is easier for an audience to understand what kind of character they are. It Is faster and easier to make a character into a stereotype than to give a complex explanation of their personality.

Many magazines targeted at young girls include the following representations of;

1. Beauty and image2. Weight/ physique 3. Sexuality 4. and relationships.

I wanted to create a magazine that follows some of these conventions, but that doesn’t put young girls under any pressure to look a certain way, or encourage them to get a boyfriend for the sake of it, as is shown in an article in TOTP called ‘How to get a boyfriend – celebs show you how!’, as I believe this is a negative message to be sending out to girls of that age.

• I used this image because I wanted a model that fits in with the conventions of the pop genre. I chose this girl because she was straight teeth, blonde hair and is slim and attractive.

• I didn’t use this image because the model doesn’t look as approachable and smiley as I wanted her to look

• The picture I chose for my front cover reminded me of the TOTP cover (shown earlier) of Cheryl Cole, who looks directly into the camera at the reader and connects with the audience.

I wanted the front cover of my magazine to be like TOTP, as the background is quite plain and there will be lots of smaller articles on the sides of the cover.

The model looks directly at the camera to suggest that she is a confident celebrity, and wear minimal but bright make up to make her more audience-friendly and a good role model for younger girls.

The picture will be a mid-shot taken from the waist up, as I do not want body-image to be the main focus of the magazine, just the main story featured within it.

• I will use a variety of shots and models for the pictures in my contents pages to make the magazine more attractive and show more variety to attract the target audience. Here are some examples of the pictures I will use;

Before There was a green screen in the background

The model’s hair was tied up in a pony tail

Uneven skin tone

AfterSmoothed out the skin tone

Altered her hair style

Whitened teeth

Added more make up to her face

Sharpened eyes and eyelashes

Bubble writing to attract target audience

Barcode and pricing

Attractive model looking directly at the camera, addressing the reader

Articles featured are relevant to the target audience

Different use of fonts for variation

Variation of colours used on cover to attract the attention of the reader

Miniature version of front cover to make main articles easier to find in the magazine

Simplistic layout, articles fall under 4 headings, makes navigation easier

Other featured articles on the side of the page with pictures to make them more attractive

Sticks to pink, purple, yellow and white colour scheme

Model once again looking directly at the camera, engaging the reader in the story

Quote from the article creates interest for the reader

Original image used to interest reader in Cathy’s personal life

Article in a question and answer format to simplify it for younger audience

Gives the impression that the interview is exclusive to ‘Bubble’ readers.

Tagline shows reader what the article is about

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This graph represents the music genres that people listen to

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This graph represents how much people are willing to pay for a magazine

• After I printed my magazine, I asked 50 people to look at it.

• I asked them to tell me who they thought the magazine was aimed at, and 87% said that they thought it was for young girls ranging from 9 to their mid teens.

• I asked 100 girls between 9 and 15 whether they would buy the magazine and 90% said yes they would.

• 5 % said they might

• 3% said they probably wouldn’t

• And 2% said they definitely wouldn’t

• The audience for my media product would be young girls aged between 9 and 15.

• Many pop magazines sold in the UK target a white/British audience, however, I would like my magazine to target all ethnicities and races.

• I have learnt to develop my skills in Photoshop from creating this media product.

• Before the product I had little experience with Photoshop, and found it difficult to work with the different layers and didn’t how to do basic things like blur or sharpen images.