Research Task: Questionnaire and results

Question One: What would you like your student magazine to be called?

Question Two: What colour scheme would you most like to see on your student magazine?

Question Three: How much would you be willing to pay for your student magazine?

Question Four: What would you like to see in your student magazine? (You may select more than one)

Question Five: What images would you like to see in your student magazine? (You may select more than one)

Textual Analysis of a Student Magazine - '24/7'

• Bright, contrasting colours that stand out. Main colour scheme is pink, white and turquoise-blue. These are very fun colours, which links in with the stereotype of students having lots of fun.
• Main image is of a female student, posing. This would appeal to female students as many would love to be models.
• The masthead is bright white and against a turquoise-blue, it stands out. It is in a very ‘funky’ font that again links in with the stereotype of students being trendy. The ‘funky’ font also links in with the cover-line of ‘Street Style’, as the ‘street style’ is known for being very ‘funky’ and unique.
• The layout of ‘24/7’ is quite simple. The main image is displayed on the left hand side of the cover, while any text is displayed on the right hand side of the cover. There is a small banner running along the bottom of the page and a small puff in the top left of the page.

• The layout of the contents is again, like the cover, simple. There is a main image in the middle, top of the page, and all of the text is displayed around the the image, boxing it in. This draw our attention to the image.
• The main colour scheme is white and orange. The text is all white and so stands out on the orange background.
• The main image looks a bit like a student’s artwork, which appeal to art students within college. This also would make students feel more involved in the magazine as it is displaying real students work.
• The font is very easy to read. It is a mix of serif and sans-serif font, but both are very clear.

Textual Analysis of 'Closer' Magazine Cover

‘Closer’ analysis.

For the task of analysing a magazine cover, I have chosen ‘Closer’, as it is a magazine that appeals to my age group (young adults) as well as appealing to my gender (female).

The masthead is bold and stands out from the neon colours of the background and other headings, as it is white. The font is serif, which is a more formal text. This connotes a sense of being ‘up-market’. The fact that some of the masthead is covered by the main image and the headline, suggests confidence. The magazine are so well known, that they are confident that; even if they don’t show the whole title people will know who they are. The cover lines are all in san-serif, which makes them easy to read. This also makes the title stand out, as it is the only text in a serif font. The fact that most of the cover lines are on a slight angle has connotations of being a relaxed magazine, that doesn’t go by the rules. For example; they may swear inside the magazine or print something that may not be strictly fact.

The main colour scheme seems to be neon colours such as; electric pink, blue and yellow. This makes the colours of the text clash and stand out. These colours suggest ‘rave’ or party, which would fit the target audience of 15-25 years. As this age range is seen as the ‘partying’ stage. The bright border around images draw the audience’s attention to them and makes the images appear more 3D. Other colours used are red, white and black. This connotes a sense of ‘Closer’ not just being a ‘partying’ magazine; there are actually some serious stories.

The central image is a medium long shot of a woman in a bikini, smoking. The fact that she has her face partially covered by her sunglasses and she is looking down, suggests that she is doesn’t want to be seen or it is not a good time for her. Because the text is displayed over the image, suggests that she could be hiding something. This makes the reader want to find out more gossip about this woman. There are five other smaller images, which are situated in the four corners of the magazine, with two images in the bottom left corner. This means that wherever the reader looks, they will most likely see an image.

The layout of ‘Closer’ seems to be in a ‘C’ shape, with the main image in the centre of this ‘C’. There are five cover lines/stories surrounding the image, as well as the masthead and the price/barcode. This layout works well as it draws our attention to the main central image, as well as displaying all of the other stories clearly. The layout is also rather ‘busy’. This appeals to the target audience, as this links in with the lives of young adults being busy or ‘hectic’.

Introduction to Preliminary Task and Action Plan Preliminary Task

Deadline for preliminary task: Friday 6th January 2012
For the preliminary task I am going to create the front cover and the contents page of a student magazine. This must include a photograph of a student in a medium close-up and some appropriately laid out text and masthead. I will use DTP and an image manipulation program to complete this task.

Week One:

• Introduction of brief.
• Analysis of magazines and how they target audiences.
• Research generic conventions of magazines.

Week Two:

• Analysis of school/college magazines.
• Research of target audience
• Set up and introduce coursework task.
• Put action plan on blog.
• Complete a textual analysis of a magazine of your choice and post it on blog.
• Complete textual analysis of school/college magazines and post on blog.
• Devise a questionnaire to research student audience.

Week Three:

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

Week Four:

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

(19th December - 4th January: Christmas holidays - Work on evaluation questions)

Week Five:

• Complete evaluation.
• Post evaluation on blog

Introduction to Main Task...

Introduction to Brief

As part of my AS Media coursework, the brief requires me to create a front page, contents nd 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.