Contents Pages

When studing both the Mojo magazine and MixMag, I decided that the same layout is commonly used and that I should consider using the same layout in my own magazine;

Both included a main picture which was a square- not cut/edited, which took up about a third of the page. They were both of people dancing/partying, so were both action shots. This was to give the magazine a sense of fun and action.

In both magazines, there was text to one side and underneath the photo. In MixMag, the list of pages was to the edge of the page with some other information about the magazine underneath and in Mojo it was the other way round.

The most effective colours used was in MixMag where they used a dark background with yellow text on top for the page numbers, as it stands out the most, and the rest of the text was white.
I think I will use a similar idea with my contents page as this looked effective.

Both contents pages included the page number next to the name of the story included on that page plus a brief description of the article (a short sentace).

MixMag



Target audience: young people between 18 and 25 who like festivals/concerts, unisex
You can tell this as all included articles are to do with concerts/parties/festivals, music featured is all dance music which is what is normally played at this events
Photo: mid shot of young male artist (name included in coverstory headline) in relaxed stance to show casual cool style, t-shirt included to show fashion, bottom of body unimportant as he is recognisable by his upper body and face
No other images included on front cover, simple, not over confusing
Colour: bright, highlighted headline and some other words on page, looks busy, shadows and colours behind cover model; like disco lights at club

Analysing Preliminary School Magazine

Although I did try to consider as many technical properties of a real magazine as I could when I was making my magazine, I don't think it looks very proffessional and could be greatly improved.

  (Forms and conventions) The conventions I did try to include are proved by the fact that the name of my magazine is the largest text on the page at the top, that there is varied colours, typeface and fonts in the cover lines to show importance of specific words and articles and that I did use a large photo, which is overlapped by its accompanying caption.
  I beleive that, partly because I did not use the right kind of photo, my magazine cover does not look professional, and that if I had used one that could fill the page and include a subject (such as a specific person), this would have filled the white space which I struggled to fill when designing it with the photo I did use, but most magazines are filled with photo's and images.
  Although on most magazines, a convention is that there are many cover lines inlcuded on the front cover, I think I successfully stuck to the task of "School Magazine" as I think there would be less on a school magazine and probably less stories inside the magazaine too.
  (Social groups) The cover story of my magazine is about a girls' sports team which are taking part in an up-coming important game. I think this would be interesting as it is not expected of girls to participate in competitive physical activities like this as girls are sterotypically expected not to enjoy them. This opposes the image people have of this group and not only provides a story people might want to read, because it's something surprising, but also may change people represtentations of them.

NME

Masthead/name NME sounds like enemy- easy to remember because it's clever, having it as 3 separate letters makes its even clearer and simpler
Keywords "exclusive" make's this magazine sound superior to the others as it has information noone else does- they get and inside look/behind the scenes/closer to the celebrities and their lives/gossip
"new-look" makes people who are interested in fashion interested in what the "new" fashion/clothes are in- keep up to date with the fashion of famous people so they can be more like them/feel more stylish
"win" makes people think that if they read this magazine they have a chance of winning something/a prize
Photo behind head lines- bodie's covered up, faces imporant and cover magazine name as they want to show that the artists are the most important parts of the magazines, faces would be recognised as famous people that look "cool"- may be somebodys idol
The subject's band name is also the headline, so fan's of this band will want to read this magazine about their favourite band- find out about them. Make's this band look important/big so it gives the impression that the magazine is proffessional enough to get to do a story on someone so famous

"Q" Magazine

 Masthead/name Q is a quick and easy thing to say or remember so stays in their minds after seeing/reading it- becomes recognised
Q is an abnormal letter, uncommonly used in the alphabet, makes the magazine sound rare and different

Conventions photo of band member/somebody involved in this genre of music, reviews featured, interviews, many named music artists- concerts and albums. You can tell it's a music magazine on a shelf with other magazines and if you are looking for one then it will be noticable in the stand

Key words  "essential", "must-own", "he's gone sex mad". If seen in a headline, the first two would make you beleive that this magazine is worth buying and maybe better than the rest that you could choose from- persuasive. The word "sex" on the front of a magazine may attract someone's eye as it is naughty/cheeky/a secret- they want to know what the story is about
Band names are also included on the front cover as key words as it will then attract people who are fans of these artists to want to read the magazine and catch up with the gossip related to their favourite idols

Photo the main photo looks menacing/intimidating, as if the person is looking at you out of the page. You may notice this face of a shelf
The hair in the photo has been slightly cut out as it is unimportant to this photo and exaggerates the face being pulled
The torso of the model is included as it shows what he is wearing-fashion, which may also add to the genre of music and therefore show what target audience/style of people this magazine is aimed at

Colours unisex, common music magazine colours (when seen on front cover, automatically linked back to  music- recognisable as music magazine), colours may be considered "punk"- like the music and target audience

Teacher Comments

To show a better understanding of layout/page design I should have inlcuded a lot less white space, and by making the photos bigger (to take up whole page?- therefore, use a portrait picture) which will show that I can manipulate photographs appropriately to suit the presentation (magazine style). It was also mentioned that I should include more detail to my text and headings and that I should crop photos/frame a shot to include/exclude desired elements whilst considering mise-en-scene to show understanding of conventions of a magazine cover

Harry Potter

Title large- easy to read for younger audience, easier to for young children to pick out of shelf
Colours exciting, magic, looks fun
"Magical" shapes: stars, catoon character, steam train- appeals to children

Text/font/typeface AND colour- smart, sophisticated, simple
Layout autor in middle of page- older audiences may already have preferable authors that they are looking out for OR to make sure it is noticable incase they like the story and so will remember this author when next looking for a book
Photo real- makes the story more realistic (rather than a fairy tale/childrens make-beleive story)

Easy Living

Masthead makes it sound like reading this magazine is easy and will make your life "easy living", relaxing, simple
Photo text around central model- showing that because she looks good she overpowers everything else, people want to look this good
This photo is a body shot of the model which focuses mainly on the colours which are gold and beige which give a very elegant and sophisticated look. It also focuses on her face as she looks youthful and therefore people aspire to her
Conventions you can tell what the target audience is for this magazine as all of the articles included involve age, beauty and cosmetics and generally looking good, etc. This is because the age of the target audience is those ladies that are becoming increasingly conscious of looking older and trying to dress/do themselves up to hide this
Key words “look great”, “flattering”, “secrets”, etc. These words make the audience want to find out these “secrets” as they also want to “look great”

Company

Masthead “Company”- sounds friendly, what you’re used to, comfort, security, not alone

Photo text around central model- showing that because she looks good she overpowers everything else, people want to look this good

Body shot of the model to show that the clothes are the most important thing in this image- fashion magazine. Clothes not cropped out

Conventions you can tell what the target audience is for this magazine as all of the articles included involve fashion tips, celeb fashion, pop news, etc (normally expected from this kind of magazine, audience know what to expect)

Key words “bargains”, “you need”, “xfactor”, etc. If seen by target audience, should make them want to buy it to find out about these things

Hello

Masthead friendly/welcoming/greeting- comfortable, what people are used to, know that it is something they can trust/rely on

Photo Kate- cropped from bigger photo (with other people in background) to show she stands out from crowd/more important, action shot (and still looks perfect/as if posing

Main photo- happy, “feel good” article (want to read a happy story), some people may have a particular interest in the royal family and see this and want to find out why they look so happy

Colour red, white and blue colours- patriotic colours (relates to royal stories), unisex

Key words Words “exclusive” and “secrets” make people want to read on- know something no-one else does yet/gossip

Men's Health

 
Audience Men between 25-35 who are interested in health/fitness

Colours Masculine- red, white, black, blue: attract target audience.

Black and white photo- like photo shoot, professional 

Keywords about exercise/health: appeal to target audience’s interest

Photo Fit, middle aged man: someone to look up to/inspiration/jealous- want to also look like that, think that if they look like this they will be good enough for girls that look like this

Cover lines Text around photo- most important thing on cover

Varying in size- lively, biggest relates to photo

One cover line yellow and different font- different to others, special story

Contact

When using my original idea of a green background with blue text, as I wanted to incorporate both school colours, I realised that this was too difficult to read and so changed it the a lighter blue which makes the text a lot clearer.

Layout

I changed my mind about the layout of the front cover because I decided that there were too many photos and that a usual magazine focuses on one main photo. I also added a logo to fill an empty space and to add more colour to the bottom half of the page, and also a speech bubble to give a childish “cartoon” feel to the magazine which some children may be attracted to.

Masthead

After realising that my title with bricks was slightly dull and not suitable for my younger audience, I chose a more bouncy font with bright colours and used the wall pattern, which I think represents graffiti which some kids may think is cool. I also made sure I included the fact that this is Ruislip High School’s magazine at the top.