Conventions Of A Magazine

Term	Description
Masthead title piece	The magazine’s title. Usually displayed in the top left corner
Banner	Front page headline which goes across the full width of the page.
Splash	Main story of the front page accompanied with the headline and a photograph.
Barcode	Shows the price of the magazine underneath.
Cover Lines	summaries of the most enticing features and articles which are inside the magazine
Date Line	Shows the date the magazine has been available from/ issue number
Headline	The main heading and the biggest font and related to the main story in the magazine
Lure	A small section of the story is printed on the front page of the magazine and the full story is inside the magazine.
Kicker	This is a story designed to stand out from the rest of the page by the use of a different font and layout.
Masthead	The title of the magazine at the top of the page, it will be big and bold.
Spread	A spread is a story that covers more than one page of the magazine.
Sidebar	A sidebar is an additional box that is placed next to the main features of the magazine on the side of the page.
Buzz Words	Words that attract the reader’s attention, E.G “FREE” or “EXCLUSIVE”
Main image	Image in the centre of the page. This image takes up the majority of the page.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I used the computers at school to create a lot of my work and to do a lot of my research at school, however, when I did work at home, I used my laptop at home to complete work and I used a USB to transfer my work from one place to another, which enabled me to work on creating my magazine both at school and at home. The computer programmes that I used to create my magazine, included:

Microsoft word: Before I started to create my magazine front cover and contents page, there was lots of research that I had to do. I had to research different colours that I wanted to use on my magazine, different text styles (e.g.,- bold, big text that stands out for the title of my magazine). I also did research on different magazine conventions and all of the feedback I got from my drafts, I saved in a word document. Using a word document for all of my research made it easier for me to access it whenever I needed it, if I forgot what colour I wanted to use for the title, I could just look back at my research and see what it was. This way, I kept my magazine looking consistent.

Photoshop: Photoshop was the most important and an extremely useful computer programme that I used when undertaking this project.  I used Photoshop to create most of my magazine. To use the programme, I had to learn how to use the tools on the programme. I used a tool on Photoshop to change the lighting of an image; I did this by enhancing photographic exposure. To do this I had to add a curves adjustment layer and lighten the darker side of the image. I also used the crop tool, to crop images. The text tool was the most important tool when creating my magazine, especially the front cover because I had to ensure that the text that need to stand out stood out and the text that didn’t need to stand out as much, didn’t stand out. For example, I needed to make sure that the heading on the front cover stood out more than what the sub-heading did. The crop tool was also an important tool when using Photoshop, as I could crop around the shape of the person and not have the background.

Blogger: During the process of creating my media product, I regularly blogged about what stages of the media product I was at. This blog allowed me to publish all my drafts and research of the product online.

Powerpoint/Slide share: I used PowerPoint to create presentations throughout the project. SlideShare allowed me to upload any presentations that I had made whilst creating my media product, when these presentations were uploaded, it provided me with a link and I was then embedding the links on my blog, which allowed the presentations to be viewed from my blog.

Scanner: I also used a scanner whilst creating my magazine front cover and contents page as it allowed me to scan in any first drafts that I had made and upload them onto my blog.

 

 

 

 

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

Before, I started to create my magazine; I did some research on other school magazines, to see what techniques they used to attract their target audience. There were many different techniques and magazine conventions that I had to use in my magazine to attract my target audience. I also used topics that people can relate to throughout my magazine. For example "Top 10 exam tips" this isn't just open to one target audience, it is open to a range of people. I also interviewed other students from the school for my school magazine, this will attract my audience because they will be able to relate to that students point of view. The photographs that I took were taken on the school grounds which the target audience would also recognise and be able to connect with it.

As well as using these techniques throughout the design process of my magazine, I also addressed my target audience by constantly asking what their opinions were regarding my magazine throughout its production; this meant that I could get feedback on ways to improve my magazine to make them want to read it anymore. I also linked it into the colours of the school so that they knew that the magazine was designed for them to read as this would make it more appealing than using colours that didn’t relate to anything.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my media product is aged 14-18 females, in full time education, either studying GCSE’s, A-levels or looking to go to university, which is quite a big range for this school magazine, but I believe that this is a suitable age range for the type of magazine that I am promoting, this is backed up with the price of the magazine. Due to the age range of the magazine, you need to ensure that the price is affordable for that age range. When talking about my target audience, there is a number of things that need to be considered, especially because it is a school magazine. When designing the magazine, I had to take into consideration the age and gender of my target audience. I needed to ensure that because it is based on school life, it wasn’t everything that they see in an average school day, I needed to make it interesting for them to read. The school is an all-girls school and therefore I feel that it would be more appealing for the audience if it was only targeted at females.

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think a school magazine media institution would be the best institution to distribute my media product. I think this because most school magazines distributors will be aimed at all ages, whereas mine is for older students and this would appeal more as it has more of a specific age range rather than for the whole school. Also, a school magazine institution would have more experience in distributing other school magazines, rather than any other magazine distribution; it has more experience in this area.

A media institution such ad Bauer media might distribute my media product. “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.” Bauer media is a well-known media institution and it is also a sister company of H Bauer Publishing, publisher of the UK's biggest TV listings, Take a Break and Bella.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The elements of the photos represent a normal young female student’s social group.  The facial expression of the model on the cover of the magazine, represents an average female student, she is smiling whilst looking into the camera. I addition to this, the image in the left bottom corner of the magazine, represents what an average student would be like doing her work, which is focusing and she has a serious face looking away from the camera. The model on the front cover and the contents page of the magazine is wearing school uniform, which also represents this young female student social group. The location of the front cover of the magazine is also an important factor in representing the social group, the background of the image in the main image on the front cover is the school building and the image of the student sitting down doing work in the bottom left hand corner was taken in the school library. However, the lighting used in the photos is different, the lighting used in the main image is a lot brighter than the smaller images used throughout the cover and the contents page of the magazine as it needs to stand out a lot more. The props used in the images, were folders, text books and pens, which all represent an average student, as these are what they would use in a normal school day. The colour used on the front cover of the magazine and the contents page; represent the colours of the school, which is blue, therefore to keep it consistent, I decided to use the school colours. There is nothing extreme about the models appearance; she just looks like a normal student.

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Whilst creating my magazine, I understood that there were certain conventions and aspects of a magazine that I had to include in my magazine. To ensure that the aspects in my magazine reached my target audience, I did some research on other magazine covers and contents pages from magazines that my target audience would be interested in reading, such as 'teen vogue'. This research allowed me to get ideas about what I had to include in my magazine for it to reach my target audience.

 

The magazine conventions that I included in my magazine, include:

Title: For the masthead on my magazine, I used ‘Berlin Sans FB’. I used a mixture of blue, black and white colour fonts; I used these colours because they linked into the school colours the magazine was being made for. This meant that I could put the most important features on my magazine cover in the darker coloured fonts. Using Photoshop, I then manipulated the magazine title by stretching it across the page, to make it stand out compared to the rest of the page and because it was a title, it needed to go over the whole of the top of the page and stand out. The colours are formal and reflected the colours of the school.

Costumes and props:  All the costumes and magazines used throughout the magazine are conventional. The costumes and props are an important feature of the magazine, because it helps the audience to look into the image in more detail and also gives them more of an idea of what the magazine will be about. The costumes used in the images that I took for the front cover of my magazine was students in their school uniform. When taking the images, I had to ensure that the setting I used for the image was appropriate and it made the costumes and props stand out, more than it made the background of the image itself stand out.

People: The girl used on the front cover of the magazine, relates to the theme of the magazine, which is a magazine about a new sixth form. Therefore, I had to ensure that when taking my images, I used a sixth form pupil otherwise any other student wouldn’t relate to the magazine front cover and it would make the magazine front cover harder for the reader to understand. (photo of sixth form student-Beth Hayes)

 

Written Content: The written content of my magazine follows the codes and conventions of a real school magazine by covering similar topics in the questions (top 10 exam tips, uniform etc.) All of the topics in the magazine relate to the target audience of the magazine, which are teenagers, therefore, if what they are reading is aimed at them; it will be more appealing for them. In addition to this, the interview follows conventions by introducing one of the sixth form students at the start of the interview.

Barcode: I made a barcode which is placed in the bottom right hand corner of the magazine.

Layout: The layout of my magazine is conventional.

Colour scheme: I used the school colours on the front cover and the contents page of my magazine as this meant that they related to the images and didn’t stand out too much compared to the main image in the centre of the page. The main colours that I used on my magazine were black, dark blue and white.

Contents page: My contents page follows the conventions of any other magazine contents page. It includes a copy of the cover of the magazine, this means that if the reader was interested in something on the cover of the page, they will be able to find it inside the magazine. The layout of the photos and text on my contents page would appeal to my target audience.

Price: The magazine is free, which makes it more appealing and will make more people want to read it.

Front Cover

 



Contents Page