Research into Target Audiences Questionnaire

Preliminary Task

This is my finished preliminary task. I decided to do a magazine representing a particular college rather than a magazine aimed at general students, as i felt that it would be easier to write cover lines and be creative. I used an image to fill the whole cover, which I realised proved to be a slight problem as I had to spend time experimenting with colour schemes in order for the writing to be visible-especially over the trees. I made several alterations to my front cover as my task progressed. One main alteration I made was the font and style of the cover lines. When I began the task I used a heavy stroke on the lettering, which I later changed after extensive research into the conventions of magazines. I realised that using the stroke effect was a technique very rarely used on magazine covers, so I instead used a thin black outline on the lettering to make the words stand out. Another important alteration that I made was the masthead. I decided that it would look more appealing to just use the two first letters of the name of the college large and bold, and position the name and strap line around it. This created space in the top right corner of my front cover for a circular banner promoting a competition. I felt that putting the writing in a pink circle would make the advert stand out well. 

Colour Scheme Ideas

Colour scheme ideas

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Preliminary Task Plan

Magazine Terminology

1) Barcode: strip of bars printed on covers, used to track sales by retailers
2) Masthead: the title of the magazine or newspaper. It is usually placed at the top of the front cover for display purposes
3) Plug: information about the contents of a magazine or newspaper given on the front cover
4) Puff: words or phrases on the cover of a magazine used to boost status
5) Buzz Word: a word that is there to attract the readers
6) Byline: the name of the journalist who has written the article or feature 
7) Caption: written text under an image or drawing 

8) Cover Lines: summaries of the most exciting features an articles in the magazine

9) Mode of Address: the way the magazine speaks to its audience

10) Pull Quotes: phrases or sentences taken from an article and made large/bold in order to make you want to read the article

3 Types of Magazines

1) Lifestyle Magazine 
Example: OK! Magazine
Click for OK!'s Website

OK! Magazine December 2008

OK! is a magazine is a lifestyle magazine filled with celebrity gossip, interviews, fashion and health and beauty tips. OK! Has a relatively small masthead in relation to everything else on it's front page, as it has a large image and pull quote promoting the magazine's main feature. OK! is entirely celebrity led throughout all features, and includes worldwide exclusives and original photo shoots.  OK! readers are predominantly women aged 15-44-with an average age of 36 years old. The language is very easy to read and written in a conversational style.

OK! magazine

Readership           2,489,000

Circulation              599,847

Readers per copy          4.6

Launched                   1993

Cover Price               £2.95

Editor                Lisa Byrne

3 Types of Magazines

2) Music Magazine
Example: Mixmag
Click for Mixmag's website

Mixmag April 2009

Mixmag is a music magazine that focuses mainly on dance music and culture. It is a monthly magazine that has features and interviews with dance DJs and artists, as well as reviewing the best new music in every style of dance music,reporting on nightclubs across the U.K and the dance fashion trends. The front cover is typical for this type of magazine as it has a bold, simple masthead, a large, striking image to represent the magazine's main feature story and very colourful plugs and cover lines. Mixmag has a lot of advertisements for dance music festivals, club nights, clothing brands and new singles/albums, including the exclusive free mix-tape CD that the magazine is sold with. 

3) Art/Fashion Magazine
Example : Nylon
Click for Nylon's Website

Nylon Mag September 2010

Nylon is a magazine that combines fashion, art and music in a unique way that appeals to girls aged around 15-21. It has some of the conventions of a typical fashion magazine as it has glossy pages, a lot of fashion related advertisements e.g. perfume, and reports on all the latest trends. Nylon gives readers make up tips, music recommendations and compares various high fashion brands. The language used is not very complex, and is written in a colloquial style as Nylon has a very informal mode of address. There is always at least 3 or 4 multiple page interviews with relevant celebrities including the main interview with the cover girl. The front page has a large colourful masthead and banner with a big glamorous picture of the cover girl, surrounded by lots of cover lines about the main features of the magazine.