Looking back at your preliminary task, what have you learnt from the progression from it to the full product?

I think I have improved a lot since doing my preliminary task and have learnt a lot as I think that my finished product looks like a real magazine cover looks like.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what have you learnt from the progression from it to the full product?

Overall I have learnt just how much the masthead means to the magazine as it will be the first thing that a reader would notice and it needs to be something individual and relevant to the theme of the magazine. It also needs to be something that will be remembered as it will be aiming to be a top selling magazine.

The sell lines need to be interesting, although they cant give away too much on what the story is about but still needs to give away enough to make the reader want to know more. I think in the full product I have made the sell lines rhyme which I also think would draw the reader in as it sounds fun.

My main image needs to draw the readers attention and has to also be as interesting as the sell lines because whether the reader doesn’t want to read on because they don’t like the sell line, then the picture might still make them read on. I think I was successful at making the main image interesting as I took my time on designing what the model would look like and how she was going to pose.  

I have learnt that the subsidiary images are used to also draw readers to buy the magazine and to make the front cover more interesting.

I know the colour scheme for the front cover needs to be relevant to the theme the magazine is going to be about. E.g. a heavy metal shouldn’t have a pink and purple colour scheme as it isn’t the stereotypical colours for this genre. Dark colours like deep red and black would be appropriate whereas mine is a pop magazine and it uses lighter colours to make the magazine appealing.

Adverts for prizes and competitions are also important as people like free things and also like to win. People also like to feel they can also get involved with the magazine and like to participate with what the magazine has to offer, like competitions. 

My article almost finished, I just need to re-arrange my pictures.

This is my final front cover

2 More Photo's For My Contents Page

This is for my nicki minaj story

This is for my Rihanna story

Textual analysis of contents pages

The purpose of a contents page is to tell people of other stories that the magazine contains and what page number to find them on. It also gives the reader a sense of control as is allows people to choose what they want to read.

For this activity I analysed  3 different contents pages which were also in the pop music genre. They were Sugar, Billboard and Vibe which are shown below.

Sugar Contents Page

Sugar

This was my favourite contents page that I found.

-It had a pink and black theme.

-One large picture of the same person which was on the front cover which took up a third of the page. I thought this was a good idea as it didnt actually take up much space but it showed that the picture was the main story in the magazine.

-It had 4 sections; On the cover, which had  7 stories, Up front, which also had 7 stories, Top reads, which had 6 stories and The team, which had 7 stories. All stories had a breif sentence or to about the stories.

-There was a total of only 4 pictures on the page including a picture of the front cover which I dont think was enough.

-There were 20 stories altogether.

- It had a white background.

-The masthead was shown about the "Contents" title.

-There were numbers on the pictures to show which story they belonged to except for the front cover picutre.

-The date "June 2009" was printed on the top right hand side of the page.

Vibe Contents Page

Vibe

 This contents page was far too plain but I thought I'd analyse it to show the dramatic differences in contents page idea's.

-There was just plain black writing with a plain white background used from the picture.

-The "Contents" title was printed in an odd way with the CO on the top, NTEN in the middle and TS on the bottom which I LOVED  the idea of but I think its too risky to use as its a bit too different to try and pull off in my own contents page.

-There were only 3 sections; Departments, which had 7 stories, Seen, which had only 2 stories and V style, which only included 1 story.

-There was then 2 small seperate paragraphs, one saying who took the pictures and the other saying who was in the pictures.

Billboard Contents Page

Billboard

I loved the idea of having this as my design template for my own contents page but it is a bit too complicated to create by myself.

-It contained 4 pictures altogether, 3 were in a row and the biggest was in the centre of the page showing it was the cover story.

-Taking up a 3rd of the page down the right hand side was a "Number 1 Charts" column containing the charts for songs and albums which I thought was an amazing idea.

-There were 5 sections; Up front, which contained 5 stories, Features, which contained 5 stories, Music, which contained 5 stories, In Every Issue, which contained 6 stories and Home Front, which contained 2 sections - Online and Events.

-The colour theme for this contents page was black, white and blue.

I then wrote similarities and differences between all 3 of the contents pages.

Similarities

(these similarities are mainly between Sugar and Billboard as Vibe is pretty boring and doesn't really have anything the same with the other two)

Mise en Scene - They have breif explainations of each story, the title "Contents", one main picture and sections.

Layout and style of language - They are all formal with a colour scheme and columns are used.

Music Genre Conventions - Bright colour themes are used with pictures with well known artists.

Special Features And Articles - Interviews with celebrities (In this case singers or band members)

Regular Sections -  Opinion (Billboard) and Write Here Write Now (Sugar)

Interesting Additions? - An Upfront Section

Differences

Mise en Scene - Vibe - Different position style for "contents" Billboard - 3 pictures in a row not placed with its story Sugar - Colour themed writing.

Layout and style of language - Vibe - One large background picture with one column Billboard - lots of columns Sugar -columns taking up most of the page

Music Genre Conventions - Vibe - Has a boring colour theme with only 1 picture Billboard - Has a "Number 1 Charts" column

Special Features And Articles - Vibe - Has a page for "Editors Letter" instead of actually being on the contents page itself.

Regular Sections - Billboard - Opinion, Marketplace, Over the counter, Market Watch, Charts, Executive turntable, backbeat, inside track Sugar -Write here write now

Interesting Additions? - Vibe - Different sections; Departments, Seen, V Style Billboard - Music and Homefront Section, "Number 1 Charts" column Sugar - The Team section, There is also a picture of the cover used.

 

Techniques used to make me read the whole magazine

• Use good pictures
• Have good brief information about the story
• Have a good colour scheme because if it is boring like the Vibe magazine, it will make me think the rest of the magazine is also boring.
• Have good sell lines
• Use one or two quotes from stories so I will want to know more about what has been said.
• Use good stories that will actually relate to the target audience e.g. don't have stories for young teenages if the magazine has a target audience of 45-60 year olds.

My Own Contents Page Should Include

-In this issue... (Brief paragraph explaining what there is to be read)

- Features Section

- Regulards Section

- Reviews Section

- The Editors Section

- Atleast 6 pictures

-Numbers on the pictures to show which story it goes to

- Brief explaination of each or most stories

- Main Picture

-Contents title

-Colour theme

-Write in and quiz section

- Feedback section

Contents Page Pictures

My finished pictures for my contents page which have had the background removed.