My Magazine

Magazine-



Analysis of my Magazine;
In my magazine there is direct mode of address, this is where the cover star is looking directly at the camera giving the effect that the cover star is looking at the audiences almost persuading them to buy it because of the eye contact. I have put the cover stars name in big letters across the picture to either get the viewer to know who she is or if the viewer already knows then having the name in big would attract the audience to see what the story is about her, underneath her name I have put 'blows us away' I have chose to wrote this because it causes slight suspense for the viewer as we do not know what she has actually done to blow us away; this would make the viewer want to read whats inside which gets the magazine to sell. I have put the masthead in the top left hand corner because when it is put on the shelves in stores most of the magazine will be covered apart from that half of it therefore the regular readers will notice it straight away by its masthead; the masthead is very simple as its one letter with a bright red colour in the background, the simplicity of the masthead makes it easier to remember and the bright red draw attention almost like a red warning sign would. I have put a pug at the bottom of the magazine slanting across the cover star because it is quite unusual which would draw attention, the bright yellow colour has been used also because it is not part of the colour scheme which adds to it being unusual. In addition to that having the word 'free' there would help to sell the magazine as the viewers would see it as there getting something 'free' out of it.

FRONT COVER IDEAS.

 

I quite like the positioning of the star on this front cover; I like the way she is blocking out some of the masthead and the way she is right in the middle of the page. I think having the star like this makes it seems as though she is dominant and worth more than the magazine, also having her stand out more draws more attention as the audeince would want to know whos covering most of the front page of a magazine.

 

 

 

 

The main coverline for this magazine is '3 Words... Cheryl Cole Rocks' the '3 words' links with the name of her album and the name of her song; the reason this has been done is to involve the audience, if they are big fans of Cheryl Cole they would know that is the name of her song/album which would make them feel like they know what the magazine is talking about. Even if the audience werent big fans of Cheryl Cole, it is still a big statement that would intrigue the audience, as soon as they read '3 words...' they would wonder what those 3 words are, and after reading the three words they would have it in there head that 'Cheryl Cole Rocks'.
I've uploaded this to my blog because this is something I could involve in mine, I could make a profile on a star and get something from the profile to involve in my front cover.

NAME IDEAS.

I have been thinking of names for Stars, and Star bands as there what will be on my DPS, front cover and contents page, these are the names I've thought of so far...
Girls;
Ava Quinn
Charlene Just
Carmella Trafton
Carmella Tague
Lorrie Archer
Eva Tague
Carmella Paris
Eva Costella
Boys;
Riley Payton
Tyler Cooke
I havent thought of many names for boy stars as I'm focusing more towards a girl star or a band, but I found some boy names just incase I change my mind during the course of this process
Bands
Butterfly Effect
Road Alex
Tainted Grey
Symphany Red
I have also thought about what I would like my girl/boy/band to be like, this is what I came up with....
Girl;
If I was to do a girl for my cover star, I would like her to be a very likeable charactor, she would be glamorous and beautiful however as it is an R'n'B magazine I am doing she would have a bit of edge to her; this could help with winning over her audience.
Boy;
If I was to do a boy, he'd have a very R'n'B image, he would be good looking and similar to the girl, a very likeable charactor.
Band;
My band may be similar to the band N-Dubz as N-Dubz are an R'n'B/Rap band, the difference is my band would have a more glam look to them rather than 'chavvy' as there would be less rap. There would be a main singer, a funny charactor and the extremely good looking charactor.

Analysis

 

 

Analysis of Front Cover
On the front cover of this magazine there is a masthead in the top left hand corner, it is a red square with the letter 'Q' in the middle; the masthead is put there so it is seen when on the shelves in stores and the colour is bright to emphasise the loudness of the magazine and perhaps to portray to the audience that whatever is in the magazine will intrigue you, just like the bright red colour would.
The main colours used in this issue are red, white and grey, having the dark grey background makes the red and white stand out even more. At the top of the front cover it says 'The UKs biggest music magazine'; this would have a big impact on the audience, if something is being stated at the 'biggest' or the 'best' it is human nature to be more persuaded to get it as they would feel involved in the best things that are out. The word 'best' is also used on the front cover, and ironically it is one of the words that stands out the most as it is in big font; this is done for the same reasons as the word 'biggest'.
The features are put either side of the star 'Cheryl Cole' so the audience can clearly see her face, also you can see the picture is very bare apart from her face, so having the pugs, puffs and features in those bare areas makes the magazine look full and lively. Using a big star like Cheryl Cole on the front cover helps with the sales of the magazine, as whether she is loved or hated she is major so people will want to find out what is happening in her life, adding to that, it could perhaps involve the reader; if you knew who Cheryl Cole was you could see it as this magazine was made for you personally to read as you know who she is, however if you didn't know her you may be less likely to want to read about her life.

How it connects
The biggest element that shows all three of these items are connected to eachother/in the same issue is the fact Cheryl Cole is in all three, looking exactly the same in all three items; this is done to show the audience it is all connected but also to perhaps still keep you interested. As soon as the audience open the front page, they see Cheryl Cole again which keeps them focused on the main topic in the magazine but also gets them to look at other features involved in the magazine, whether its the reader staring at all of Cole and their eyes being drifted off the other parts, or maybe the reader not wanting to see a second of Cole therefore looking at other features. Another element that connects them is the colour scheme, red, white and grey/black is used throughout (although grey/black not as much because it'd make the magazine look dull), the colours provide a link between the three items; this is done to keep the reader on track, as if the colours where completely different inside the reader would be thrown off and confused, which could eliminate all the information they read on the front cover.
The contents page has the masthead positioned in the same place as the front cover however slightly smaller; this is a huge link between the front page and the contents, again it is done to keep the reader on track but also to rein force the magazines masthead so the remember it and buy it again. The double page spread has a huge letter on the left page of the article, having the letter could connect with there only being one letter in the magazines masthead

Front Page, Contents and DPS link - Q Magazine

Even though the front page, contents page and double page spread aren't from the same issue, it is just my way of showing that the contents pages and DPS's still link to the front page of any Q magazine due to the colour scheme used (red, black and white) and the masthead being repeated in the contents page. The font all seems to be similar, there is no font that looks like an anomaly. If I had a contents page, DPS and front cover all from the same issue then there would be similarities such as the main cover star would be in the DPS, also the PUGS and PUFFS put on the front page would be involved in the contents page.



CONTENTS IDEAS

Similar to the DPS, I have been researching different contents pages to collect ideas for my own contents page. I have got 3 different looking contents pages to explain what sort of things I would involve in my own contents page and what sort of things I wouldnt ...

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6wixFF20OufAeEwTl4cnTZWKy86okVE8jdeEzXfuQAU7PWV_uMQfL6OUVLhTI_51GqLGjowVkV2Ylc0maFIu7GYZejLL19_uCGUse71mZdENZ2iZrS8PX7kPgu_KfJwmQEj6pNPxYScX/s1600/C2.jpg

 

I like the way the word 'contents' is shown on this contents page, this is a regular feature in Vibe magazines. This is something I would like to include in my own contens page, however a criticism I have is that it looks quite bare and the actual contents is looks small and squashed into a corner, in my own magazine I'd like there to be alot of contents on the page, maybe even writing over the star on my contents.

 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYV7iH3Id1-AvwwK_JNjtzl4wZR91OHrhQ_c4anbj3k8bx4OZHvhzC3ycPixuaH9T3ZZgo-60dYLt7JwIDZ71uM_IinahYZdOJf4rpPoGg-BgqEce2XPdS57oCsAnSlXZ89dFmseZQGeYk/s400/Sugar+Magazine+Contents+Page.jpg

 

The elements I quite like about this magazine is the page numbers being big and varied in size as it creates a more fun looking contents page, also the letter from the editor as it has a friendly concept about it, letting the audience know who the editor of this magazine is and shows their personality, these are elements I may include in my own piece. In contrast, I dislike the layout and the business of this contents as it looks to compact and less professional.

 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIr36JKTK1YORvfKA27me4FHFf2U1mQCs97zv80BCPIJ9ObW_8KNx-av2qwrAxzsitgX0d0mzMe9e00fGSgInPYRtX-dn67awZyatFcbznG-snc9trPRnvIkyinOo1mw9tsqFszHVS3Jpx/s1600/vogue+contents.jpg

 

I'd say this was close to my ideal contents page, as its not to busy but also not too spacious. I like the colour scheme used in the magazine, and how the woman is involved in the colour scheme by her dress. The only things I would do different is maybe add a editors letter and do the word 'contents' the way it is done in Vibe magazine.

DOUBLEPAGESPREAD IDEAS

I have been doing some research on ideas for the layout of my Double Page Spread and found some that I really liked but also some that I'm not particularly keen on...

I really like how the pictures are set out in this DPS because it makes the page look more exciting and noticable, I also like how the smaller pictures at the top are black and white whereas the bigger one is in colour. As I really like the way they have put the pictures on the page I may involve it in my own piece of work.

 

This DPS has a lot of elements that break the page up, for e.g. the pictures and the questions that are in bold; breaking up the page like this makes it look more compact and busy, portraying a fun and easy to read piece. The main part I like about this DPS is the questions in bold, purely because it doesn't make the writing look so longwinded and boring, it breaks the text up for the reader- this is something I may involve in my DPS.

This is a DPS I am not too keen on, the reason being that I dislike how there is not colour involved in the double page spread, also as an audience member I don't think it grabs me in as much as it should, although the picture is quite eye catching and may draw people in due to Katy Perrys eye contact, I think once your eyes are off Katy Perry and onto the writing the audience would turn the page due to the fact there is a lot of writing on there making it look boring and almost as if you have to put loads of effort in to read it.

I like the colour scheme in this and I also like the picture. There is a light grey and pink colour scheme throughout which is attention grabbing but also looks very professional which I like. I really like how the picture of the lady looks 3D almost, also unlike the rest of the DPS, the person is not making eye contact with the audience; this is unorthodox, perhaps to grab the readers in even more. This is something I may try to do in mine, however will have to try a range of photo types to see what would look more suitable and professional in mine

 The element I really like about this DPS is the red 'L' in the background, it makes the page stand out. The red 'L' also matches the look on her face, as she looks intimate and having the 'L' being massive and red connotes to intimatcy because red connotes to love and passion. This is something I may think about involving in my own work.