IPC Media Research

Breif For College Magazine (Proposal)

For my student college magazine I believe I will aim the magazine at college students for Southdowns college; all years. I have chosen to aim the magazine at all years as I want to produce a magazine that includes an appeal for every student in the college. I have chosen to base my magazine on updates of activities, facilities and general up to date news within the college; I am aiming to produce a magazine which will appeal to students in the way in which every individual will always be informed on current occurrences in their college. 

 

When thinking of an appropriate magazine title, I wanted a name that would almost define what the magazine embedded. After debating on the title 'Current Col' which I thought would embrace the whole up to date feel of the magazine and the abbreviated 'Col' would reflect a student generation, I finally decided on 'Southdowns Supplement' which I believe defines exactly what my magazine holds. By including the name of the college that the magazine is based on expresses the target audience as well as what college the magazine is based on. By including the word 'Supplement' defines exactly what the magazine is; extra info, updates to inform college students. I want to include cover lines in my magazine which will persuade the potential reader to want to read my magazine. I was thinking of including cover lines which stated features within my magazine such as current competitions- giving students to win certain things. Another idea for a cover line was: 'Check out the new and improved car park!'

I'd like the colour scheme of my magazine to be very contrasting and bold which will hugely attract the target audience visually. I was thinking of using, red, green and purple fonts upon a white background; this would allow the colours to contrast and stand out from the white background. These colours are not colours which stereotypically appeal to either a male or a female therefore I believe they are suitable colours which appeal to both genders. I would like some of the text, preferably the most important text, to be in bold and capital letters to exaggerate what is being stated to persuade the target audience.

I am not certain that I want to use a tag line for my magazine just for the main fact that I am lacking ideas for one and also I don’t think it will make too much o f a difference to my magazine if I use one or not. If I was going to use one, it would appear under my title and will be something that sums up the magazine in a catchy and short phrase. However I feel that the title provides this therefore I do not think a tag-line would be completely necessary.

I would want my magazine to be published at the start of each academic year (September) because the magazine will be a fresh and updated welcome for students for the start of the year. It will include news of features that are new to the year such as the introducing new facilities or activities or just general news to the students. After the release of my magazine at the beginning of the new academic year, I would like my magazine to be published monthly; I believe this will be great for students as they will receive a regular update of the happenings in and round college. By doing this the magazine will include seasonal focuses for each current occasion e.g. Halloween, Christmas.

For the front cover of my magazine I would want to take my own image and I am going to make sure that it will be the unique selling point of my magazine. I will do this by taking an image that will be the main focus of my magazine; relating to the biggest story/article inside.

I want my magazine to be an A4 size as I believe the bigger the better. By creating my magazine in A4 size will allow me to include a lot of things in my magazine than I would having it been of a smaller dimension. I aiming to jam pack my magazine on all pages to make sure that I am including every possible feature which will appeal and relate to the target audience of my magazine, college students of all years.

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representation they offer?

Within the magazine industry there are several social ramifications that can be brought up when focusing on how young teenage girls are affected by what they read. Magazines with the target audience of teenage girls face being questioned on how much influence they have had upon girls during the exploitation of inappropriate features which cause masses of controversy in and around the industry.

We can argue that the idea of plastic surgery affects the minds of young girls when reading magazines. Usually thin, 'good looking' girls are exposed throughout teenage magazines having a huge effect on the reader; the images of these girls are normally unrealistic and/or photo shopped. The images usually come alongside a header stating ‘How to look like this in under a week’; the suggestions that come with the image are normally impossible and this results in the reader thinking of plastic surgery as there ultimate option. The magazine producers/publishers/editors have chosen persuasive techniques such as ‘body recipes’ to target young girls; being a teenager comes with many highs, but everyone knows that this stage in your life is a stage where you feel most insecure about the way you look and feel. Having chosen to expose celebrities looking ‘amazing’ and influencing their target audience to want to look like this also, highlights the plastic surgery idea; most of the celebrities which appear in magazines have had surgery done and I believe some teenage girls are at the age where they know the difference between what has been edited and what is surgery. In addition to this, in some magazines they directly state to the reader the option of getting plastic surgery: Meet the girls getting pre-prom surgery. This has been stated to influence the reader to getting surgery also.

Magazines contain a number of issues in which emotionally and physically affect the reader. There is a constant theme within teenage magazines of what is the perfect look and size; if the reader see’s that she isn’t this look or size, she may take up either one of the following- anorexia or bulimia. These two eating disorders are very dominating over young teenage girls, and with the constant reminder of how and what to look like within the magazines, girls tend to take one of the two into consideration which can have a serious long term effect on the individual. Magazines are highly responsible for this social ramification and I believe they should reduce or even break the pressure they put on the girls over image.

Relationships in reality are very much different in how they are represented within teenage magazines. Celebrity boys are publicised in and around their appearance- for example, JLS always appear in magazines with their torsos exposed. There is a continuous emphasis on physical attraction when it comes to celebrities and the lack of display on personality and people as people demonstrates how relationships and how we see others is becoming more shallow and superficial.

We can also argue that the continuous theme of body image in and around celebrities may put pressure on not only just the reader, but the parent. Teenage girls, who are fixated in the image of certain celebrities, may tell their parents they want to look this way and demand them to buy them certain things to succeed. This social ramification, in the long term may affect strategies of parenting and cause controversy in this area.

It’s not only what the magazines include which can be said to be a social ramification which affects young girls but it’s also what the magazine leaves out that that can be the cause of the damage; for example magazines never make reference to careers or education. Teenage magazines are very popular sources of escapism for young teenage girls but with no mention of realism and plans for the future, girls are affected in the way in which only materialistic things are of importance. Also gay exclusion is a social ramification too; there is never any mention of gay couples or girls/boys which are gay. In the long term this can affect teenage girls in different ways; some may feel excluded and inferior who think they are gay when reading magazines with no talk of this or some will never want to and never will want to accept anything of this kind because of the way they have been influenced from the magazine. Magazines always talk about girls and boys becoming a couple or ‘in love’ or kissing/hugging, but they never expose any kind of gay interaction.

 

In conclusion I believe teenage magazines should be held responsible for the fixation teenage girls have on celebrities and their image; magazines being  one of the most popular sources of escapism, loaded with shallow and superficial topics and features leaves girls abandoning any sort of realism and knowledgeable focus. The main theme to any teenage magazine evidently is image and celebrities and this can cause serious issues and may have a long term effect on an individual. I believe magazines should abandon the amount of pressure they put on the girls and take more of a varied approach in their magazines, including topics for everyone without risking the chance of social ramifications.  

500 word analysis of magazine cover

I believe this magazine targets a very specific audience and we can learn this through aspects of the convention within the cover design. Evidently, this is a Woman’s magazine and we can learn this through the fashion features which the magazine states that the reader will find within: ‘390+ pages of seductive new looks’. Fashion aspects stereotypically appeal to women and they are recognisable features which appear on the front cover of most women magazines. The unique selling point of the magazine seems to be Beyoncé Knowles and on the whole she appeals to a woman audience through her music. The famous world-wide star, Beyoncé, fits in perfectly alongside the image and style that ‘Bazaar’ follows.

The magazine cover seems to hold a fashion theme whilst embracing the whole ‘sexy’ look also, therefore Beyoncé has incorporated a seductive pose to compliment the theme of the magazine. This alone will appeal to the target audience, as they are influenced by the star herself, and are engaged into the header which comes alongside her ‘Up close with Beyoncé’. She is holding direct mode of address which is a persuasive technique to engage the target audience; it’s almost as if she is grabbing you in. The connotations which come with Beyoncé, such as her singing and acting career will also be a persuasive technique and will appeal to the target audience in different ways. This brings us on to how she is the main focus of the magazine. The photograph of her is the only image on the cover, and is also the largest feature on the page; this suggests she is a main focus of the entire magazine.          

The text is in colours of white, black and red, which coordinate throughout the page as well as contrasting with the background that lies behind. Some of the text appears in capitals to allow the text to gain importance and become clearer to the reader; and the same idea is learnt through bold and italic text. The text being stylised like this is a visually persuasive technique; the target audience will appeal to the magazine due to the appearance of the magazine cover.  Exclamation marks have been used to add emphasis to what is being stated ‘HOT BODY ALERT!’ The black text coordinates with the black eyeliner around Beyoncé’s eyes and I believe the red text compliments the piece of material covering Beyoncé’s chest. The use of colour (black and red) plays on the idea of sophistication and sexual references; two ideas I believe stereotypically charm a certain woman. Phrases such as ‘Strictly sexy’ and ‘autumn’s sexiest fashion’ reinforce this idea; the woman will feel persuaded into the magazine wanting to know how they can become sexy too. The title ‘Bazaar’ appears to be the largest text on the cover adding prominence to the name and the magazine itself.

The sophistication and the sexual tone of the magazine will only appeal to a certain woman therefore we cannot say every woman will enjoy their read of this magazine or get hooked through the cover. The certain women who will engross in this type of magazine will feel hooked through the whole advice theme the cover suggests the magazine holds within. The advice theme is based on fashion, and women who are crying out for various suggestions on how to feel and look sexy will be mostly pleased with what this magazine has to offer.  ‘The new power piece’- the word ‘power’ is a dominant word choice and brings a sense of authority and ability to the woman if they were to wear this particular skirt; this alone is a persuasive technique and also highlights that this magazine appeals to women by using clothes associated with the woman.

An analysis of 5 magazine covers and their conventions

Bliss Magazine

Font, style, text and colour.

-Pink and blue: Contrasting colours

                         Coordinating

-Pink is used to suggest the femininity of the magazine.

-The title ‘Bliss’ is the largest text on the font which brings emphasis to the name and the magazine itself.

-Taylor Swift: Second to largest text on cover to highlight the unique selling point of the magazine (A pop-star which girls tend to like more than boys)

-Bold and slanted text to suggest a persuasive factor of the visual appearance of the cover and to also add emphasis on what’s being stated.

-Alliteration: ‘Holiday Horrors’- persuasive techniques.

-Rhyming: ‘Passion for fashion’- persuasive technique.

Image

-Lack of small images on the cover

-Taylor Swift covers the whole cover which again suggests she is the main feature of the page.

-Taylor Swift holds direct mode of address which we can argue is a persuasive technique alone; draws in the potential buyer.

-The way she is dressed, her pose, and her clothing may influence the reader into Bliss.

-The image of a boy to represent the images of other ’hot boy’s to follow on inside the magazine suggests the target audience for the magazine also.

-The fact that both images are very contrasting suggests a clear genre of the magazine and what sorts of features the magazine holds inside.

Extra

-Rhetorical questions: ‘Who’s that girl?’ persuasive techniques and also the word girl emphasises the genre of the cover.

-Exclamation marks to add the ‘OTT’ affect on the magazine (very appealing towards teenagers)

-The header ‘passion for fashion’ puts forward another feature which you’d stereotype teenage girls relating too.

-Colloquial language: ‘Yep, her house’- chattiness which involves the reader.

‘Cosmo Girl’ Magazine

Font, style, text and colour

-Orange, white and yellow: Not the stereotypical colours for teenage girls but are used to contrast and stand out with pink background,

-Colours are very coordinating.

-Some of the text is printed in capital letters to allow it to stand out and become clear to the reader.

-’COSMO’ is stated in capital letters to provide a clearer appearance of the title of the magazine than the rest of the text, and ‘girl’ is in a different colour, in low caps, and in a lighter colour: This suggests ‘COSMO’ is an existing magazine for older women, and that this magazine is just a feature for teenage girls.

-The style of font is kept the same throughout the page to illustrate a neat and coordinating effect to maybe to reflect the stereotypical suggestion of the girls good organisation and neatness.

Image

-Only one image of Blake Lively on this cover, drawing most of the magazines attention on all the font.

-However, readers can go either way, they may get influenced by the text or the image of a recognisable actress, which covers the whole cover.

-Blake Lively holds direct mode of address

-Profile image of her- drawing the readers attention on her positive expression.

Extra

-Pronouns used to influence the reader: ‘Your’. Very much involves the reader.

-’Crazy ex-boyfriends’- influences girls.

-’5 moves to a hotter body’- influences girl in the respect that they are more in to these factors when reading a magazine.

 

‘Seventeen’ Magazine

Font, style, text and colour

-Pink, orange and yellow: Contrasts with and stands out from white background.

-Coordinating

-Lack of lengthy text; short bold phrases.

-Capital letters used to add emphasis to what ever is being stated.

-Exclamation marks used for the ‘OTT’ affect.

-’Seventeen’ is the largest text on cover to highlight the important of name and magazine itself.

-The name of magazine suggests the age in which the magazine is aimed at.

-The spacing of the text; text appears in and around the hair of Shailene Woodley for a visual affect.

 Image

-One image of the page which suggests the unique selling point of the cover: Shailene Woodley.

-Direct mode of address.

-Positive expression; smiling to create a happy tone of the magazine.

-Appeals to teenage girls; same age group as themselves therefore may be able to identify and relate to the star.

-Lack of text and a huge focus on the image may suggest to the target audience that the whole magazine throughout is more image based.

Extra

-Headlines stating what the magazine includes are of subjects which would stereotypically appeal to teenage girls: ‘943 ways to look pretty, for free!’

-Words such as ‘cute’ stated to appeal to teen girls.

-Pronouns to allow the reader to feel involved: ‘She’s not the girl you think she is’

-’ The Foolproof way to get any guy you want!’- appeals to girls.

-’You could be tricked into getting pregnant’- This tops of the whole girl appeal of the magazine.

‘Teen vogue’ Magazine

Font, style, text and colour

-Black, yellow, pink and white: Colours which you wouldn’t really put together but they work to visually appeal to the reader.

-They contrast with light blue background.

-The pink is a feminine colour.

-The title has slanted the ‘teen’ to imply that ‘Teen vogue’ is just a feature to ‘Vogue’ and may appeal to teenagers who already like ‘Vogue’

-Short phrases allows there to be more focus on the unique selling point of the magazine- Vanessa Hudgens.

-Some text is bold to highlight the importance of it: ‘Win a photo shoot with teen vogue’

-Text which is smaller than other text is stated in capital letters to equalise important of text.

-The style of font is kept the same throughout.

-’High school sweetheart’- This appeals to teenage girls as they can identify with her.

Image

-One image: Vanessa Hudgens.

-Her pink top coordinates with the pink font.

-Her black hair coordinates with the black font.

-Direct mode of address; grabs the reader in.

-Smiling expression suggests a positive tone to the magazine.

-She is one of the main characters in well known TV show ‘High School Musical’ allowing potential readers to identify and relate to her, due to her age and her role in high school musical.

Extra

-Alliteration: ‘Fall Fashion’- and this also empathises the word ‘fashion’ (appeals to teenage girls)

-Rhetorical questions: ‘Stressed out?’- directly involves the reader. And the question itself may appeal to teenage girls going through exams, hormones ect.

-The list of clothes appeals to teenage girls as they are all girl-related items.

‘Total Girl’ Magazine

Font, text, style and colour

-Pink, red, blue, white and black.

-Pink is the background  on page which puts forward more femininity to the cover.

-All the text is in capital letters apart from the tagline, which allows the text to be clear, and adds importance to it.

-The red, blue, white and black contrasts nicely with the pink background.

-Exclamation marks used to add more emphasis on the stated phrase: ‘Miley’s concert goss!’

-The word ‘goss’ has been made bigger than ‘Miley’s concert’ which suggests a persuasive technique. Goss is normally identified with girls and the magazine has made sure they expand the size of  the word to catch the readers eye.

-There is a lot of text on this page surrounding image of Delta Goodrem.

Image

-The image of Delta Goodrem is the main and biggest image on the page allowing her to become the main focus on the page. However she may be over come by the amount of text on the page depending on the reader.

-The second image is of Miley Cyrus.

-This image is a whole lot small than the image of Delta, however the fact there is an image of her suggests the importance of her.

-She is a well known actress who plays the main character in ‘Hannah Montana’; A well known TV show who’s target audience is teenagers. Her image fits in nicely with the genre of the magazine.

-Both images have direct mode of address.

Extra

-Posters of the actress Zac Effron suggests the genre of the magazine as he is very appealing to teenage girls.