Magazine Convention

Magazine Convention

Front cover

·         Bold logo/masthead, because this makes it stand out

·         Masthead  is usually written in a specific font, as this makes it unique and stand out as well

·         Masthead sometimes behind face in main image, they do this as it often looks better, but also if the artist is very famous as it might sell the magazine better than the actual logo, but the magazine still need to be well-known

·         There is usually a positioning statement under the masthead, as this gives information about the brand identity

·         The magazine’s cover always features the following: barcode, issues, date, price and sometimes website

·         Always includes main image, this catches the reader’s attention and helps to sell the magazine. It’s usually shot in a medium shot or close up

·         Full use of space, they make sure that there are enough cover lines and that the main image takes most of the space

·         The cover lines (also known as teasers) are always featured, as this gives an idea of the articles and the magazine itself.

·         The colour scheme is usually very simple but this depends on the magazine as well, if they want it to look busy there might be more colours, but if they want it to look rather calm and quiet they’ll use less colours and make sure that they are calm as well

Contents page

·         Colour scheme is usually simple and is consistent with the colours scheme of the front cover. Colour also links to the genre of the magazine

·         Text placed in columns, this is more appealing and they also link to the cover stories in the front cover

·         There is usually a main image, which also links to the main image on the front cover and to the cover story

·         Sometimes there is a message from the editor which is known as the editors note. They do this to invite the readers

My magazine proposal (prezi)

Magazine Proposal on Prezi

Magazine newsstand

Introduction

This is a magazine newsstand. It contains a large variety of fashion and other women magazines. As you can see in this image, the magazines are stacked on top of each other. The most popular magazines are at the front, so that most of it is visible. The less known magazines are placed at the back, so only the masthead is visible.

Layout

In most cases the teasers are placed on the left third of the cover, which is often the only visible part of the magazine (and the masthead).

The masthead is always visible in each newsstand, well in most of the cases. The designs are always very striking to catch the reader’s attention.

The placement of the cover lines varies, as they can place them all over the front cover, but most of the times it is either on the left , right or just on both sides of the magazine’s cover.

Distribution

·         Online publishing: This is a more modern way of magazine publishing and also one of the most successful ones as it is published on the internet. Like this people don’t have to go out to buy it but can simply subscribe online for free or a monthly price and get it monthly into their emails etc.  With the new smartphone apps that have been introduced it gives customers the opportunity to simply go onto their phones to read their magazine and have a faster update (e.g. Vogue magazine app)

·         Postal subscription: This method of magazine distribution directly delivered the to the costumers house. It benefits the publisher, because it is a generated sale, there are no copies to waste.

·         Direct distribution: These are magazines that are for free. They go directly into the costumer’s hand.



Photoshop Induction

Photoshop Induction

create a new file: file > new or ctrl+n

window: set prsets to international paper and choose A4

zoom in: use magnifier tool or ctrl++

Base layer is usually alway locked: double click on layer and press OK.

rulers: view> rulers or ctrl+R

drag guides from the rulers: guides do not appear on print, they just help with the layout and placement.

saving files: file > save or ctrl+S

save file as photoshop format

scale: ctrl + T

to scale in porportion press shift while scaling

text tool: click on canvas and start typing or click and drag to create a text box

click and highlight text to make it bigger/smaller or change colour

text layer: double click on text layer > window > change adjustments like drop shadow or colour overlay.



Evaluation of college magazine

 

The image on the front cover is a medium close-up of a student. It relates to the cover lines. The girl on the image is college student.
She is happy and smiling, which suggests successes that she is happy with the college, and therefore draws the attention of the college audience to the magazine.The image was taken, at the gyms reception, this relates to the cover line.

Layout:
The model does not cover up the masthead, so that it is all visible, this could suggest that the magazine isn’t that famous so it can’t afford to have its brand name covered up. After the masthead, the cover lines are the biggest fonts.

 

The right side has the features and the cover story, text boxes. The colour scheme is a dark blue, black, red and white. The simple colour scheme is very effective in contents page, as the dark blue and black stands out from the white background.  However there could have been more images and the colours could have matched more with the actual college logo, to make it look more inviting.

What do I need to improve on?

·         Front cover -> Is quite plain there is only one cover line, that does relate to the image, but isn’t that obvious, so more cover lines and a main cover lines that pops out would work really well.  

·         Colour Scheme -> I need a colour scheme that is both exciting and relevant to the genre or content of the magazine. The main problem is that the colour scheme does not go with the front cover.

·         Contents: the codes and conventions of this contents page is not normally how a contents page is. There aren’t any page numbers for the readers to look at so they would have to look through all pages even if they didn’t want to, also could the contents page have a different image to make it look more appealing.

My magazine survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JFNGGK2

Magazine Front Cover Terms

My LSC College Magazine

Final picture for my LSC Magazine

As I didn't have such a good understanding of this task I only chose 1 picture.

My case studies (Vibe magazine)

My case studies (Ebony Magazine)