Textual analysis of "Kerrang!" magazine contents page.

Textual analysis of "NME" contents page.

Textual analysis of "NME" magazine double page spread.

Textual analysis of "V60" double page spread.

Textual analysis of "ASOS" contents page.

Textual analysis of "Billboard" magazine front cover.

Conventions of a Music Magazine Front Cover, using LIIAR.

Language - Not only the writing of the cover, the language includes text, images/graphics, colour, masthead and more. These are all dependant on the genre and targeted audience of a magazine, in this a music magazine would feature language appropriate to it's reading audience. For example a rock music magazine will use an image of musician (informs the audience it's a music magazine) with a guitar (informs the audience they're viewing a rock music magazine) with a colour scheme using dark colours such as black. These will attract the a particular audience and allow the magazine to maintain an audience with interests in the particular genre. When it comes to me producing my music magazine front cover, I will uses images that are relevant to the music genre, colours that will appeal to the audience of the genre of my music magazine.

Institution - Of the music magazines I have researched, they have always been produced and published by commercial companies for example NME is funded and owned by the leading leading magazine consumer and digital publisher IPC Media.

Ideology -

Audience - When it comes to producing or analysing a text you must always decide who it is intended for, because if your producing a text you'll be able to include relevant language that interests the audience your targeting at. And when you analyse a text, you'll be able to see why specific language is included in a text by the producer, due to you knowing it's aimed at a certain chosen audience. When it comes to producing my music magazine, stylistic decisions will be affected by my targeted audience. For example my main cover image, will appeal to a magazine interested audience, for example the photo's mise-en-scene will feature props such as microphones, guitars and other music technology/equipment.

Representation - All media texts reflect or represent reality, a good example is how social groups are represented through the media. For example the indie band "The Wombats" are represented in photographs as wild party goers through their costume.

Textual analysis of "OUT" Magazine Front Cover, using LIIAR.

Language - The front cover of OUT magazine December 2009, features pop artist Lady GaGa. The main image of her is unconventional in the sense of it's mise-en-scene, with it been slightly strange and weird, like Lady GaGa is her herself. The magazine also is targeted at a minority group - the gay community, the photograph which shows as her as different, strange and an outcast, allows the audience to relate to her. She is nude and her mouth is covered in blood, this could be a reference to her performance at the VMA's 2009, which was very controversial. The photographer has chosen and designed the mise-en-scene to be controversial, to reflect upon the artists career, costumes, music and personality. The colour scheme of the front cover is white, black, fleshy brown and a darker brown. The typeface of the masthead "OUT" is in a sans serif font, and is in bold and larger then any other text on the front cover. This is so it's dominate on the page, over any other text on the front cover, drawing the audiences eye to inform them of the magazine they're reading. The colour of the masthead is white and placed against a dark background to allow it too stand out. Every other piece of text such as the cover lines, headline etc are in a serif font, this is to allow the masthead to stand out and dominate even further. The cover lines are all subjects that interest and appeal to the target audience - the gay community for example one cover line says "35 PAGES OF THIS SEASON'S NEW LOOK" which would attract the gay community, since in general they're more interested in fashion then heterosexual males.

Institution - OUT magazine is published by LPI Media, the largest LGBT publisher in the United States. It is an commercial company with it's revenue in 2005 been $29.0 Million.

Ideology -

Audience - The audience this issue appeals and is targeted too is the LGBT community, since the magazine's content is gay culture and related, and also Lady GaGa fans, with the main cover story been on GaGa.

Representation - The image represents GaGa as different, over the top and controversial, this is how she's been represented in the media frequently. This magazine does this especially to allow fans and the LGBT community to relate to the pop singer.

Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover.

In this entry, I will detail the conventions of a standard magazine in general.

Photographs/Main Image - Magazine front covers's will always feature an main image, typically a photograph taken by an photographer employed by the magazine's producers, it will always be directly connected to the main article, that is featured within the magazine. This image will always dominate the entire cover and grab the attention of the audience immediately, over every other item featured on the front cover. This image informs the audience of the subject/issue/person the main article is about. Additional a magazine cover may feature other photographs that are connected to the cover lines, informing the audience of what the other articles in the magazine are. The main photograph will always be accompanied by a main cover line.

Logo - An image or piece of text that will always be featured on the front cover of every issue of a magazine. Usually simple in design, the logo becomes an icon of the magazine immediately making the audience think of the magazine when they see the logo.

Selling Line - Usually accompanying the masthead, this will be a line of text that upsells the magazine or gives some more information about the magazine. For example "Q" magazine currently uses "THE UK'S BIGGEST MUSIC MAGAZINE."

Masthead/Nameplate - The title of the magazine, this will always be dominate on the front cover to inform the audience or potential audiences to the name of the magazine they're viewing.

Price - To inform buyers of the magazine, the cost of the magazine.

Bar code - For retail purposes

Date & Issue - Used to incidate to the audience what month and year a particle magazine issue was published and the issue number informs them how many issues of the magazine have been published.

Colour - Colour is used on magazine covers to drawn in an audience and also can communicate to the audience along with other elements of the front cover, what type magazine they're viewing. For example a magazine that features an main image of a guy with a guitar, informs the audience they're a viewing a music magazine, however if the colour scheme of the magazine is dark colours and features alot of black it informs them that they're viewing a rock magazine.

LIIAR - Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience & Representation.

Language - Not only the writing of the cover, the language includes text, images/graphics, colour, masthead and more on the front of the magazine cover. It is everything that is used in the design and production of a media text, for example a medium close-up is media language, it is a type of shot used for an image, which is part of the construction and design of an image. These are all dependant on the genre and targeted audience of a magazine, in this case a music magazine would feature a main image of a musician for example on the cover of Rolling Stones magazine, which is a diverse music magazine that features world class artists, could feature an image of the pop singer Britney Spears to a metal music artist such as Aerosmith.

Institution - In terms of media, an institution is an established, usually commerical organization, that deals in the in the production and distribution of media texts.

Ideology - Ideology in media is a set of beliefs and ideas, the media text and it's producers have.

Audience - The specators, listeners or consumers of a media text.

Represention - How something is presented and shown to the audience in a media text.

Music Magazine: The Brief

Main Task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Final production of my college magazine.

Contents mock-up layout

Final Chosen Photo (Unedited).

Unused & unedited photos.

Content Ideas.

I've decided to dedicate a post to what the actual content of my magazine will be, even though I don't have to produce the actual articles, I need ideas so I can feature them on the front cover of my magazine. The cover story of my magazine will be on how to prepare for your exams, I will have to come up with a suitable headline for this idea. Then for my three plugs I've decided on the following three articles; healthy eating, coursework tips and if bullying still exists in colleges after high school.

Mood Board.

Here is my mood board for the colours and font to be used on my front cover. The fonts I will be using are Arial, Impact, Tahoma and Calibri, I've chosen these specific fonts because they're all sans serif typefaces, and as a I learnt from my research. I've chosen cyan, yellow and white as my colour scheme due to them been harmonizing colours as this will give my cover a natural and professional look to my cover, I also learnt this from my research into magazine covers.

Magazine cover layout: DTP version

Here is my layout to my magazine cover, I will use this to guide me in my production of my magazine, however my final production my differ after productiona and I will talk about why I changed it in my evaluation, if I do change it. The layout of my magazine is very conventional and it features many of the conventions of magazine cover, that I discovered through my research.

Analysis 4: Secondary Teachers contents page anaylsis

Since the preliminary task asks me to produce a mock-up of the layout of a contents page, I've decided to analysis a contents page to give me a general idea how to produce and construct my own.

The contents page like the front cover the magazine, uses the white, blue & green colour scheme, which are all harmonizing colours, this gives the page a natural, professional view to it, which is revel ant to the magazine and it's targeted audience who are teachers, which is a professional and mature role. The subscribe advert used is positioned on a yellow circle, this bright colour is used to contrast against the green, blue and white to draw the readers attention to this spot. The layout of the magazine is conventional, in the sense that it's structured in a grid form, this makes the reader fellow the list of the contents down in a list, this is used to make sure the reader follows the list with their eyes making sure they known the entire contents of the magazine. Mutiply small images are used on the contents page, these are used to give the a general idea on what certains articles are about. Two images used represent apprenticeships, which is the what the cover story is about, as a postive thing. The headline of the contents page is large and bold, this dominates the page and this is the first thing the reader reads, immedinatley telling them they're on the contents page and will tell them where to find certain articles.

Analysis 3: Cosmogirl Front Cover Novemeber 2007

For inspiration and ideas for my magazine, I have decided to look at a broader range of magazines, instead of college/school magazines such as “Secondary Teachers”. I have decided to analyse the cover of the November 2007 issue of the fashion and lifestyle magazine “CosmoGirl”. The main image of the cover is of Blake Lively who known for her role on the hit US show “Gossip Girl”, which is known for it’s style and fashion – she herself is known for her beauty and fashion. Using Blake Lively on the cover goes with the ideology of the magazine – beauty, fashion and glamorous lifestyle, and if the reader sees someone such as Blake Lively on the cover, they’re much more likely to buy it since the target audience aspires to be someone such as her – beautiful, successful, fashionable and enjoy the lifestyle someone like Blake Lively does. The image itself is very warm, with a light glow to her skin and a wide smile on her face; this invites the reader into the magazine. A wind machine has been used to blow back Blake Lively’s hair; this has been used to allow the reader to see all her physical features on her face and so they can concentrate on her appearance and beauty, which is what a large portion of the magazine’s ideology is.

The dominate colour scheme of the cover is orange, yellow and white (with a pink background) , these colours all harmonize, giving the cover a natural and professional look, if it were a random mix of colours for example grey, yellow and aqua the cover would look messy and it would affect the whole design of the cover in a negative way. The colours used are an example of mode of address, with the designer choosing these colours because they're are feminine and since the targeted audience is females, these colours will appeal to them. These three colours together also give the cover a warm, calm and happy feeling, which compliments the image of Blake Lively, and this warm feeling invites the reader into the magazine making them feel welcome. There are numerous plugs on the magazine cover, this is to show the reader the numerous content of the magazine, and that it features many articles on how to obtain the beauty and style of such celebrities like Blake Lively. Since they is so many plugs on the cover, each one has some kinda effect on it, to attract the reader's eye too it, for example "YOUR GUIDE TO GORGEOUS" is in capitals and place on an orange circle. These are used to get the reader to look at the magazine cover for an extended period of time, making them much more likely to become interested in the magazine, and more willing to buy it with the knowledge of what the magazine features. A feminine script typeface is used for the "girl" part of "ComsoGirl" this is to create they effect this has been written by a female in a cosmetic such as lipstick, these suggests to the reader this magazine is written and produced by females for females, so the reader can trust that the producers of this magazine know what they're talking about when it comes to fashion, beauty and lifestyle, since they're the same as the audience. This effect also tells the reader this magazine has a huge emphasise on fashion and beauty, and it's made for fashion and beauty. This effect also directly tells who the targeted audience is - females with an interest for fashion, beauty and the glamorous lifestyle. The plug "Quiz: DO YOU FALL IN LOVE TOO FAST?" is used to make the reader think about this question, making them want to do know what the article the magazine features has to say on the issue, making them much more interested in buying the magazine.

The analyse of this magazine cover has greatly helped me in my research, and has taught me that it is crucial the cover targets your audience specificly through stylistic choices and the design of the cover.

Analysis 2: Secondary Teachers Cover issue #62

I've decided to analyse another "Secondary Teachers" magazine front cover, this time the issue of May 2009, to aid me in my research of college/school magazines, so through sufficient research I can produce my own quality and professional college magazine front cover. Again green and blue are chosen to as the colours for masthead (instead of the brighter more childish colours that are used on the "Primary Teachers" magazine.) to give the reader a professional and mature feeling of magazine, which is it due to it dealing with the subject of the education system in Britain. The colours are very to the target audience - who are mature, adult and professional just like the colour used. A sans serif typeface is used for the masthead to maintain a professional look, with sans serif fonts commonly used for headlines by many publications. The plugs on this cover are in a variety of colours that differ from the rest of the magazine in a bold sans serif typeface to stand out against the rest of the cover and draw the reader to what else the magazine features, If the cover story isn't enough to interest them in the magazine. The text surrounding the main image such as "inspection in progress" are all in a script typeface to simulate some writing, in this case the inspector. The main image of this front cover is a young inspector in a professional pose that is relevant to her job. This pose is used to give a professional element to the magazine cover, for instance if she were slouched down with her hands in her pocket, the cover would be totally different with a more relaxed and laid back view, and not possess the professional manner of this magazine, which is used because the cover story is on the subject of inspectors. A black, smart and professional costume is worn by young female in on the cover, this represents young adults as professional and mature, it's also appropriate to her role as an "inspector", which is a professional job. The image of the young inspector, goes against the stereotype of what people would expect an inspector to look like - old, intimidating, angry and with a cold look on there face, instead here the inspector is young, happy and has a warm feeling to her face which invites the reader in. A female is used on the magazine cover to represent the inspectors in positive light, someone school pupils can trust and not have to worry about, however if a male was used children would be more to approach the inspectors so a female is used to give the inspectors an approachable look. Three plugs are placed at the top of the magazine, this to to suggest to the audience there is plenty of content and articles which is to keep them interested in the magazine. The plug "What's YOUR staffroom like?" has your in capitals to speak directly to the reader and get them involved and thinking about how the issue concerns them, making the magazine more personal. At the very bottom of the magazine, the email has been printed to allow readers to email in feedback and response, this is to show the audience the magazine appreciates the audience and what they've got to say, making the audience feel "cared" about by the magazine.

This issue was once again a very good example of a college/school magazine, which has aided me in the process of producing my own magazine. However next I plan to analyse some different magazines, to give me ideas and influence from a variety of print productions.

Analysis 1: Secondary Teachers Cover issue #55

Here is the cover of "Secondary Teachers" the issue of March 2008; this is an example of an existing school/college magazine. I will analyze this cover, using it as part of my research and take note of its ideas, which I could use to influence my own cover later on.

When looking at this cover the first thing I notice or I’m drawn to is the image of the female pupil in half school uniform & half of a nurse's garments. This immediately tells the reader what the key/featured topic of this issue is, mixing or balance of practical hands on work such as the example shown here which is nursing and academic work/studies in secondary education. This lures the reader in because there has been big discussion on if schools should offer more practical and hands on experiences to its pupils, instead of just purely academic. The girl has a very warm, welcoming and happy expression on her face, this draws us to the magazine because it gives us a comfatable feeling. Positioned on the right of the image, is the text "You're hired, How Year 10 thrive on apprenticeships", the wording in this is a key part of the cover. Firstly it contains a popular culture reference, "You're hired", is an obvious reference to the show the Apprentice and Alan Sugars saying "You're Fired/Hired" which has become part of popular culture. Potential readers are easily going to recognize this reference and are much more likely then to buy/read this magazine. The cover features a shot out for a competition "WIN AN IPOD", this catches people's eyes and makes them look at the magazine cover again, and making them much more likely to actually purchase/read the magazine if they take a second viewing. Also "WIN" is highlighted in yellow to make it stand out and even more eye catching.

The colour used in this cover is very important, green and blue were chosen to be used in the masthead to give us a professional and mature feeling, instead of something like a bright florescent pink been used which would not have the same effect. The professional colour is used since the targeted audience is primarily teachers and pupil’s parents, since teachers would want to know what's going on with the education system and to be update with any changes/updates to education. And parents will read this magazine so they can be up to date on their children's education.

Image source: http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=sffww#/page0/

The Conventions of a typical magazine cover.

The following are conventions of a college/school magazine contents page;

Conventions of a college/school magazine front cover, using LIIAR.

The following are conventions of a college/school magazine front cover;

Language - Not only the writing of the cover, the language includes text, images/graphics, colour, masthead and more. These are all dependant on the genre and targeted audience of a magazine, in this case a college/school magazine would feature language appropriate to it's reading audiences; teaching staff. For example the High school magazine "Secondary Teachers" main image on the cover is sometimes something like a pupil sat at a desk working, which the readers can identify since it's extremely related to their career. When it comes to designing and producing my college magazine front cover, I will have to take into account the genre of my magazine, when it comes to choices concerning the language of my front cover.

Institution - Usually the Institution for a college/school magazine is the college/school who publishes the magazine, also the institution could be the government, for example the school magazines "Primary Teachers" and "Secondary Teachers" insitiution is the "children, school and families" department of the government. The instiution on a front cover is usually shown through a logo of some sorts or a title feautred on the front cover.

Ideology - The ideas, beliefs/values and agenda behind the magazine and it's producers. For a college/school magazine the ideology behind it is concerning education and students. When it comes to producing the cover of a college magazine I will have to think about the ideology, which is education and students, behind my magazine, since this will have an effect on my content and stylistic choices.

Audience - When it comes to producing or analysing a text you must always decide who it is intended for, because if your producing a text you'll be able to include relevant language that interests the audience your targeting at. And when you analyse a text, you'll be able to see why specific language is included in a text by the producer, due to you knowing it's aimed at a certain chosen audience. When it comes to the task of producing a college magazine cover, I will have to consider and identify my audience, so I can make stylistic and content choices that are appropriate to my audience.

Representation - All media texts reflect or represent reality, a good example is how social groups are represented through the media. Teenagers are generally shown as anti-social, bullies and negative on society. When it comes to my preliminary task of producing the cover of a college magazine, I will represent students as generally hardworking and in a positive light.

The Brief

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

Main Task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Presentation of your Work
The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or combination of two or more, of the following:

• a presentation using slide show software such as PowerPoint;
• a blog
• a podcast.