Survey Results

Research of Institutions

Condé Nast is a New York City based publishing company founded in 1909. It was founded by Condé Montrose Nast. The company owns a variety of magazines - from fashion magazines such as Vogue to food such as Epicurious to culture magazines such as The New Yorker. They are often known to be the founders of "class publication" which meant that they targeted different niche markets with different magazines as opposed to targeting the largest readership/audience possible (with the exception of women's fashion magazines). The circulation figure for The New Yorker, for example, is 1,071,980.

These are the magazines that they own:

This company tend to cater more for fashion, as there are 6 magazines dedicated to fashion, such as Allure. This could be because it maximizes profit as fashion tends to be of women's main interest. There are magazines meant for men too, however. Therefore, Condé Nast catogorises and defines the target audiences for their magazines by age groups. and social groups more. All of the magazines here are meant for young adults, around 18-24, and due to the high-quality image from these magazines, the social group must be ABC1.

Another institution I researched is the Young Authors Foundation, Inc., which is an independent not-for-profit organisation that supports Teen Ink, a creative arts magazine curated towards teens. It was founded in 1989. They claimed to have reached "millions of teens" for their circulation figure. The reason this magazine is successful is because the content are submissions from teens themselves, and because there is a variety in the magazine (ranging to poetry, to short stories to reviews, to point-of-view articles), so it's aimed at a mass audience. Therefore, this institution used age group to define the target audience for Teen Ink. 

In a way the two institutions are similar because they both use age groups to define their target audience. The difference between Condé Nast and Young Authors Foundation other than the profit or not-for-profit factor is that because Condé Nast is a large organisation with a bigger audience and more recognition, they are able to reach more by having a large variety of magazines, all specialised and catered to different niche markets. For Young Authors however, targeting a creative  and "reformer" teen audience is the only specialised thing they are willing to do - as they are an indie publication they try to maximise profit by having a variety whilst still staying true to their niche audience (aspiring teen writers, artists) who wouldn't want the company branching out like Condé Nast. Also Teen Ink does not particularly use social economic groupings to define their target audience - as it is teens it would be irrelevant to group them on how much they earn as most teens don't get to the amount of money that full-time working adults do.  

Preliminary Task: School Magazine Contents Page

I used circles as the main geometric shape for many reasons. Initially, my page number circles were squares in my plan. It's more aesthetically interesting than blocks and squares, which could make things seem too restrictive and formal for my audience. Also, circles help with the font more because it gives a "rounded" and cleaner impression. I made the circles overlap to create depth and allow for space for the images to fit the width in an aesthetically pleasing way.

I chose to use a lighter blue for the background instead of a darker blue because it makes the text easier to read, and because I wrote on the editor's note that the issue is about being new, so light blue could bring a fresh feel to the issue. However, I tried to remain consistent with the house style like on the front cover - the fonts are still predominantly sleek and modern, the color scheme is still orange, blue and white (where I used orange to make the blue stand out more because of the contrast). I made the language very inclusive such as "why this year is ours" and the line "advice for new students!" - this would seem appealing and appropriate as a school magazine as schools often try to aim to appear very tight-knit and inclusive as a community - also referring back to the circles which could imply inclusiveness.  

Like on the front cover, I used Photoshop to manipulate my images and texts. Along the way, I have picked up more techniques and tricks to achieve certain things such as making the images circular and bending the text of the website link. I think this will help later for my coursework as this will allow me to grasp the program a lot better, also to realise my ideas more successfully. 

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Preliminary Task: School Magazine Front Cover Images

I worked with a partner for the preliminary task and decided on the locations together.

The medium shot angle is quite interesting; the use of two-point perspective is very unusual for a magazine cover, I think it's because it gives the audience too much visual depth and they won't pay attention to the main subject of the image as much. However, the school logo is in the way and its position and size makes it hard to construct a proper cover – such as the masthead. 

This is a medium long shot. The composition of the image is relatively balanced, but the buildings in the background are too messy and distracting. The light also isn’t that bright. I think it would be great to put it on the contents page, but it’s unsuitable for the front cover – again you can’t place the masthead anywhere on the top to make it visually appealing.

This looks better because I like the way the masthead is positioned. However, I still feel like the subject (teacher) is not dominant enough in the photo because of the clock tower. The photo is shot at a slightly low angle so the tower looks more dominant than the subject, which wasn’t what I intended the connotations to be. The background is also still cluttered and messy. 

I like this one because it allows a lot of space for the masthead, sell lines and other features. The background is white and the subject is wearing a blue tie, creating a professional impression for the reader  The lightning is not great, but for my front cover I fixed it by brightening up the image. 

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Preliminary Task: School Magazine Front Cover

I started with sketches of the front cover and the contents page. I did group work and this was our initial idea. 

The plan was to put the masthead on the left because it seemed appropriate as our image is on the right so that there would be some balance. Originally our magazine cover probably would cater to more to parents of the school, teachers and older students due to its serious, educational vibe. The font for the masthead is a serif font, and the main image is of our school principal - so it's very formal. However, I really liked the "'s monthly" because its slanted position and handwriting-like font helped the cover be a little less informal and dynamic as opposed to the neatly structured and organised layout of the cover. 

However, as we happened to have changed our main image, I had the opportunity to reinvent it to suit my personal aim more which is to create a magazine that looks both educational and serious (appropriate for a school magazine) and is appealing to students at the same time.

Analysis:

The font is in block capitals and is dark blue, suggesting a slightly more mature approach to a typical school magazine along with the fact that the teacher is wearing formal clothes with a tie. I liked that the masthead covers the whole width because it’s bolder that way. However, I got rid of the serifs to create a cleaner look and positioned it across the width of the page to make sure that it really captures your attention. 

The reason I used overlapping for the image over the masthead is to create some visual depth since the background is quite simple. By overlapping there is a background (the masthead and the white wooden wall), a middle ground (the teacher) and the foreground (the anchorage text).   

I didn't include a skyline because I didn't watch it to be too tabloid-like and that would distract the purpose of the magazine. 

I used transparent colored rectangles for my sell lines for two reasons: I wanted to keep the text white and not black (which would make the font inconsistent) and it would be a difficulty to read if it’s white against a white background. Also, I wanted to make it more appealing so it would create a serious magazine that is still appealing to my target audience, the sixth form. Older students may resonate with the colored highlights because it may remind them of highlighters being used whilst studying, which gives the impression that it’s “highlighted”, because these particular sell lines are important for the reader. Moreover, for the puff at the bottom left, I used orange, because it is the opposites on I used overlapping for the image over the masthead is to create some visual depth since the background is quite simple. By overlapping there is a background (the masthead and the white wooden wall), a middle ground (the teacher) and the foreground (the anchorage text).   

The language I used is simple and informal. For the puff, I wrote “FREE!” so that it will catch the audience’s attention. Sibilance is used as well - “sixth” and “success” makes the anchorage text more memorable when it is read. By creating this link, it implied that if you want " success", you go to "sixth" form to succeed.

For my anchorage text I made use of convergence by incorporating a hashtag as a reference to social media to which teenage students will recognise instantly. It also makes things less formal, which most teens tend to like. In addition, I put a barcode on the bottom right to balance the design.

If I were to improve this cover further, is to make sure that the main image suits the anchorage text more.