Drafting/Planning of magazine layout - Magazine Analysis 2

I have analysed another magazine cover to familiarize myself with the codes and conventions of music magazines and to ensure I use them myself when I come to make my own. I have already analysed one magazine, but this magazine has some different features and has a different style so I thought it would be useful.

Drafting/ planning of magazine layout - Practice cover

To practice using the graphic software programmer, Paint.net, I did a very simple practice cover featuring a cover star, a mast head and a cover-line. This will help me with the rest of the work as I now know how to crop and manipulate images and export them to another software programmer (publisher). After practicing this, I am now more confident to make my practice cover and actual magazine cover.

Research into potential target audience - Student magazine audience research questionnaire analysis

I conducted a questionnaire to find out what the sixth form students thought a STACS magazine would look like and what they wanted it to feature.
The questions I decided to ask were:
1. "What would you expect the front cover of a STACS magazine to look like?"
2. "What would you expect to see in a school/college magazine?"
3. "What colour scheme would you expect to see in a STACS magazine?"
4. "What features would you like to see in STACS magazine?"
5. "What aspects of your school life do you find most interesting?"
6. "Are you enjoying sixth form so far?"
7. "What do you think of the improvements to the school?"
8. "Are there any other changes you would like to be made? If so, please specify."
9. "Who is your favourite teacher?"
10. "What would encourage you to read STACS magazine?"

The first question really helped me decide what the front cover of the magazine will look like as most students answered with 'simple' and saying they would expect 'images of students, staff and the school'. They also said that they expect the front cover to be 'formal' but still 'interesting' which gave me insight into how they thought the magazine should be presented and set out.

Question number two aided my decisions on what to include on the sub headings and what to base the magazine about as most people informed me that they would expect to see information about upcoming events, exam results and changes to the school. However, question number 4 contrasted to question two as people would actually like to see gossip about teachers, students and the school and nobody suggested things like exam results.

For the question on what colour scheme students would expect to see, every person asked responded with the colours red, black and silver or white which are the school colours and some people said they would expect the house colours to be part of the scheme. This is the result I expected as, as it is a school magazine, you would expect the school colours to be part of the design.

When asked on which aspects of your school life do you find most interesting, the majority of students said they find socialising with their friends interesting which is hardly surprising. However, a good answer to this question was that the person enjoys their form time as the year groups all mix together and it is nice to see the students of all ages communicating and interacting with each other which shows how the pleasant the school is on a whole. I found this fascinating and would love to include it in my magazine in some way.

100% of students asked said they enjoy sixth form which shows me that they think of the sixth form in a postive way and are more willing to read about something they like.

Question 7 showed me that sixth form students so not seem to be as interested with the improvements to the school as they do not involve them and find it infuriating that the younger students have been given so many more privaleges compared to when they were in school. It seems that the younger children in the school have been trusted more and the elder students feel undermined. This may be able to be spoken through the magazine.

The main answer students gave to question 8 is that there are not any other changes they would like to make to the school but 10% wanted a larger variety of food to be available in the sixth form common room but as it was such a small number, I highly doubt I will use this information.

I have a pie chart to insert to show the students favourite teachers, the main teachers were Mrs Carter, Mr Perry, Miss Rothera and Mrs Ulmkalns.

The students were asked what would encourage them to read STACS magazine. Some of the answers were things such as competitions and good gossip about the staff, which would make it more interesting to read.

Research into similar products - Magazine analysis

  The masthead of this magazine is simply the letter Q which is simple and is placed in the left hand corner of the magazine. I think it was put in the left hand corner to follow the 'z' in which people read in (left to right). The masthead stands out as it is a bold letter within a big, bright red box which starts to blend in to the colour of Florence's hair. With the colour red there are connotations of danger, which makes Florence seem powerful, strong and bold. Underneath the masthead in small letters it says 'discover great music' which is appealing to new readers as it reveals that the magazine is music based and gives the impression it is filled with good music.

  The main cover line of this magazine has 'Florence' written big and bold so readers know she is the main story and there will be information about this singer inside. The main coverline features a quote that Florence said '"I feel so alone" Florence woman on the edge' which is a contrast to the strong, fierce picture of her which will draw the readers attention as they are left wondering. Q's main coverline does not really tell the reader much about the story that Florence has shared with them, it only gives the reader a tiny part of it which is effective as it makes them need to know the rest.

The main image is a powerful, bold picture of Florence which is a huge contrast to the coverline. If the image matched the cover line it would be vulnerable and innocent looking instead of fierce and fiery. From this, the reader can expect there to be more pictures of her and a story about her inside. 

There are 6 coverlines on the cover of this magazine. One of them stands out more than the rest as it is surrounded by a blue border which could mean it is an added extra. The sub feature headlines are located around the edges of the page so that the attention is not drawn away from the main image. These sub headings give insight into what is inside the magazine and what it is about.

This is a link to Bastille's official website, they are a really good band that have real talent.

Click here!

My first post

Hiya, this is my AS media blog.