Analysis of contents page (Q)

 

 

 

The purpose of a contents page is to inform the reader what is going to be in the magazine e.g. page numbers of feature articles. And to show the reader they have mage the right choice by buying their magazine because it is packed with information. Here are some way in which 'Q' does this:

 

 

Qualitative Research into Readership Profile

Quantitative Research into Readership Profile

 

As part of my research into Readership Profile I gave out 20 questionnaires to both male and females to find out their preferences for music magazines:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analysis of a front cover of a music magazine (MOJO)

Analysis of a front cover of a music magazine (Q)

 

 

 

 

Analysis Of My Final Problem Page

I am very pleased with my final design my sixth form problem page. I think it looks professional and would appeal to my target audience ( Girls and boys aged 11-18) as I have kept the design from my earlier draft and gone with the orange and green house style.

Effectiveness
Title-I think the whole page is effective and will draw people to it. I have made the masthead stand out from everything else by making it a different font and a different colour which many problem pages do in order to get their pages more recognisable.
Fonts- I used several different fonts on my problem page which adds to the effect of what each is saying. By making 'Victoria' stand out by using a different font shows that that is an important part of the magazine it also would make the name more recognisable when the article was next read as I have also used the same font, Rage Italic LET, for when 'Victoria' has signed each of the answers. Also because this font is in italics I think it gives a more of a caring edge as it only stands out because it is different and not because it is bigger than the title. I have also used different fonts to differentiate between the questions and answers that feature in my article, this just makes it clearer for the reader. I have used drop caps also to make the question and answers stand out and I also think this gives it a more professional look and adds some colour to what would be quite boring black and white text which draws the eye in.
Magazine Name-I have made the magazine name 'The Educational' relate to school life so the readers know what the magazine is all about before they start to read. Also the title of the magazine is in the corner of the page as I believed this made it look as though the magazine cared more about the problem page and the people within it by giving it the majority of the page.
Colour scheme (House style)-Unlike many of the problem pages I have looked at I have not used pastel colours for the house style and colour scheme of the page as although I think those colours do give a caring soft tone to them they would not have been as eye catching and effective as the bright colours I have used for my target audience as I was looking towards the younger generations.
Photography- I am very pleased with the photography I have displayed on my problem page. The three running down the side of the article show a student, which is effective because that is who the magazine is aimed at. I also think they are good because they enhance my 'top tips: passing your exams' (which would be a weekly thing in my magazine) by showing what I have said, such as, for the 'Study hard' tip I have shown a student writing up revision notes. I am especially pleased with the photo manipulation I did on the picture of Victoria which I did using a 'snip tool' which enabled me to take a full picture of Victoria leaning against a door frame and 'Snip' out the bits I didn't want (the only regret I have with this programme is that you do not get a very 'clean' outline which did not give me quite the professional finish I was looking for. So I hope next time I will be able to use better software to get a more professional finish making the article look that little bit better) . This now gives the effect that Victoria is leaning on the masthead which is effective because it makes her seem more involved with the readers problems and showing her in such a relaxed position shows her caring personality which will make more readers wish to write in.
Layout- I think the layout is effective as it clearly shows the colour scheme (orange and green) from the strapline to the border lines around the article. Although the layout is in neat columns perhaps making the page look a bit formal but I think it works as I incorporate my colour scheme throughout with different length lines making it a bit less formal. As you may have noticed my earlier design showed a 'Get involved' box where I was going to write things about school that might interest the students reading the magazine as this was a technique that many other of the problem pages used to break up their articles however when it came to it, it ruined my layout to have such a big solid coloured box featuring on my article and made it look very unprofessional so I scrapped that idea and I did the ' top tip' column which looks much better because it fits in with the layout more and also allowed me to incorporate more photos within my article. If I were to do this again I would have put a background colour in my article as the white makes it look a bit bland however on the other hand it does give a crisp finish to the piece. Also I would not use the programme 'Microsoft word' to create my article as this gave me many limitations to what I could do.

                   

Final Design For My Problem Page...

Mock-up Design

Here I have designed the first stages of my Sixth form problem page:

It's not very clear here but the colour scheme is orange and green making it bright and appealing to my target audience.

Design features

Planning the magazine...

Name- The Educational

Slogan- Sixth form woes? Talk to Victoria...

Design features

Colour scheme and House style- as I want this magazine to appeal to both boys and girls I will make the colours gender neutral but still bright and eye catching such as oranges and greens maybe some light yellow, although I think the pinks and purple give a calming tone that goes with the tone of a problem page I think this will definitely push away the male audience.

Fonts- I will use different fonts to show the questions and answers as this looks good and is clear to the reader. I will also use 'drop cap' at the beginning of the question and answers as I believe this will give it a professional quality and make the whole page look better.

Photography- I will use several different images to break up the text and make it more interesting, this could also draw more people in and even make it a bit comedic.

Readership profile

My magazine will be aimed at- children aged 11-18 years old because I want younger children to be able to learn about sixth form life but it will mostly be aimed at 16-18 (Sixth Form age) as it will be a problem page tackling sixth form issue.

Gender- I will be aiming my magazine at both boys and girls as they both may be having problems at sixth form they want to have answered. In order to do this I will use gender neutral colours such as green, orange and yellows.

I will also be putting advertisements in the magazine about the school, such as house music, to appeal to anyone who wants to get more involved with sixth form life.

                                                                                                                                                                

Analysis of a problem page

This is an analysis of the 'Ask Dr Christian' problem page. I have identified some key features that I specified in my earlier post:

Conventions and style features:

Problem Pages:

The three problem pages, 'Astro agony', 'Ask Dr Christian' and 'Solving family dilemmas with Suzie',   have two main objectives, to answer people problems and to make readers more open and comfortable with writting to the agony aunts featured on their pages. These are the features that help them to do that.

Colours- All use light pastel colours, this shows a calming tone to the problem pages which would make the reader more open. Also by using these colours shows the target audience to be more swayed towards women as it is mostly pinks.

Photograghy- All of these problems pages show a photo of the person you are writing to which gives the reader more security as they have a face to go with the words on the page which would make them feel more comfortable and open. They also have a couple more photos to draw your eye in for example in  'Ask Dr Christian' it shows a picture of Kate Thornton which may interest a reader that would not normally read the page to read it. 

Tone- The agony aunts convey a tone of scincerety " I'm sorry you're going through this." again making the readers connect with them more. They always answer the questions they are given with enough solutions to satisfy the reader and therfore create a stronger bond between the reader and agony aunt.


Content-Each magazine article take on their problem pages from different angles from Family dilemmas to mystical guidance to Health related matters, which is made clear from the heading of each article, this makes it easier for the readers to be able to find out and contact who they want.

Layout- All of these articles are laid out almost in the same manner, bright colours to differentiate between the questions asked and answers given. Also they all feature a box of text which stands out more than the rest, drawing the readers maybe to read that first. The text in the articles are all very block-ey with clear columns making it easy for the reader to pick and choose which problems they want to read. Which all conveys to the tone of a free flowing calming piece which does not push you into anything.