Magazine Proposal

Magazine Proposal 

I am planning a magazine for Southdown’s college therefore it will be aimed at students male and female and aged between 16 and 19. My magazine will focus on college life so the typical content will be competitions to win college equipment and it will be full of college news and tips on for example how to study in prep for your exams.

My magazine will be full of interviews from Ex- students and teachers. There will be lots of up and coming events and also general information about the college.

My ideas for cover lines for example are:

-          Forth coming events

-          What can the college offer you?

-          New and improved

The title of my college magazine is Inspire. I chose this because I think that it is a word that reflects everything to do with college and how students inspire to be like other people and future careers. I have a few fonts in my mind at the moment here are a few examples:

Inspire Inspire  Inspire  Inspire

I would like to use different fronts such as Eras Bold ITC and also Segoe Script as my tag lines.

My magazine will be published before the six-week holiday, so that it gives the students a chance to catch up on the college life.

I would like to put a medium close up of a student on my front cover, I will chose a location for example the library or the café etc.

My magazine will be published 4 times a year this will run virtually in the same pattern as the half terms.

On my contents page I will use colours such as red, pink and blue as it is a uni-sex magazine.

Preliminary Task Flat Plans

Preliminary Task Initial Ideas

Task 5, Skills Audit

Skills Audit -Task 5

From completing the skills audit I have noticed that there are a few things I am not quiet sure on when using my computer or the macs and using the applications, I have researched all of the things that i was unsure of and then practised them. I now have a clearer understanding of how these applications work listed below.

Do you know how to Bluetooth file?

From my research I know that bluetoothing  files is the same process as you would do for bluetoothing files from two phone devices. If you turn on your Bluetooth and have it connected to a computer you can Bluetooth any thing.

Have you ever used InDesign?

I have never used InDesign before but after reading the help section I could easily navigate myself around the program it is a bit like photo shop and I know how to operate that. I now know things like for example wrapping text around images etc.

Do you know how to scan images into a mac?

I now know how to scan images in to a mac, I thought that it was going to be a whole different procedure but in actual fact it is exactly the same if you have a printer with a built in scanner for example you can click on the like to the scanner and then you would chose how you wish to scan in your images.

Task 4, IPC Media Case Study

IPC media case study

About IPC

IPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month.

IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.

There men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME.

There mass market women's division (IPC Connect) comprises famous women's weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimes and TV & Satellite Week and, online, the goodtoknow network.

There upmarket women's division (IPC Southbank) comprises luxury fashion brands including Marie Claire and InStyle, lifestyle brands including woman&home and essentials and home interest brands including Ideal Home, Livingetc and housetohome.

What types of magazine and target audience has IPC been associated with over the years?

Over the years, IPC have been associated with the typical men and women target audiences but they have expanded this into 3 core audiences. These are men, mass market women and upmarket women. They have also been associated with a range of magazine genres. These include men's portfolio (Country Life, Rugby World), men's lifestyle brands (Nuts, NME), woman's weeklies (Now, Chat), TV entertainment (TV Times), upmarket woman's division (Marie Claire), lifestyle brands (woman&home), home interest brands (Ideal Home) and online (goodtoknow).

Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine?

IPC would be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine because it is already publishing magazines of the same genre for example NME (New Musical Express) and also uncut. Figures show that NME are decreasing in popularity because of its audience being able to access the online version however this doesn't mean that a new music magazine won’t be popular with a wide audience. IPC is a well known magazine company and processes millions of different magazine genres so therefore they would be appropriate.  

Why might alternative publishers like Bauer be appropriate?

Bauer could also be appropriate because this company and IPC have the same genres of magazines this means that they could attract the same types of audiences. Depending on the figures for magazine sales, if Bauer have the higher figures, they could be more appropriate to bring a wider audience to new music magazines.

IPC media magazine examples:

Work Book Task Number Three Essay

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

The average teenager that reads magazines like the ones below are between the ages of 13 and 19. However the younger age of the teens are mostly effected because they see a model that looks good and then they have an urge to copy them this may mean plastering make up on or dressing a certain way this is a huge ramification because it gives of the wrong impression and could get them into a situation.

The average age for a teenager who reads Bliss magazine is 15 and the average sugar magazine consumer is 14 years old.

“Beauty is only skin deep, theses often repeated phrases help remind us that there is more to life than our looks.” Quoted from associated.com I find this statement very satisfying because if there was a magazine that spoke the truth and was just gossip and other teenager interests it would stop a lot of pressure that young teenagers have today. Instead the media throw in cover lines such as:

-          Dress to impress

-          Easy hair makeovers

-          Find the perfect hair, makeup and style for you

-          Be a knockout

It is expressions like this that make some teenagers feel worthless and un-attractive the media almost pushes them down to the ground and forces them to read magazines to “improve” there style and ways of looking/seeking ‘love’.

The magazines that I have studied closely are:

-          Cosmo Girl

-          Teen Vogue

-          Shout

-          Bliss

-          Sugar

After studying the magazines I have noticed that they all have clear ideologies behind the way they are set out (positioned) or the way things are said. For example “50 ways to get SEXY hair” quoted from Cosmo Girl. Notice how they put sexy in bold it’s a grab word, it grabs your attention and by stereotype, every girl wants to look and feel “sexy”. What is sexy? Is there a defined definition?  Teenagers see it as a word that attracts boys and they automatically try to look sexy to draw attention to themselves, however they can only refer and look up to the celebs ad models that are featured in the magazine. Imagine if you carried out a research task and asked teenage girls to define sexy the majority of them wouldn’t know what it is. This is a clear stereotype.

Just by looking at the cover lines on the different magazines it is clear that there are six ideologies that the magazine producers focus on with young teenagers they are:

-          Make up

-          Hair style / how you look

-          Weight / diet

-          Fashion

-          How to act around boys

-          Up-keep on your body

Cosmo girl focuses on hair style/ look one of the cover line quotes, “ your guide to gorgeous 50 ways to get sexy hair” and also it focuses on up-keep on your body “10 secrets to perfect skin and 5 moves to a hotter body.

Teen vogue focuses on how to act around boys and your weight/diet the cover line quotes “kiss and tell from “sexting” to secret boyfriends: girls talk back” and also “super sized the teen obesity epidemic plus 8 healthy ways to get in shape.”

Shout mag focuses on fashion and how you look, there is a plug that says “£5 is all you need to look fabulous” and then a cover line reads “26 shoes you will love”.

Bliss magazine focuses on fashion and how you look a cover line reads “the price of pretty how far would you go for perfection?” and a plug that states “passion for fashion”.

Sugar magazine focuses on up-keep on your body and fashion, a statement says “just for teens 63 secrets for flawless skin” and a plug that says “flirt for fashion”.

All of the magazines are almost commanding you to look and dress a certain way there are so many stereotypes in the world today for example if you was to walk into somewhere like town with a tracksuit on and your hood up people would think you were a chav or a thug when you could be just a normal person that maybe cold? The majority of these “typical” stereotypes are produce via the media they have a massive part to play in it all.

To conclude I strongly believe that the media have an effect of teenage life up to date. I feel that they have a specific idea of what you must look like and if you don’t then you are not classed as a typical/ normal teenager and most people are and can be offended by this. If the media didn’t put so much stress on teenagers I think we would have different people in our world. The main process that puts a twist on stereotypes is mediation, the middle part when the media re-present something.



Work Book Task Number Two Glossary

Work book task Number Two mag front

Work Book Task Number One (Question one)

What does blogger allow me to do?

Blogger has many features here are a few set out below:

• It offers many templates which makes it simple for you to create a professional looking blog.
• It lets you customise your template.
• There are hundreds of background images, and lots of flexible layouts to choose from.
• You can rearrange widgets through a drag and drop interface.
• You can change fonts and colours of everything and you can edit your blog’s CSS and HTML
• In a matter of minutes you can start posting texts, photos, videos and more to your blog.
• It is closely linked to YouTube so you can upload videos for their straight to your blog.
• Other readers can leave you comments on any of your blog posts and they can give you any useful feedback to help you improve your blog.
• Readers can choose to subscribe to your blog’s feeds, so they are notified whenever you publish a new blog post.
• You have got forty one different languages to choose from so at any point you can change the language of your text.
• You can update and post new things via your mobile phone.

Work Book Task Number One (Question two)

How is Blogger going to help me in my coursework?

Blogger is going to help me create a professional looking blog that I can submit to the exam board and hopefully achieve a high grade (that is my aim).

Blogger will help me as I will be able to keep my work together all in one place and I can edit any documents, files or posts when ever I want to.

I can also design my own template and have what ever colour text and what ever style of font I wish. I think this is a good idea as it shows everyone's individual approach and style. It says a bit about the individual and there approach to the tasks set by our teacher.

By adding images, widgets, text and also relevent pre-recorded/ recorded I can show a range of media examples. Blogger is great for this as it shows I am aware of all differnt aspects to the subject of media.