Jess Mone's AS Media Blog: October 2013

Detailed Analysis of Content and Cover conventions:

For my preliminary task I was asked to create a front cover and contents page for my Aquinas Magazine. I feel I succeeded in this task as I incorporated many conventions of front cover and contents pages into my own work.

Firstly, when creating my front cover I originally created a flat plan of where each convention, for example the cover story, would fit. I planned out the mast head to make the magazine name stand out and grab reader’s attention; it is a rectangular area near the top of the page, directly above the main image. The reason the mast head is there is so that it stands out to readers as it is easy to read and shows a clear name of the magazine. The name of the magazine is the main feature of the mast head, sometimes accompanied by a slogan, the font used for the name of the magazine is bold to stand out and is also used as a house font as the style is continued throughout the cover page. Above the mast head I have placed a banner which shows the issue number and date and the slogan ‘The hottest up to date college news!’ I have included this as it conveys a message to readers when they first glance at it informing them that the magazine I have created is the most up to date magazine out at the moment. The main image itself is a medium shot/ close up of my character for the main cover story, a medium shot is often used on magazine covers as it makes the main character stand out from any side stories or photos on the front page. It also means the image is larger as it is more focused in a close up. The main image is central on the page meaning it is dominant and is the main focus of the readers’ attention. This is important as a convention of a front cover as the main image should take up the main thirds of the magazine. It is the first thing that captures peoples’ attention therefore it must be focused, clear and prominent. The denotation of the main image is a happy and open message that fits with the main story as it is a story on the characters history with making music. Overlapping the main image is the pull quote and information on the main story, the font used for the main cover story follows the house style convention as it is the same as the magazine title only smaller and using a variation of the colour scheme. The pull quote for my magazine is ‘Music plays a major role in my life’ I used this as a pull quote as the audience research I conducted showed that many students are interested in music and are more likely to pick up a magazine if it has an article related to music on the front cover, as my target audience is students I felt it was appropriate for my cover story to be focused on music. Underneath my pull quote I have another banner at the bottom of the page, the use of this banner is to inform readers of content of the magazine that has not been featured in any story on the front, it is also typically where a bar code is placed just as mine has been placed on the bottom right. Aside from the different information the banner at the bottom is identical to the top banner in; shape, size and colour to create a consistency along with the house style font used throughout the page.

Above my pull quote, to the right of the page is my pug which is often used as a convention of a front cover, the pug for my magazine being ‘Win an IPhone 5s!’ I have used a picture of an IPhone 5s as the background of my pug sticker as it reinforces the fact that a reader could win an IPhone. Successful pugs on a magazine are often competitions or posters, my audience research showed that my target audience are interested in social networking and technology which is why I chose an IPhone as the prize as it entices audiences. The font of the pug does not follow the house style as I wanted to make it stand out separately. My side stories are placed vertically to the left of the page, this creates a lot of room for the main image however it still makes them stand out as they have a bold outline of a curved shape around them to make the front page look interesting instead of all being straight and unattractive. The side story images are equal in size and are both clear and focused; they do not take attention of the main image but may still catch readers’ eye dependant on their interests. Using my audience research I shaped my side stories around the two other main interests of students, technology and film. I used a similar style of font on both side stories as my pug as I feel this makes them different from the main story but also consistent. I have not used any pull quotes for the side stories as I feel it would fill up the page too much and the more negative space near the main story the clearer it looks for passers-by. The colour scheme for my magazine cover is red, white and black. This is the main colours of the college creating more of a personal feel for Aquinas students. The colour scheme is consistent throughout as both my banners are the same shade of red as the fonts used. My title ‘Aquinas Magazine’ has both the ‘A’ and ‘M’ in red as this makes them stand out for readers. It is also consistent throughout the main story as ‘Introducing’ is in white to match the rest of the title and ‘Nikki’ is in the same red as the initial letters. I have used white font throughout both reed banners and in my pug as white creates a simple denotation but it stands out against the backgrounds. I have used a black stroke around the title and cover story as it creates an outline around the text preventing any blending in; it also makes the text bold and stands out off the page. My text for the side stories is white with a red outline, this follows the colour scheme but prevents the page from looking the same.

Overall I think I have included all the conventions of a front cover page however if I did the task again I would create a layout which included pull quotes for the side stories.

When creating my contents page I took into account all of the usual conventions of a contents page. I followed the colour scheme from my front cover as I wanted consistency with my magazine. I used similar banners to the front cover to continue the house style throughout so that my magazine is distinguishable, the banners are plain red and feature at the top and bottom of the page. At the top of the page the main story feature image is opposite the ‘Contents’ title, I chose to do this as it makes the main image stand out on the page as well as the title. The title follows the style of the magazine title as it uses the same font and has the first letter ‘C’ in red whilst the rest are white. On the left hand side of the page the main image and side story images are all prominent, leaving the majority of the text on the right of the page. My main story image is larger than the others as it is the main feature and is most likely what the reader is looking for. Underneath that I have both side story images, however the second side image is placed slightly to the right to make the page interesting instead of vertically straight all the way down. My images again have borders around them in curved rectangles to make them stand out, sticking to the colour scheme I chose a black border for my main image, a red border for the image directly underneath, a black border for the image underneath that and so on as it creates diversity on the page. I also have my pug shape featured above the bottom border on the left hand side of the page, on the contents page the pug is yellow with white text over the top as yellow stands out against the white background. I have added an underlying image of the IPhone for my pug as it catches the attention of my target audience. Next to my pug I have also added an extra side story image ‘College news!’ as in my flat plan I designed more space for featured images as I would prefer images to dominate my contents page more so than text.

On the right hand side of my contents page I have a list of magazine features and pages numbers directly under the title. I chose to place the list of features here as it is clear to notice and is spaced evenly so each page and feature is easy to read. I have used the house style font of my title and cover page, it is also black and red to stand out against the white background. I created a speech bubble shape underneath my features list so that I was able to include an editors’ note as it is a convention of a contents page. The editors’ note uses a similar style font in black to make it easy to read, it gives the reader information about how the magazine was produced and how each featured was created. I have included an image of the editor at the bottom of the note so readers can see who is in charge of the magazine they are reader, the note is signed off with ‘Jess’ in a larger font similar to the title to create a more personal feel to the magazine as well as making the note stand out with the larger text. For my images I have used a pull quote and a page number to make it easier to find them in the magazine. For this set of text I have used black and red as they are bright and bold overlaying on the image. I have used black font with red outline to make the font stand out even more or certain images and prevent it from blending in, this is the same with the page numbers. Similar to the borders around the images I have alternated between black and red on each image to create diversity.

Overall I feel I was successful with this as I have been consistent with my colour scheme and house style throughout both pages that I have created. If I were to undergo the task again I would perhaps create a more diverse look to the contents page and intertwine images and text rather than separating the page into sections.