2. The Brief
“You have been commissioned by The Northern
Echo to produce a new magazine or newspaper
product. Your product could be in any style or
genre but it must be self financed through sales
or advertising. You must also produce your
magazine for a specific audience segment within
the 16 to 25 age group.”
3. Client Considerations
Secondary audience- Families, children and over 35s
• No nudity
• No taboo language
• No inappropriate content
Dedication to the community
• Use of local advertisers
• Local topics such as their ‘Local Heroes’ Saturday paper
High production and editorial standards
• Use of high quality personnel such as journalists and photographers
4. Genre Research
RAVE is a hybrid alternative women’s lifestyle
magazine. I chose this genre because at first I
wanted to make a women’s lifestyle magazine.
However whilst doing research into the genre I
discovered the lack of variety within the designs,
layouts and contents. They were all pink, girly and,
overall, quite superficial looking.
I wanted to create a magazine that broke away from
these conventions.
5. Genre Research- Analysis
Out of all the women’s lifestyle magazines that I looked at, my favourite one was Company so
I decided to critically analyse it.
Masthead is partly covered- magazine is
instantly recognised so we don’t need to
be able to read it clearly
Rule of 3’s- fonts
Cheap price- accessible to
target audience
# shows mag is
current and up-todate
Shows that the magazine isn’t just
about fashion beauty but that it is quite
cultured and perhaps not as shallow as
you would think- refers to the Olympics‘gets sporty- how very 2012’
Alliteration
gives energy –
mirrors target
audience
Main image is Jessie J- role
model admired by target
audience
Seductive body language but
innocent face – her hands are
almost pleading for the target
audience to buy the magazine
Masthead font bold and easy
to read
Feature images- gives a taster of
what is to come
Also has a collage effect.
Exclamatives
are usedenergy and
fun
Abbreviation- shows that the mag is
aimed at a younger, fresher
audience
6. Genre Research (continued)
I liked that Company looked
quite amateur. Its design was
that of a scrapbook which
made it a lot more informal
and accessible to the target
audience. This inspired me to
create a magazine that was full
of different medium
(drawing, painting etc.) and use
a variation of textures.
Although I will take inspiration
from Company, I won‟t base my
magazine on it as I still think
that theirs is too girly to be
appropriate for my target
audience.
7. Audience
Research
Target audience:
Females aged 17-21 - students
Socioeconomic group: As and Bs
Tribe: Indie Scenesters and
Creatives
This target audience has influenced my
magazine because it meant that I have
to use more youth-orientated
language, images and article
topics in order to sustain interest.
These tribes will want a unique and
unconventional magazine. They will
also want it to be creative, artistic
and interesting.
8. Audience Viability
This was the title page that was made to go
with both mock up 1 and 2. I wanted it to be
a light hearted image so as to attract the
target audience and make them want to read
the actual article.
The purpose of my mock ups was to
experiment with the article itself and
also the layout of the 2 DPS’s.
11. Audience Viability- Feedback
Comments:
• “ I like the little comment „another clever person‟”, “it’s funny, but still gets the message across”
• “it‟s more informative”
• “seems more personal and especially because it‟s talking about 18-24 year olds, the language used seems
more appropriate for that kind of an audience. The other one seems more like a newspaper article rather than a
magazine spread.”
• “I thought the 1st one was hilarious but the 2nd article is much more developed… The layout and simplicity of the
2nd DPS is much better than the first. Such a good design it‟s a shame to cover it up.” (referring to the 1 st DPS
layout)
• About the 1st article- “It was funny, more informal”
• “prefer layout of first one. Smaller chunks of text so more readable. Also like the tick boxes.”
• “I like the layout of the second one best because on the first that white block just blends in too much”
• “Love the Downton reference, like the layout of the first one better, like the content of the first one better too”
• “I prefer the first one, it‟s more fun”
Improvements:
• “mix seriousness with a bit of non-seriousness and emphasise how Facebook makes people think about what
other people think about them and their image, making comparisons with other, and judging popularity etc…
The first one needs to be less jokeyish but it does read a lot easier.” However, in response to this, someone else
said that it shouldn‟t be less comical “especially considering it‟ll be for people around our age. I think if it didn‟t
have jokes in people would get bored of reading it.”
• “maybe a bit less text but keep the questionnaire”
• “maybe make the facts in the „did you know?‟ box a bit easier to read by separating them”
• “take the text of the first and format it like the second”
• Would change the title to Facebook: Under The Thumb- the „of‟ takes away some of the impact
12. Youth-orientated
Short, punchy
word - energy
RAVE
The Magazine
‘Ranting and raving’ – applicable to target audience
Allows me to write about
varied topics – music and
social issues
Front Cover
• Layout - simplistic, minimalistic (general feel of whole magazine).
• It will act as the contents page as well.
• Spider-diagram-like – RAVE will be in the middle of the page with the
articles names/sell lines and pictures around it.
• Will also have page numbers on so articles are easy for target audience to
find
• Images will be a mixture of cartoon and photographed images from
the articles. Links back to my aim of using different mediums and textures.
• Like Company, collage-y/ informal feel - make it accessible to the target
audience
• Active layout- needs to be attractive to grab audience‟s attention- so its not
thrown away.
• Colours - mainly black and white, with a few splashes of colour
• Variety of fonts throughout the magazine so as to make it more visually
appealing – it will keep it fresh- looking.
13. Article 1 – The Man Behind The Mic
This will be an interview with rising star and local talent Andrew
Backhouse. I will be talking to him about his podcast, his celebrity
interviews and his increasingly successful future career in the music
industry. Because he‟s local, it fits with the Northern Echo‟s community
values.
The tone of this should be jokey and light- hearted. The imagery will
include a visual play on the article name whereby a radio microphone is
stood in front of him, while Andrew is having to lean to the side so as to
not be covered by the microphone head. Other images will include him
DJ-ing at Latitude festival (1 of the topics that will be discussed in the
interview).
The article will include a break out box of Andrew‟s advice on how
readers can make a name for themselves in the music industry. This will
also fit with the Northern Echo‟s aim of helping the community.
14. Article 2 – Under The Thumb Of Facebook
This article is about modern society‟s addiction to Facebook. This is a social issue
which is what I found to be the most read article type by my target audience.
It will be a comical, sarcastic tone that will entertain the reader. Again, the
imagery will be a visual representation of the article name where a model will be
looking up, comically scared with the Facebook thumb over her head.
The main colours will be black, white and blue/purple. The DPS will basically
look like Mock up 1 with a few details altered. I will take into consideration what
the target audience said I could improve on it.
15. Article 3 – Make Do and Mend
This will be a „DIY‟ article on how to transform a tired piece of generic clothing
into something more stylish. I thought this would appeal to my target audience
because they are students and so have less disposable income. They also hate
waste-culture as creative tribes so I thought that this would appeal to them.
This should also satisfy the aims of the Northern Echo as they want to protect
the needs of the community and so the local environment – recycling.
The article will be a step-by-step guide on how to make something. Each step
will have its own picture and then a small amount of text that gives extra
direction. At the end of all the steps, there will be images of a model wearing
the finished product.
16. Alternative Article 3
As an alternative to ‘Make Do and Mend’ I will create an article called ‘I Wear Your
Grandad’s Clothes - I Look Incredible.’ This is a line taken from a song (Thrift Shop)
that the target audience are likely to know.
This will be a photographic fashion feature focusing on the ‘old-man style’. It will
include images of a model wearing various ‘grandad’ style clothes including baggy
jumpers and tweed blazers. I think this will appeal to the target audience as this
style is quite indie and alternative which is what my magazine is all about.
18. Commercial Viability
I made a loss of £2383.40. My main expenditure
was the printing costs. Because I was a free
supplement to the Northern Echo, I had to print
the same number of copies as them (40,000).
When collecting my personnel and equipment
costs, I calculated them to their maximums so I
think in reality these costs would be a lot smaller.
I think that if I create the high quality magazine
that I think I can, my magazine would be likely to
be a success and so with each issue, I could charge
more for advertising space and so make more
revenue.
However, I could rethink my distribution channel
by changing to a retail strategy so that my revenue
would be from sales as well as advertising.
