This document is a mind map and research for a student's ancillary product project on designing a TV magazine front cover. It provides details on the inspiration magazine "Soaplife", including its circulation figures, target audience, and features. The student explores ideas for their magazine's name, masthead font, headlines, pricing, and colors. Social media integration is also discussed. The conclusion emphasizes using high quality photos and replicating the inspiration magazine's colors and style.

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio
Mind Map and
Research
Name: Emily Vaughan
Candidate Number: 3147
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Generation of Ideas for Ancillary Product 1) –
TV Magazine Front Cover

2. Source of Inspiration
History of the Product
• In 1999, the magazine began with one issue in order to
print from The British Soap Awards as its sister television
listings magazine, What’s on TV, did not have enough space
to print all the backstage images. After the selling figures
being impressive the second issue came out. Since the late
1990’s soap life has made 400 issues.
Publisher- Time Inc. (UK) Ltd
Circulation Figures – HOW many people read the magazine?
• 43,154 (ABC Jan-Jun 2016) print and digital editions
• Soaplife is the number 1 fortnightly soap magazine in the
UK
• Written by soap lovers for soap lovers, fortnightly
magazinethat brings more news, more gosip and more
stars from readers’ favorite shows than any other soap
magazine.
• 339,000 consumers every fortnight in print.
• The second biggest selling soap opera magazine, behind
the weekly Inside soap.
Socio-Economic Needs
Stereotypically, the target audience of Soaplife mainly consists
of women as they want to read and catch up on the gossip
about soap operas then men, as women mostly watch soap
operas. The target audience is typically the socio- economic
group C1,C2,D and E, as normally most story lines are revelent
to the working class or students, so therefore they read the
magazine.

3. Masthead Ideas
SoapGo- This masthead
would attract my target
audience as it is very short
and catchy. This lets the
readers know that the
magazine could be read
on the go such as when
they are traveling. This will
‘inform’ (Katz) the reader
that the magazine is easy
to read as it has easy
storylines which follow
the soap opera. This
demonstrates that readers
that they are getting up-
to-date information which
emphasis this informs
readers on what is coming
up.
SoapLatest- This masthead
is appealing because of the
the verbal code ‘latest’ this
‘informs’(Katz) readers that
the content of the
magazine is new
information. This could
connote that they will be
getting inside information
about the magazine. The
masthead would be in the
middle which could be
tilted. This will have good
brand identity as it will be
red, which stands out
compared to the rest of
the page and it will also be
bold to emphasis the
significance it has.
YourSoap- This name is
good as it involves the
audience in the name of
the magazine. This implies
that the magazine is for
the readers which could
suggest they could get
involved in the magazine
such as on social media .
This makes the magazine
sound more personal for
the reader almost like they
have been invited to listen
to gossip and spoilers. This
will have stricking colours
such as read which I will
‘repeat’(Steve Neale) from
my magazine of inspiration
‘Soap Life’.

4. Font: Arial Black
This font style is
called ‘Arial Black’.
I like they way the
font is bright red
so it stands out
compared on the
magazine front
cover. I also added
a drop shadow to
the font in order
to ‘repeat’ (Steve
Neale) the front
cover of my
magazine of
inspiration.

5. Cooper Black
This font is called
‘Cooper Black’ . I think
it is appealing as
potential masthead
font because its
rounded which makes
it more interesting.
This connotes that
that the magazine is
fun and enjoyable
which illustrates that
it is full of gossip and
behind the scenes.

6. Abadi MT Condensed Extra bold
This font is called ‘Abadi
MT condensed Extra
Bold’ I believe this font
would be eye catching to
my audience because it
is red and has a drop
shadow so it looks more
attractive. This text is
quite condensed so it
can be read more easily

7. Final Masthead Font: Arial Black
I have chosen to call my magazine ‘SoapGo’ using the font
‘Arial black’ this is because its appealing and attractive as it
demonstrates to readers that the magazine is easy to read
and can be read on the go as many people are on the go and
busy so the magazine can be taken around with people. This
font is similar to the font used in ‘Inside soap’ which is my
magazine of inspiration, so it will enable me to attract similar
readership so I don’t reinvent the wheel.

8. Main headline Ideas
Possible Headlines
• Is Jess Really a mum? This connotes
that Jess may be having a baby
which lets the audiences have
‘hype’ for the new episodes to find
out more details about the story
line.Also the way it’s a retorical
questions allows readers to have
their own opinions of what may
happen so they want to read on
later.
• Who Is the Killer? The connotations
of this is that someone has defiantly
been killed so it allows readers to
talk about who they think has killed
a character such as on social media
which creates more hype for the
episode.
• Jess’ Baby Nightmare! By using an
exclamation mark it demonstrates
to the audiences that something
very dramatic has happened there
readers want to read the story
inside.
Positioning
• Tilted across page in
middle of page- By having
the main headline tilted
means that it stands out
and is eye-catching. This
also means you may be
able to see the images
better as people may like to
see visually what characters
are involved in the story's.
• Across Main image- By
having the main headline
across the main images
means that people know
that these story's are
related. This also means
that the main headline
would stand out over other
cover lines. This also means
readers can easily read the
main headline.
Language and punctuation
• Question Marks-By using
question marks in the
main headline causes the
reader to question what
happens in the new
episodes. Therefore
readers want to buy the
magazine to read further.
• Capital Letters-As the
main headline will have be
in all capital letters it will
stand out and draw
attention to this story on
the magazine. This shows
the significance of capital
letters in magazines.
• Exclamation Marks- This
makes the magazine more
dramatic and
demonstrates the
importance of exclamation
marks as readers think
something major has
happened.

9. Language/price
Price: By looking at other
magazines it has demonstrated to
me that the prices are between
50p and £1.70. This is a big
difference but now as prices are
increasing it means that
magazines are more expensive as
the cost more to produce. So I
may price my magazine on the
more expensive range of this such
as £1.75.
Strapline Language: The
strapline in my magazine
of inspiration is short and
snappy it says ‘ Britain's
NO.1 soap fortnightly’ this
connotes to readers that
lots of people buy the
magazine so they will get it
too to fit in and keep up
with the gossip.

10. Colours
I will be using red, yellow, black, pink, blue and white in my
magazine on the front cover. This makes the magazines eye
catching and they look action packed and busy as it connotes the
magazine is covering lots of story's. These colours have been
used in my magazine of inspiration ‘soap life’ so I will ‘repeat’
(Steve Neale) so I don’t ‘reinvent the wheel.’

11. Synergy (Social Media)
In my magazine of inspiration of ‘SoapLife’ it does not
include social media links on the front cover. Therefore
I will be adding social media so that fans can talk about
upcoming episodes, to find exclusive content and
information on social media. This means that other
people could also find out more about the magaine
online.

12. Conclusion
In my research I have discovered that in order to carry
out my magazine I should make sure that my images
are taken with a DSLR camera so the pictures are
good quality. Also I need to use the colours used on
my magazine of inspiration so that it stands out and
makes it look like it there is lots of content in the
magazine. Also, I should use a masthead so people
know what the magazine looks like giving it brand
identity.