This document provides a mind map and research for ideas for an ancillary product, a TV magazine front cover, for a media studies project. It includes potential magazine names, mastheads, headlines, images, and other design elements. Research was done on existing soap opera magazines to inform the design choices. The document concludes with next steps, such as procuring images and finalizing the font style, and notes the software that will be used to create the magazine cover.

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio
Mind Map and
Research
Name: Zakary Winsall
Candidate Number: 2144
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
• Originally IPC Media
• Founded in 1991
Publisher
• Company - TimeInc. UK
• Publishing Director: Angela O’Farrell
• Editor: Colin Tough
Circulation Figures – January to June 2015
• 3.4 million readers every week
• 1,015,862 – Print & Digital
• 1,013,702 – Print Only
• 2,160 – Digital Only
• Largest TV magazine in the UK
Price range – 50p-60p
This establishes the target reader because the price of the magazine is very
cheap and allows for the younger audiences to be able to afford it with the very
little money they potentially earn. This also helps to establish the audience
because as it is a very cheap price it means that the target readership is more
likely to buy the magazine for a weeks worth of TV information for such a little
amount of money.
Socio-Economic Needs
The denotation of the stereotypical target audience will consist mainly of
middle/lower class individuals in the socio-economic needs categories of C1, C2,
D and E because these are the people which can relate the most to the issues
that are risen in the soap. This is because the soap generally follows the
middle/lower class people to watch their struggle which the people in these
categories can feel.
Source:
http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/47
307340.pdf

3. Mind Map
Masthead
Ideas
Possible Names:
Daily Dose: This suggests that the audience
will be getting their weekly dose of the up to
date soap information they enjoy.
Soap Inside: This masthead ‘signifies’ (De
Saussure) to the reader that by reading this
TV magazine they will get inside the content
of the soap.
Soap TV: This masthead is also fairly catchy,
connotes the feeling that the reader is
choosing the exact soaps they want to watch.
TV Info: Not very catchy, doesn’t have a ring
to it and is very generic. Readers may be less
likely to purchase a copy due to this.
Verbal Codes:
When researching existing soap opera
magazines there is enticing language such as
‘inside’ and ‘digest’. This suggests that the
reader is going to be taking in a lot of key
information.
They also use language such as ‘fight’ and
‘back’ to illustrate what is happening in the
soap. Fighting and people returning to the
soap are stereotypical plots for soap operas.
Colours:
Yellow: Yellow is a very common colour that I used on many TV magazines.
This is because yellow is a very bright colour that stands out when visible on a
shelf. It is also quite a ‘neutral’ colour as there are no real connotations for it
unlike the colour red.
Red: There are a lot of connotations behind this colour. Mainly love, passion or
even danger. These are usually the main themes for soaps and therefore is a
good colour to use.
Position on Page:
Top Left: The top left of the page would suit
a masthead that is very short and is able to
fit into an iconic box that also becomes the
magazine logo which would be very
memorable.
Top Centre: The centre of the page at the top
would be good for a masthead which is too
long to get inside a small box (E.g. Soap
Inside) instead this would be placed across
the centre, larger than the rest of the text
making it very obvious and iconic.
Font Style:
Serif: Serif fonts generally look a lot more
fancy and as if it would be used for some that
is of a high class. They also do not look as
nice when enlarged as a masthead.
San Serif: San Serif fonts do not look as fancy
and are usually more rounded. This connotes
the more lower class which is considering the
type of audience this magazine is going to
appeal to.
Bolded: Bolded fonts definitely make a
difference on a page as it gives the original
font more depth and allows for it to become
more obvious if it was on a shelf. By doing
this the reader would be more likely to buy it
as it’s stood out for them.
Soap TV
Daily Dose
Soap Inside
TV InfoFonts:
Serif – Keep Calm Medium
San Serif - Constantia

4. Mind Map
Possible Headlines:
Joe is Back!: This headline specifically draws
the attention of the reader and potentially
captures their focus on the main story of the
character, Joe, returning to the soap. There
could be a twist in the plot of the soap,
because the audience is unaware of the
characters original motive for leaving.
Affair Revealed: This headline again wants to
draw in the attention of the reader because
it is revealing something that is currently
unknown to the audience. However this isn’t
that effective as you don’t know who’s affair
it is, all the audience knows is that there is an
affair which about to be revealed.
Killer On The Run: This headline especially
draws in the attention of the reader because
it may evoke some sort of fear for them as if
they were actually living inside their
favourite soap, now knowing that there is a
killer around. This is good that there is no
name of the killer in the headline as it needs
to be kept a mystery.
Main
Headline
Characters:
Punctuation: Exclamation marks are very important in drawing
the attention of the reader because they are very obvious and
signify that what they’re reading is of high importance.
Capital Letters: Similarly to the punctuation, capital letters also
draw in the attention of the reader because is seems like what
they are reading is very significant and important to their
knowledge about their favourite soaps.
Positioning:
Centre Page: Usually a headline placed in the very
centre of the page ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) the
importance of it to the audience. This is the main story
that will grab the attention of the reader and if it does
not look significant it will not cause the reader to
purchase a copy of it.
Bottom Page: This would not be a very effective place to
position a headline as it does not signify any importance
to it considering it is the main story.
Therefore it is unlikely to grab the attention of the
reader.

5. Mind Map
Main Image:
As seen with all of the magazines I have
analysed it’s obvious to see that the most
stereotypical shot which is used is a medium
shot of the character involved in the story.
This is very important because this is
illustrating that his character is the most
important person this week in the soaps and
something important is clearly happening
with them.
The medium shot is very stereotypical and
popular with soap magazines because it
allows for the audience to few the majority
of the characters body to establish their tone
through their body language.
Images
Needed
Examples:
Cover Line Imagery:
Boxes: Cover line imagery is usually located
in separate boxes on the front cover. By
placing the images in their own box with the
cover line it separates them from the main
headline and image and doesn’t draw the
attention away from that main story.
Edges: The cover line imagery is also usually
located around the edges of the page. This is
again so that attention is not taken away
from the main story and it therefore does
not interfere.
Other Soaps:
Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Eastenders,
Emmerdale: By choosing these soaps to be
features in my magazine it is opening the
magazine directly to a wider audience as
these soaps are the most popular in the UK.
These soap operas would be cover stories to
my own soap opera that is airing soon. If the
audience is not interested in the new soap
opera, they have the other, more generic
and more popular soaps to watch and gather
details on instead.

6. Mind Map
Price:
Currently the most popular TV magazines
such as What’s on TV and InsideSoap usually
cost less than £1.00 . In order for my soap
magazine to be competitive I would need to
charge less than the usual price in order to
attract the reader. So because of this I will
most likely charge within the range of 50-60
pence for my soap magazine.
Other
Puff Promotion:
Buzz Words: It has been seen in the research
into soap magazines that there is a use of
enticing language in order to draw the
attention of the reader. Some of these words
include ‘Exclusive’, ‘Revealed’, and ‘Secret’.
By using language such as this the audience
is enticed into reading about that soap in the
magazine as they want a preview into this
week’s line up of soaps.
Competitions: As seen on some soap
magazines, competitions are used on the
cover in order to entice the reader. This is
because by buying a copy, there is an
incentive as they could win something big
from the magazine.
Shapes: The use of various different shapes
on the page also entices the audience. This is
because the main story to the magazine is
not in a shape, so when seeing the cover
stories and other items in a shape it will draw
the attention of the audience.
Strapline Language:
Similarly the strapline has to include
different buzz words and other enticing
language. The strapline is used to create
recognition of the new soap magazine brand
that needs to stand out from the rest of the
current magazines. These buzzwords may
include a mixture of capital and punctuation
such as exclamation marks as well as
language such as ‘Exclusive’ and ‘Inside’.
Synergy With Social Media:
Facebook and Twitter: When designing my
new soap magazine, I need to take into
consideration how I want to appeal to a
wider audience. I can do this by incorporating
the social media logos onto the page in order
to potentially appeal to a younger audience
who are always on their phones.

7. Mind Map - Conclusion
What I need to do next:
In order for me to take the first steps to actually creating my soap magazine, I need to actually consider going to
shop and walking down the magazine aisle to see what magazines catch my attention. The ones which I think
are the most appealing I should buy and repeat the features seen in these magazines. I would also be able to
look inside the magazine in order to have an incite in to what is usually present and manipulate this to be
present on my front cover.
What I need to organise/arrange:
As we’re working in groups it would be ideal to get the pictures that I need for my magazine to be taken with
them when we’re all free. One of these times could be on the date in which we are actually filming the trailer.
However this may not be ideal because we would be busy filming and may not have the time to take pictures for
the magazine. Therefore I would have to take these images in my own free time so I don’t waste the time when
we need to film. The prop list also still needs to be sorted in our group so that we know who is able to bring in
what props, or to see what we actually need to go out and buy for both the trailer and the magazine images.
Finally I need to make sure that I find a suitable font style that looks professional, but is also stereotypical of
soap opera magazines.
Software I will use to create the product:
The main program I will be using in order to create my magazine will be Adobe Photoshop CS5. This is a
professional photo editing program in which I can manipulate images and text in order to achieve a professional
magazine cover. I could also consider using Adobe Fireworks CS5 as well as this program is able to easily remove
background colours and shapes from an image I want to use with not a lot of hassle.