This document provides a mind map and research for a TV magazine front cover as part of an A2 media studies coursework. It summarizes the inspiration, history, circulation figures, typical audience, and various design elements for the front cover such as masthead ideas, main headline ideas, needed images, language/price, puff promotions, and synergy with social media. The student concludes they will purchase an example soap opera magazine, organize a photo shoot with group members, and design the front cover in Adobe Photoshop using the researched conventions.

1. OCR Media Studies – A2 Level
Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio
Mind Map and
Research
Name: TJ Salango
Candidate Number: 1220
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: Soap Opera Digest is an American
soap opera magazine which is distributed weekly. It was
founded in November, 1975, by Angela and Jerome Shapiro.
Publisher: Soap Opera Digest is currently being published by
American Media ,Inc. with David Jackson acting as the
Executive Vice President whilst assuming publishing
responsibilities.
Circulation Figures – HOW many people read the magazine?
The current number of readers is just over 2.8 million in the
U.S with the median age of the audience being 51.6. The
website, SoapOperaDigest.com, earns around 336,000 unique
visitors monthly with 1.4 million views per month. This
information was obtained through American Media, Inc.
Socio-Economic Needs: The typical audience of this particular
media product would fit into the C1 and E categories of the
socio-economic needs graph due to the stereotypical soap
opera audience. Students and workers are likely to find soap
operas relatable because of the plots and situations the
characters find themselves in. Because the majority of soap
characters are of the working class, the audience is too.

3. Masthead ideas
Masthead Ideas
Masthead Name: “The Weekly
Soap”, this masthead denotes
the weekly release of my
magazine and the reliability of
the company; the fact that my
magazine would be issued
more than just monthly would
mean that all the news, stories
and content would be
completely up to the date.
This would, in theory, keep it
above competition with other
magazines.
Font style: I would keep the
font style simple and bold so
that older readers would
have no difficulty in reading
it. The average reader age of
Soap Opera Digest was over
50 years, therefore the font
would have to be suitable for
a similar audience. “The
Weekly Soap” uses the
font name ‘Abadi MT
Condensed Extra Bold’ and is
an ideal font style.
Position: Like the Soap Opera Digest masthead,
it’d be positioned at the upper left corner of the
front cover; it would be layered over by an
image or the main headline. The size would be
around 1/8th of the page so that it isn’t
obstructing nor would it be too small to depict.
The masthead name itself would lay centered
across a rectangular background.
Colors: The rectangular background of the
masthead would be red with a white and
black border to highlight it. The red’s vibrant
color is eye-catching; furthermore, the font
would be plain white, which contrasts
strongly against the red, further creating a
bright and striking masthead.
The Weekly Soap

4. Main headline ideas
Magazine Headline
Ideas
Main Headline Ideas: Typically the
language used in headlines are bold
statements, anchored by exclamation
marks and enlarged words to
exaggerate the urgency.
Brand New! Hanging Hill Lane: This
main headline is straight to the point
and offers the reader an idea of what
would be the main focus of the
magazine.
Hanging Hill Lane Season 1: Whilst
this is not as obvious as the previous
headline, it still delivers the message I
want to give. This particular headline
would add focus on the name of the
soap as opposed to it being brand
new.
Colors: Soap Opera mastheads tend to use
vibrant colors such as white, yellow and red in
their main headlines. Some magazines use
fluorescent colors like bright purple or blue,
however I feel that this makes the magazine
look tacky and unprofessional. Preferably my
headline would be yellow or white, with a black
outline.
Font style: The main headline
itself would feature a bold font
in all capitals
MAIN HEADLINE: This font is
called ‘Haettenschweiler’, it is
bold and distinct, making it
suitable for a main headline.
Its slim size will allow me to
type up a longer headline if
necessary
MAIN HEADLINE: This font is
called ‘Impact’. Whilst
possessing the same qualities
as the previous font choice, it
is much thicker.
Position: Similar to my magazine of inspiration, I would
like to position my main headline in the center of the
cover. It would overlay the image beneath it, making it
stand out. I would prefer it to be large enough that it is
striking but not too obstructing of the rest of the
conventions on my magazine front cover. If it were to
clash with the masthead, my main headline would be
at the foreground

5. Images needed
Images needed
Main Image: My ideal main image
would be a medium shot at eye
level of the main characters
involved in the soap opera. The
characters would be wearing dark
clothes for ease of editing whilst
keeping them in contrast against
the plain background. Their facial
expressions should be neutral to
reflect the mature themes in my
trailer. I’d wish to follow a similar
image layout as my magazine of
inspiration with the image taking
up a large area of the centre of the
front cover. I think it would be
easier to take photographs of
individual people and edit them
into one format rather than taking
a group picture, however I’d have
to keep the lighting and distance
all consistent. The model must be
looking directly into the camera as
they are a representative of the
magazine.
Cover Images: My cover images
will focus on other soap operas;
the shot types I hope to include
would again be medium shots,
depending on whether or not the
cover lines are focused on actual
soap operas or fake ones. The size
of the cover images will be
considerably smaller than the
main image so as to not draw too
much attention over the main
story. These images do not require
the model to look into the camera
unless they are specifically
addressing the audience.
Medium Shot exampleEye level shot with the model
Looking directly into the camera

6. Language/price
Language and Price
Strapline Language: The
majority of soap opera
magazines I’ve observed
feature straplines ; Soap Opera
Digest has a strapline that runs
along a thin strip at the top of
the cover that focuses on cover
stories as opposed to the brand
of the magazine itself. Similar to
the main headline, the entirety
of the strapline should be upper
case to add to the professional
finish of the page. The language
is concise and to the point as
there is only a limited space.
My strapline will focus on a
cover story or “critical views on
Hanging Hill Lane”, supplied
with a page number.
Price: The Barcode on my
magazine of inspiration reveals
that the issue was sold for
$4.99 USD each, which converts
to £3.84. I personally think this
is a reasonable price for a
higher quality magazine. I’ve
seen some magazines sell for
under £1 but the layout of
these magazines were tacky
and unprofessional with
blinding colours and no
consistency whatsoever,
therefore I believe a price
between £2.99 to £3.99 would
accurately represent the
exclusiveness of my magazine.

7. Puff Promotion
Puff Promotion
Ideas
Puff Promotion: Plenty of soap
opera magazines such as Soap
Opera Digest, TV Choice and
What’s On TV all feature puff
promotions in their front covers
that take place in different
shapes and positions. Generally
the puff takes form as a spiky
circle to add emphasis on what
is being promoted. A lot of the
time, nothing is really
advertised inside the puff, but
rather it is used to highlight a
certain story, for example, the
verbal code “NEW!” may be
used inside a puff to promote a
new soap opera.
Colours: The puff has to
contrast against the background
in order to be effective. I feel
that colours similar to the rest
of the magazine would keep the
house style consistent whilst
still keeping the puff promotion
eye catching. I will consider
using colours of red, yellow,
black and white.

8. Synergy (social media)
Synergy (Social
Media) Ideas
Synergy: Synergy is
important in modern day
magazines due to the
increasing use of digital
media. I feel that this will
keep younger readers up to
date without the need of
reading conventional
magazines.
Facebook: I will add a Facebook ident on my front cover to
represent my soap opera’s official Facebook page. This page
would allow users to read about the latest news and events;
Facebook is free and the majority of younger people own an
account, meaning that it is likely to be a popular choice of
media.
Twitter: Like Facebook,
Twitter can also be used to
upload news and events. The
simple benefit of offering an
official Twitter page is so that
the reader is offered a choice
of which social network they’d
prefer to use.
Instagram: Instagram is a more photo
based social media application; my
soap opera’s Instagram page would
focus on images of soap operas behind
the scenes and any new and upcoming
events regarding soaps.
Official Website: For
those who don’t regularly
use social media, there
will be a link to the
Hanging Hill Lane official
website that posts the
latest news and
information.
Hashtag: The use of the ‘#’ is
common in social media and is used
to tag a theme of discussion or the
name of a significant topic. The
hashtag is often used to share
content on social media and is
greatly demonstrated on
Instagram's search function.

9. Mind Map - Conclusion
In order to progress in my magazine development, I will need to purchase a soap opera
magazine, either from a local store or second hand online. A primary magazine would
allow me to examine the typical structure of the front cover, paying attention to small
details such as the barcode and links to page numbers. Preferably I would like to follow
the style of Soap Opera Digest so I may have to look online to purchase the American
published magazine. For the images I will have to organize meetings with my group
members in order to take individual photos. I don’t believe I would need any specific
props but I will contact my group members prior to the photo shoot to ensure that
they wear suitable clothing. The software I would use to construct the front cover is
Adobe Photoshop CS6; at home I can work on the magazine using Adobe Photoshop
CS5. I already have a lot of experience with the tools in Photoshop because of the
previous music magazine front cover I have designed as part of my AS level
coursework. The fonts should be readily available, if not I will look to DaFont to
download them.