A-Level Media Coursework - Research for magazine

1. Media Coursework -
Research
Jennifer Jones

2. Genre conventions
• Masthead – The title/ name of the magazine
• Main image – the large picture in the centre of the cover which is normally the main focus
• Cover model – the person who is the main image
• Anchorage text – Writing relating to the main image and tells you what the main image is
• Slogan/ Tagline – words that are associated with the magazine in advertising
• Puff(s) – gives information on the content of the magazine and is usually in the shape of a circle or a star
• Pug – used to catch the readers eye, it’s placed in the top right and left hand corner
• Strapline – a smaller headline printed above the masthead
• Cover/Sell lines – text on the cover that helps to sell the magazine to the audience
• Barcode/Price – used in purchasing the magazine

3. Typical conventions of Current Affairs magazines
• Masthead – this is a universal feature for all magazines as it is the title of the specific magazine
• Main image – for these types of magazines they could be anything whether that be a celebrity/ person or an object which is causing conflict
• Cover model – specifically for this type of magazine the cover model (if they are using a person) is crucial as how they look and who they are could relate to the stories inside
• Anchorage text – Writing relating to the main image and tells you what the main image is
• Slogan/ Tagline – words that are associated with the magazine in advertising
• Puff(s) –gives the audience a basic idea of what this issue in particular will be about
• Pug – used to catch the readers eye and in this case it would want to make the audience think about what they are going to be discussing in the magazine
• Strapline – a smaller headline printed above the masthead
• Cover/Sell lines –would tell the audience what stories they will be covering, this is likely to be something to do with politics, mental health and other things going on around
the world
• Barcode/Price – used in purchasing the magazine

4. 3 current affairs magazine examples

5. Magazine cover page analysis
Masthead
The title of the magazine
Cover lines
Displaying the title of the articles inside
and a little information about them
Slogan
A phrase which the magazine would be
constantly recognised for having
Date and Issue number
This would be used so the customer knows if they
are up to date with their copies and the actual
business would use it to know how many issues they
have released
Barcode
Scanned when purchasing the magazine
Cover model(s)/ picture
In this particular issue there are to cover models
however rather than a real life image this is a
cartoon that would intended to be used in a
comical sense
Website
Showing customers where they can find extra
media material provided by the magazine,
useful if they want to find out more about
the topics spoken about in this edition
Anchorage text
This is explaining what the main topic of the
magazine will be. In this particular issue where
two political figures are on the front page this
would instantly attract customers

6. Magazine contents page analysis
Branding
On this magazine they have carried the title of
the magazine across to the contents page and it
put at the top centre to draw attention to it. This
serif font adds value to the magazine as well
through branding as they are known for not only
the name of the magazine but the font style
Main image
This image is of ‘Ken Feinberg’ which is most
likely the key focus of the magazine. From the
middle front angle we are given the
impression that there will be an interview
with this person and this is emphasized
further by the setting (desk/office becomes
an indicator that this is someone who is
serious about their work), body language,
costume and neutral facial expression which
shows that they will be discussing a serious
topic. In terms of props/ other items in the
shot the name plate suggests that Ken is
likely an expert at the topic they will be
discussing; the depth of field also implies this
as it is placed supposedly in front of his face.
Article list
In a typical magazine has a list of the articles
that they have within the magazine and there
is nothing different about this one. In this
magazine (TIME), in terms of layout, the
articles surround the main image. Each title of
an article as well as the page number it is on is
in bold sans serif font with each one has a
question underneath to show the audience
what will be answered within it and what they
should expect from the article itself
Date and Issue number
Gives the company and customers how many
issues have been released and if they are up
to date. In this magazine the date is at the
top right corner.
Colour scheme
This particular magazine has an almost black and
white theme with small spots of colour not including
the images

7. Representations of
different social
groups in Magazines
• Into representation of different social groups within your form of media (Your product must include representation of at least two different social groups )
• First research the stereotypical representations of different social groups within your chosen medium (music videos, magazines, documentary) (is this as in
age groups or the psychographic categories)
• Dennis appears to try and represent many social groups both by encouraging their brands to include everyone and the company themselves to advertise
themselves as diverse to everything and everyone; from what I have seen they only do this for what is recently happening within the media; for example The
Black Loves Matter is their key focus right now on the website
• Look specifically into your chosen brief (protest songs/current affairs magazines/documentary) – find 3 examples of specific representations of different
social groups that you can analyse. Analyse these in detail using media language. ???
• The Week – This magazine strongly represents all races as well as what is going on in the media at the moment. In terms of the settings and props the people
pulling down the statue is purely reflective of how society is continuously finding things they want to change, the ‘Black lives Matter’ poster also does this;
the colour scheme also portrays the fact that we now see everything clearly in terms of the issues engraved in society
• TIME – This magazine represents mainly the youth and female empowerment as a 17 year old female daws the cover. Her body language with the setting
portrays change is about/ should happen as Greta looks off into the distance. The youth aspect is suggested by her clothing choice as she has a ‘laid-back’
approach
• Business LEADER – This magazine represents the elderly/ older generations as a man and a women who appear to be included in those categories are on the
cover. Their facial expressions suggest that they are happy to be talking about the topic in the magazine if the content and the cover is linked

8. How do magazines make revenue?
Single purchases and subscriptions
The profit that comes from singular purchases is very small as variable costs for this type of sale would be in the
commission the company has to pay to have a space in a news stand/ news agents for a space to sell their
product from. However, buying magazines trough a subscription can be more profitable to the business as they
get the product straight to the customer rather than it having to go to several different places before it reaches
them; by having a customers address it also gives the company an advantage in being able to use direct
advertising (which in this industry would be more effective than indirect as magazines often have niche target
markets) to remind customers to renew their subscription or suggest alternate products the company sells.
Adverts
in most magazines there will either be continuous adds scattered throughout or a ‘classified section. The adverts
are likely to be related to the type of magazine they are in; brands would pay the magazine company a set
amount of money with the amount depending on what type of advert they would want for example, a small ad
at the bottom of the page will cost less than a whole page of the magazine dedicated to the advert. Publishers
will also often use adverts to fill blank spaces in the magazine to make it full of content

9. Magazines and the media
Buyers Journey
Magazines would use advertisement such as posters for special editions on shop windows, likely to be a
book store as the target audience would be early accessible or people are subscripted to more higher end
magazines a service may receive emails and text to notify their audience. In terms of gathering
information someone may research what magazine contains their desired information or which one in
particular would get them information that another magazine does not contain. When exploring options a
customer may look online first to check if there is a cheaper option when purchasing the magazine as it
can be cheaper to get a subscription or maybe if the magazine is high end they may wait for second hand
copies or for a friend to finish reading/looking at it. Making a decision when it comes to purchasing a
magazine it is likely that todays society would either need a disappearance of social media.

10. The Target Audience
• Into the target audience (A socially-conscious, 16–25, middle to upmarket demographic)
• This demographic would usually be busy with studies therefor they are unlikely to have the money to spend on magazine and the typical
person this age would have hobbies such as sports and constantly using social media as a way to contact people
• Socially conscious means to be aware of what other people may think about you and your beliefs. In todays society this age category would be
concerned what people though about the way they looked and who they present themselves; also due to the rapid expanding of social media
you are expected to voice your opinions about certain issues to everyone so they can decide whether you and them are on the same team
• This age group would share their socially conscious attitudes by not only voicing it in public but also using social media to their advantage by
spreading the word about the issue they are concerned about
• This age group who are interested in magazines may look to authors for advice as well as older generations who have watched the issues that
appear in the magazine evolve
• Look in to the producer of your chosen brief, which socially conscious products do they create that would appeal to this age and demographic.
???
• This demographic would commonly not gravitate towards magazines and would gravitate more towards social media but the magazines that
are brought would more likely t=be fashion magazines rather than current affairs

11. Audience research data – 60 people took my survey
What do you think publishers could do to improve magazines?
Some examples of responses (6)
‘Stop body shaming people as it’s ruining people’s mental health and forcing typically young girls
to feel like they don’t look normal’
‘Make the articles shorter’
‘Bringing more light to important situations’
‘Put more interviews in them’
‘Make the imagery more inclusive especially in fashion magazines’
‘Improve layouts often magazines feel like they have too much happening on a page if they
made it a little less busy information would be easier to take in’
‘Fun but readable colourful writing’
What is your favourite magazine? Or one that you have read recently and enjoyed?
Some examples of responses (6)
‘Culture magazine’
‘Economist’
‘VOGUE’
‘Cosmopolitan’
‘National Geographic’
‘Athletics weekly’
Do you think that different social groups are represented accurately in magazines? This
includes the youth, the elderly, different sexualities, ethnic minorities etc. Please explain your
thoughts.
Some examples of responses (6)
‘Different social groups are sometimes displayed in a way I which creates stereotypes’
‘No I think that magazines focus on adults and teens. I don’t think that ethnic minorities or a
variety of genders and also body types are accurately represented. Magazines focus o white,
heterosexual adults in my opinion’
‘No I think that there is a big inequality when it comes to ethnic minorities’
‘I think that the social groups represented tend to reflect the demographics of the target
audience’
‘No I think that the news has a strong bias around white people and celebrities and think
diversity is increasing in smaller magazines and slowly at that but I think larger corporations
need to increase the good perception or minority groups’
‘Yes, incorrectly and in favour of what they think draws people in so they exaggerate and lie

12. Audience profile
Demographics
From my research I have found that 73% of the people who
took my survey were female hence why the top favourite
interests were fashion and beauty which would stereotypically
be the top interests of that gender. While the 17 males
gravitated towards the environment, science and politics. I also
found out that it is nearly even in terms of what people enjoy
the most about magazines as pictures and articles are
appreciated nearly equally.
Psychographics
As my target audience as it is the ‘younger’ side of things
would be not afraid to voice their opinions on controversial
topics and may make more of an effort to be heard by society.
This goes towards things such as discrimination. Racism,
sexism etc and protests which commonly take place. 16-25
year olds would most commonly be associated with the
mainstreamer as they want to constantly up to date with what
is happening and verbally fighting online to show everyone
their thoughts and opinions on topics that are currently rising
in popularity whether the topic be a good one or a bad one
Competitive set
Media outlets that this this generation would commonly reach
for would be every form of social media as they rely on this to
tell them everything they need to know but this makes them
susceptible to fake news. An example of this would be
Instagram as people would rely on each other to post about a
significant event and create a hashtag that they will see
Aspirations and needs
Across this 9 year age band there would be variety of
aspirations and needs as the youngest and oldest would most
likely be at completely different stages of their lives. This is
proven in my results as 16 year olds are be more socially
conscious of the world around them in terms of how people
view them and the higher age group may have come to accept
the world they live in or have become less likely to care what
other people may think of them and prefer to criticize the
media from not moving on from stereotypes. On the lower end
of the scale from example 16 years olds would still be heavily
reliant on parents to guide them through simple tasks of life
while they concentrate on their schoolwork and social life but
on the other end 25 year olds would stereotypically be more
independent financially and have more responsibilities, they
would also start thinking about what they officially want to do
with their life and how they plan to make a difference.
Info and media diet
16-25 year old would most likely rely on the internet to find out
information rather than gravitating towards magazines and
newspapers as they would see this as quicker and easier to find
sources with the information that they desire. They would
commonly look to social platforms such as Instagram and
Youtube as a source of entertainment and it is becoming rarer
and rarer for a teenager to go out to intentionally purchase a
magazine and may buy one on the off chance.

13. The rationale and role of Dennis
They aim ‘to be the most dynamic international media group’. They say that their ‘vision and values come from
all of us…expressed those beliefs into words…Dennis is truly unique and Brilliantly different to other
competitors. Some of their values include ‘innovation and efficiency, ‘long term and agile’, ‘collaborative and
individually bold’ and ‘professional and fun’.
Dennis was set up by Felix Dennis in London’s Fitzrovia in the year 1973. its very first magazine was Kung Fu
Monthly. Dennis was able to catch on to the quick growth of technology as they were almost immediately
known as the ‘leading technology publisher in the UK’. In 1995 Maxim was launched and it has became the
‘world’s biggest selling men’s lifestyle magazine. Then in 1996 ‘a flagship’ brand’ joined Dennis called The Week.
The brands from Dennis continue to win countless awards such as ‘Product Development Team of the Year’ –
Dennis Digital, ‘Digital Publishing Rising Star 2019’ – Amrit Baidwin, Dennis Publishing, ‘Gold for Print product of
the year’ – The Week Junior and ‘Gold for Marketing Team of the Year’ – Dennis Direct Marketing Team.
From reviews it has become clear that Dennis’s customer service is not considered the best as well as issues
with their subscription service
In July of 2018 Dennis Publishing was brought by a British Private Equity firm called Exponent, it has been
revealed that the Heart of England Forest charity received the proceeds from the sale which was £150M

14. The House Style - Dennis
The house style varies on Dennis magazines as it has a range of magazines attached to their
name. however, every magazine appears to always have a masthead at the top on the magazine
with the common themes of what is going on in society but may vary in terms of more obscure
topics. Coach and The Week fall under this category.

15. Digital convergence of Dennis
Social media
I was able to find a few social media sites for Dennis itself such as on Facebook and Twitter where the advertised their brands as well as displaying their accomplishments as a
company but as well as this, the brands that use Dennis to publish their magazines have separate pages which they use to promote themselves as well as Dennis such as ‘Octane
Magazine’. This is suggesting that although magazines are considered to be not consumed as much by the general public Dennis are attempting to make in effort in trying to stay
up to date with the dynamic market of the way we receive our news. Dennis advertises on their website that they are on social media so are guiding customers from one place to
another as well as repeating that they aim ‘to be the most dynamic international media group
Is there an opportunity fans and customers contact and interact on the website?
On the Dennis website there is an option for customers to contact Dennis both with phone numbers and addresses; by having a range of ways to contact them it is branding the
company as inclusive as not all age groups will have access to a phone let alone social media. However on the Dennis website there is not a place where fans can openly discuss
what was in their magazine of choice; this would therefor have to done in the ‘comment sections’ of social media platforms of the separate brands or through Dennis itself
Can I access the products in a variety of ways?
On the separate brand websites they in fact do offer a digitally friendly way to receive the product as well as delivered paper copies. The customer can also make the decision of
if they want to subscribe to the magazine or buy individual copies. Which once again amplifies that the company attempts to include everyone who may be interested in
purchasing from their company.

16. The Dennis website
Layout
In terms of layout on the initial home page of the website it appears to have the typical banner with the logo and slogan in the top left hand corner. Scrolling down the company
tells the public the basic information about the company itself. Different images are used throughout in reflect what they company intends to use their platforms
Font style
While the logo and the slogan are in serif font the rest on the text is in sans serif therefor making the descriptive writing easier to read
Image use
An image underneath which currently features what the magazine is currently focussing on which at this time is the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. Continuing down there is a
few images throughout to reflect what the different sections are talking about
Text information
the company displays ‘our vision’ which includes their aims and beliefs; examples of this would be that they aim ‘to be the most dynamic media company in the UK and believe
that ‘our people are what make Dennis the most dynamic media company in the UK.
Menu bar
The menu bar includes sub topics such as ‘HOME’, ’ABOUT US’, ‘BRANDS’, ‘SUBSCRIBE’, CAREERS’, ‘NEWS’, LICENSING’, CONTACT’ and the logos of different social medias Dennis is
on; this gives Dennis the opportunity to inform their customers about their company in a variety of ways
Colour and graphics
The website appears to go along with the colours in the logo which are red and white with the obvious addition of black text when there is simple description or explanation
Videos
There doesn’t seem to be any videos on the website

17. Kiplinger – a brand from Dennis
When going on the Dennis website it provides a section of ‘BRANDS’ on the website which leads you to sub sections about different brands – Kiplinger is one of those brands
Layout
Similar to the main home page of the website it has the Dennis logo and slogan on a banner at the top left hand corner of the page. However they now have the name of the
brand on top of the main image and basic information underneath about this particular brand
Font style
Other than the Dennis logo and slogan there is no other serif font as the remaining text is all in sans serif
Image use
Other than a large image of the type of magazines that Kiplinger produces there are no other images but this will probably because this is t=from the Dennis website rather than
Kiplinger’s own individual website
Text information
The only text on the page is basic information about the brand
Menu bar – NA – there is no separate menu bar for this page
Colour and graphics
Unlike the main page there is no continuation of the red and white theme and goes straight into a monochrome look with only the image being in colour
Videos
There are no videos within this section