The document provides details on the design and layout of a magazine cover for a school magazine targeted towards teenagers. Key elements include a masthead with the title "Sixx", a selling line titled "The A* magazine", and three kickers or headlines relating to topics like chewing gum, stress, and a music review. Feedback was received on making the bottom cover line text more legible and changing the bottom kicker font and color. Changes were then made to improve the magazine cover based on this feedback.

1. Masthead - I have made sure it is legible and bold Dateline - I have made it smaller than all the other text on the image as it isn’t as important Main image - I have made sure it is related to my genre of magazine. I have placed the model on the right, so I am sticking to the left third rule Selling Line - I have placed it underneath the masthead and used the same font. I have related it to the genre of magazine Cover lines/Kickers and explanations – I have used a different font to differentiate it from the masthead and selling line. I have made sure the kickers relate to school and teenagers School magazine

2. Masthead –chose the name "Sixx" because it relates to sixth form and it is also the surname of a musician, which will attract my target audience. I have used the colours pink and black for my masthead because they are both bold and vibrant colours. I used this font because it was a unique font which I found stood out. My selling line is titled "The A* magazine" This makes it seem like it is a fantastic magazine, and the use of confidence in the strap line will attract more people to read it to see if it is in fact an A* magazine. I used a different colour so i could differentiate between the masthead and the selling line. My kickers all relate to my target audience. The first kicker is entitled “chewing gum” this is school related as the majority of students chew gum. So students will feel that they can relate to this. The second kicker is entitled “stressed” all teenagers get stressed at some point, so it appeals to all teenagers. The third kicker is entitled music review. This will interest the majority of teens and it’s a topic that is unrelated to school My main cover line is entitled “ learn how to balance your school and social life. This will attract all teens, as all teens have a social and school life and all teens probably find it hard to balance it out.

3. Positive Negative Kate “ That’s so cool, concise headlines and interesting font” “ Make the bottom cover line font clearer” Zak “ I like the use of colours” “ I don’t like the font on the bottom cover line” Ziad “ I like the use of fonts on the kickers “ Change the font of the bottom kicker”

4. General feedback People liked: The use of colours The concise headings The interesting fonts People didn’t like: The bottom kicker font The bottom kicker colour The bottom kicker in general

5. Improved magazine Changes I have made: I have changed the font and size of the cover line at the bottom of the page. This is now legible. I have fixed the masthead so it looks tidier. I corrected the spelling mistake in the first explanation.

6. I have: Stuck to the left third rule - This means that the model takes up 2/3s of the image, giving me 1/3 of the image to fill with my kickers. Stuck to the eye flow rule – Upon reading a magazine we automatically follow the page in a C shape. I have used this technique on my cover Used the traditional layout of masthead, kickers and date line etc. - I have stuck to this because it is a convention and it makes people happier to see something that they are used to Made sure my main image relates to my magazine – If i were to use an image that wasn’t related to the topic, it wouldn’t make my magazine appealing Used the 3 colour rule - I have used this to make the magazine look nicer. If the colours were to clash, people wouldn’t be attracted to it I have not used a barcode - I haven’t used a bar code because it is a school magazine and barcode is an unnecessary feature In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms & conventions of real media products?

7. How does your media product represent particular social groups? My magazine represents the teenage social group. I have used bright colours to attract teenagers because they are known to have a short attention span so bright colours will attract them to the magazine and perhaps even purchase it. I have used a teenager as the model which appeals to teenagers as she can relate to them. I have made the bright coloured font bold around the edges to ensure that teenagers keep focused on my magazine. I have used teenage related issues as my kicker titles.

8. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? A school would distribute this magazine as the topics covered are school related and it wouldn’t really make sense to sell anywhere else.

9. Who is the audience for your media product? (the target market)? Teenagers are my target market. To cater for teenagers I have used: Bright colours A teenager as the model I have made the bright coloured font bold around the edges Teenage issues

10. How did you attract/address your audience? Bright colours Bold headlines Teenage related headlines Teenage model

11. In the process of constructing this product, what have you learnt about the technologies employed? Whilst making this magazine, I have developed my Photoshop skills. The magazine kicker text has been duplicated so that there is a shadow in the background of the text. This is a new skill I have learnt in Photoshop. I did this by going to the layer toolbar and duplicating the text, I then changed the colour of the text and place it to the right of the original text to create a shadow. Photoshop Slideshare I have yet to use a slideshow sharing website so this is a new skill I will learn. This will enable me to host my slideshow on my blog rather than uploading several images onto my blog.