The document provides guidance on designing different editions of The Big Issue magazine for socially conscious 16-25 year olds. It examines conventions for celebrity, political, and sports covers as well as contents pages. Celebrity covers typically feature large photos of celebrities with headlines related to them. Political covers use images and graphics to create socio-political narratives and may omit barcodes. Sports covers emphasize community and fun through group photos in red and yellow. Contents pages maintain consistent blue color, font, and layout to aid navigation.

1. The Big Issue

2. The Brief
 You work for an independent media production company that specialises in
producing content for teenagers and young adults who are well
educated and socially conscious. You have been contacted by The Big
Issue, and have been tasked with producing a front cover and contents
page for their magazine, which is designed to attract 16 to 25 years olds
who would identify themselves as socially conscious. Your magazine
should be recognisable as a copy of The Big Issue magazine, but you may
make some changes to the format to target your audience more
specifically.

3. Mood board of archives
HTTPS://WWW.BIGISSUE.COM/MAGAZINES/

4. The Celebrity Edition

5. Celebrity Edition
 Within the celebrity cover the masthead/ general colour themes for the covers are
bright colours and large bold, sans-serif font. All of the information like the price and
the date are always kept in the same places making them recognisable to the audience,
whereas the position of the barcode changes to the least invasive position. The facial
expressions of the celebrity’s could relate back to what they are popular for, for example,
Richard Osman (the Comedian), is pictured in a silly way. The celebrities are always
prominent in the frame and tend to be either looking away thoughtfully or making
direct address with the audience. The main headline being used relates back to the
celebrity featured on the cover which could entice the audience into reading about their
favourite celebrities. The strapline is always “a hand-up not a handout” on all of the
covers which reinforces the idea that this magazine is made for socially, ethically and
politically affluent people who tend to be ABC1 (72%) or AB (43%). At the top, the cover
features other stories that are within that issue which could show the diversity that The
Big Issue has to offer its readers – another way to gain readership.

6. The Political Edition

7. Political Edition
 Unlike the celebrity edition, some copies of the political editions do not
feature a barcode which might have been used as a way to focus on the
serious nature (unless political satire) of the issue. All of the images used
(whether photos or drawn graphics) create a socio-political narrative for
the reader. Some of the political issues use a black and white simple
masthead but others are large and colourful. Some editions also don’t
feature any other sell lines which enforces the idea that they are very
serious issues. These issues would also be interesting to the readership
since they are more likely to be aware of current issues like the ones
featured on the front cover.

8. Sports Edition

9. Sports Edition
 All of the sports covers seem to be bright colours of mainly red and yellow
– primary colours – which could connote to the fun nature of sport and the
enjoyment you experience when playing or watching sport. Many of the
covers feature multiple people conveying the sense of community sport
creates which could relate to why they were selected – because The Big
Issue creates a sense of community. Many of these covers also do not
feature a barcode, this could be used so that it does not distract the viewer
away from the main focus of the sport. This is the same with the sell lines.

10. Contents pages

11. Codes and conventions of the contents
pages
 All of the contents pages are virtually the same in layout, it is only the
stories inside that are different. Every issue, no matter whether it is
political, sport or celebrity (for example) the colour, font and general
aesthetic are always the same. This sense of continuity makes it easier for
subscribed readers or regular readers to navigate through the issue. The
use of the colour blue over all the issues creates a sense of uniformity and
compared to the white background and black font for the majority of the
subtitles, also draws the eye to the subheadings that are the pop of colour.