What One Would Find in A Magazine!

Hello again All,

As mentioned before this blog follows my media studies, and at this point in time focuses on Print Media.

What is a Magazine??

A Magazine is a regularly released publication that is a collection of articles, images, stories and features that presents a assortment of topics depending upon the genre and audience.

In modern society, magazines are one of the most popular media texts and sources of information, with an ever increasing market and number of niche magazines. (Niche magazines are the type of magazine that is suited to a specifc audiences interests, abilities or demands) Because of the rising number of magazines, its important that each magazine has a specific audience and that it is clearly evident of that genre/audience. So magazines such as female teenage fashion magazines would have entirely different content than a magazine aimed at male fitness.

Despite the many magazines in the print media market, they all share the same codes and conventions, identifying them as magazines.

Inside a Magazine.....

• An Advice column
• A Letters page -To intereact with the audience and also draws them in as they gain a voice in the magazine
• A Contents Page - Clearly identifies what's in the magazine
• A Makeover page
• Competitions -encourage the reader to return as there is an opportunity to win interesting items
• A Next Issue page - Also encourgaes the reader to come back to the magazine

They also, commonly have a

• Main Story or Headline Story -That orginally draws the reader in to buying the magazine
• A Review page -Which is also a form of advertising
• Advertsiments

On The Front of A Magazine....

What i noticed about magazines and what seperates it from things like books, is that the magazine cover is constantly on display which means that most people would base if they want the magazine on what it looks like.What many fail to realise is that a magazine cover has been very carefully designed in order to stand out on the newspaper shelves and to attract the particular audience with appealing features.
What is always seen on a front cover is..

• A Clear Masthead ( aka a magazine title.) So the audience has something to refer back to. Magazine titles often carry connotations which give an insight  for the reader if the magazine is for them.
• Many Features ( or plugs) to invite the reader to buy the maagzine.
• A Tagline/Strapline - a secondary sentence that attracts the reader to magazine. Using this, commonly links in brand identity and the ideas of the target audience.
• A Main photograph linked to the main feature of the magazine. It is often a woman/man staring into the camera and often reflects masculinity/femininity. Also the magazine can use a 'pap shot' or and airbrush. Which ever used normally indicates what kind of magazine it is.
• A Price, Barcode and Issue Number ( the higher number the issue number is, indicates the length of time the magazine has been published for)
• A Clear Link between the colour of the magazine, the text, the images and the month of which the magazine has been published.  

Also the use of Fonts and Colours clearly indicate the brand identity and target audience.

These codes and conventions are always present within a magazine whether the audience are aware of it or not. But given that magazines are such a mass market and having looked over a variety of magazines, it has become clear to me the effectiveness of the codes.

Magazines are made in a variety of different sub-genres such as Music ( which i am doing now) Lifestyle, Hobbies, comics, online editions etc. They are consistantly more detailed in their articles but not often completely up to date, in comparison to a newspaper and the subject are more general in terms of information than a newspapers, which is fixed on 'hard news', which means that they are much more permanent and can be read at any time.

Magazines vary on when they are released, ranging from weekly to quarter annually and they tend to have a much more focused audience as they are much more catergorized by their genre. This also means that the audience apperciate the information more as it supports their interests.

Back soon!