Magazine Beginning

Magazine beginning from MoltenPhoenix

Colour scheme from MoltenPhoenix

Cover Ideas

Front cover setup from MoltenPhoenix

Magazine Cover Research

Media magazine work from MoltenPhoenix

Possible Masthead Styles

Business masthead styles from MoltenPhoenix

Magazine Name

I have decided that the name of my magazine shall be 'The Informer'. I have decided this because it fits the purpose of the magazine, which is to inform children and their parents of what goes on in their school. However, there may be an issue of some potential readers assuming that it will be a serious magazine because of the name. This is not the case. The name is supposed to be a joke as the magazine is pretending to be serious in a comical manner.

Semiotics of Titles.

Semiotics of Titles can, just like the Semiotics of Imagery, come under ‘Denotations’ and ‘Connotations’, each still harbouring the same meaning as before.

In this case, however, the denotations of a title would be what it says exactly and the definition of the chosen word, and the connotations would be what impressions this gives us of the entire magazine. For example, ‘Metal Hammer’ magazine would not be a magazine for women based around fashion and gossip.

For my school magazine, I have thought of a couple of possible names.

‘Comical Studies’ - (Connotations) the magazine would be both funny and educational.

‘The Informer’ – (Connotations) the magazine would have information about many different topics and could possibly have an upper-class effect to it.

Semiotics of Images

The Semiotics of an image can come under two different labels; ‘Denotations’ and ‘Connotations’.

‘Denotations’ of an image are what the image obviously is and the literal sense of what we can see.
‘Connotations’ of an image are what we can infer from the image; what the image might suggest.

In my school magazine, I would hope to use images that include children, to represent the ‘School’ factor of my magazine. So far, I am currently unsure about the exact image, but I would hope to use some sort of comical imagery, which would be related to the School sub-genre and the article that it is based upon.

Genre Conventions

Genre conventions are different elements of media that are repeated throughout different products in the same genre group.
A ‘Genre’ is one of many categories that the media product is based around.

A ‘Sub-genre’ is one of many categories inside of a genre that the media product is based around. For example, the genre of the media product that I am focusing on is a magazine, and the sub-genre of my magazine is a school magazine.

The different genre conventions of my school magazine would be things such as the layout, the typography, the language, the house-style and the images.

In the ‘School Magazine’ sub-genre, I have identified that the images used on the cover are often large and focus on happy children. I have also noticed that the cover lines are short, simple and sometimes humorous so that most children would understand and enjoy it. Another thing that I have noticed is that the masthead of a school magazine can sometimes differ between an average, plain title and a funky-looking, attractive title.

These genre conventions will influence the design of my front cover because I can see on the already existing covers what looks good and what should be avoided.

Target Audience

The primary target audience for my magazine would be students aged 13-18 years. They could be of any gender although the magazine may attract a higher number of Males than Females due to how I plan to make it look. My secondary target audience would be the parents who, again, can be of both genders. My target audience must have a sense of humour and must be exceptionally intelligent to understand some of the smarter jokes. My target audience must also have an interest in the happenings of every day school life.

The readers of my magazine could expect it to be written mostly in a formal manner, except for in certain areas, such as the basis of a joke. They would expect to read about anything school-related, no matter how minor the topic. Any images that will be included in the magazine shall vary in size based on the clarity of the image.