Task 1

Alex Walker

Idea Generation• Fashion Magazine This would summarise the latest styles/fashions and best people to follow to achievethe look.

• Music MagazineThis would summarise the newest bands to watch and interviews with existing bands.

• Social Media MagazineIt would give a summary of the most popular events on all forms of social media.

• Animal MagazineThis would show interesting stories about animals and photos of them being adorable.

Existing ProductsRSPCA Animal Life magazine

This is a free magazine launched by the RSPCA in 1990. This contains information similar to the type I would use in my magazine, e.g. how to look after your pet, stories about animals etc.

Tails Pet Magazine

This is a magazine that is very similar to what I would like to achieve with my magazine as they want to connect the dog loving community with the animal rights community.

This is one of many wildlife photography magazines that the BBC have launched. It is a magazine that people that are interested in animals and photography send their photo’s in and get them published.

Wildlife Magazine

This is a media pack for the BBC Wildlife magazine, unfortunately I couldn’t find one of these for the other magazines. This media pack tells people who are interested in being part of the magazine what their exact audience. This helps the person decide weather the magazine is right for them. For example, if they were targeting women for a product for them, they wouldn’t advertise in a magazine dominated by men. This magazines media pack is showing that the audience is loyal and is near enough an equal split of male and female readers. The average age for the readers is 48, this isn’t shown in this screenshot however is shown on the website.

http://www.immediate.co.uk/brands/bbc-wildlife/

National Geographic

The National Geographic magazine is one of the most well known magazines about nature and current events in the world. They use bold, professional text as their title and contrasting colours to the picture on the cover in order to make the title stand out. They also use a photo of whatever their main story is rather than one of the other stories, in this case the lions. On the inside of the magazine, they have a photo of the subject and then the article. The photo is large so that it attracts the attention to the article when looking through. The text is quite small and not to easy to read.

National Geographic

National Geographic

Serif fonts. Traditional and easy to read. It also looks professional and this also appeals to the audience of this magazine.

Picture to illustrate the main story of the magazine.

Text in white to contrast the brown coloured background.

Sub titles in the same colour as the border. This creates harmony within the page and doesn’t distract from the picture.

Boarder same colour yellow and same on all copies. This is brand identity. The gold yellow colour is there because they are the best in

Main subject of the magazine, draws readers attention by using large font.

Bark Magazine

This magazine is focused on dogs rather than different animals, like national geographic, this means that there isn’t as much to talk about and this is why it it published only 7 times a years. It is also differently set out, it is more like a fashion magazine than a ‘wildlife’ magazine, the photos are set up and shot in a studio or in a controlled environment, whereas wildlife magazines aren’t. The inside of the publication is also set out differently, the text is clearer and easier to read and the title of the article is on the photo that goes with the article.The magazine is a popular magazine on social media and has a large following.

Bark MagazineBold serif font. This makes the magazine name stand out and look professional. It also appeals more to the affluent readers of the magazine by looking more professional.

Picture of dogs to back up the fact it is a dogs magazine. Also to draw the reader in with how adorable they are. They are also pedigree dogs and this appeals to the affluent audience.

This means that it is for retail purposes and is a profit based magazine, this is because they can charge money for their magazine unlike other magazines that are non profit based and just want people to know about the subject of the magazine (Animal Matters)

These are the titles of the main stories in the magazine.

They’re using colour to illustrate the story.

These are some of the other stories that are in the magazine that are still of interest but not as prominent.

Animal Matters

http://issuu.com/wspauk/docs/animalmatters_spring2015

This magazine combines problems that are happening around the world to different animals and things to help pets etc. It is set out on the inside more like a factual piece of writing than in previous magazines as there aren’t really any articles. They use listing and post it notes to make the point of the article be seen more clearly, they also use pictures to illustrate it further. The use of a plain white background help the text stand out and there is a theme of orange, white and black throughout the publication.

Animal Matters

The colour scheme of the magazine matches the logo.

This is a sans serif font, this means that it is more relaxed and not as professional.

Shows the page that has a story that could be interesting to the audience of this magazine.

This dog look neglected, this helps illustrate the fact that the magazine is about helping animals.

Farm Animal Voice

This is a magazine about farm animals and their rights. This isn’t the kind of animal I was going to include in my magazine however it would give me more content to put in the magazine. It is set out similarly to ‘Animal Matters’ magazine with the white background and black text to make it stand out. There are more articles than in the Animal Maters and this makes it more factual and interesting for people that are concerned about animal rights.

Farm Animal Voice

This is a play on words that will persuade people to read the story.

This barcode takes you to the website so that you can get more information and donate money to the cause.

Some of the writing is highlighted in green, this is to make it stand out and also green has connotations of being natural and healthy. It also follows the colour scheme of the magazine.

The red is to show danger and doesn’t fit with the colour scheme which makes it stand out even more.

The images illustrate the story.

Other Sources

• Magazine Production (Media Skills) – BookThis book tells you about page layout, photography and design, the business of magazines etc. it covered all aspects of magazines and helped when I was talking about the page layout of some of the magazines.

• Companion Animals And Us – BookThis book didn’t help me with this part of the making the magazine but it helped me decide on the type of content I wanted to include.

• The Animal Ethics Reader – BookThis book didn’t help me with this part of the making the magazine but it helped me decide on the type of content I wanted to include.

• http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/1552348This article didn’t help me with this part of the making the magazine but it helped me decide on the type of content I wanted to include.

Chosen Idea

My chosen idea is the Animal Magazine. This is because I have an interest in animals. The magazine would include stories about good and bad things that are happening to animals- animal rights, news stories etc.My audience would be animal rights groups and people interested in animals. This would be an older audience (16+), however it would still be accessible for younger audiences as it would have photos of animals in.

(Draft) Report

AudienceThe audience for ‘National Geographic’ magazine is adults age around 50, this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t appeal to a younger audience however this is their target audience. There is near enough and equal split of male and female audience, this means that this style of magazine isn’t gender specific (according to this demographic research). In this demographic research for the National Geographic, they also look at how may people have graduated college in each category. This is because they like to know that they are appealing to their target audience of college graduates by making their magazine interesting enough for them to buy and read.

The ‘BBC Wildlife’ magazine is aimed at the middle class. ABC1 means the whole of the middle class and AB is upper middle class. More than half of the readers are middle class, most of them being upper middle class. This means that by showing that they appeal to a higher class of people, they can charge more for the magazine. This also means that higher end products can advertise in the magazine in order to reach their target audience, also meaning more money for the magazine as advertisers pay to be in the magazine. There is also a clear split between male and female readers in the magazine, meaning that this is another piece of demographic research that would lead you to think that this style of magazine is not gender specific.

Looking at these magazines demographic information and assessing it, I have come to the conclusion that my magazine should appeal to both a male and female audience so that it isn’t gender specific. My audience is also going to be an older audience, about 40-60 years old. I would also try to appeal to the middle class as this is what the other magazines have done as their target audience. This is because these magazines would be my competition.

MarketThe market for animal magazines is quite wide as there are different types within this one genre. For example, there are animal rights magazines, country life magazines (horses, pets etc.), livestock/farming magazines and pet magazines. I have researched most of the varieties of this style and found that the most interesting for me is a combination of pets and animal rights.

One of the magazines that I researched that does this is ‘ Animal Matters’, this magazine mainly focuses on animal rights, fund raising and has some articles about pets and how to maintain them. The magazine isn’t very aesthetically interesting as it is quite plain and simple, unlike ‘The Bark’ magazine. The type of images used in the Animal Matters magazine are not studio style photography meaning that the photo’s aren’t completely set up like they are in the Bark magazine. This is because it wants to focus on real events and therefore would not use photo’s that were set up to illustrate a story about animal rights. The fonts used in this magazine are fairly plain and simple however, it is sans serif font, this means that it is easy to read and more relaxed than just a serif font which is more professional.

‘The Bark’ is aesthetically pleasing but is more dog/pet based, for my magazine I would set I out more like the Bark but with more of the subjects that Animal Matters talk about. I feel that this would help me appeal to a wider audience as there would be something in the magazine for most people, for example animal rights groups, pet owners and people who are interested in animals. The images used in the magazine are mainly shot in a studio or set up, this is to help appeal to their audience whilst illustrating their stories. The fonts used in this magazine are serif fonts, this is so that the magazine looks professional and therefore will appeal to their more affluent audience.

Production

After looking at a number of magazines, I have decided that the best way to make my front cover would be to use a serif font in order to make the titles clear and easy to read. I would also make them contrasting colours to the picture used in the background. The picture in the background would be representative of the main story in the magazine, this is also a common theme amongst the magazines that I have researched, this is to draw the readers attention immediately.

To make the magazine, I would need an editor, a researcher, a writer/journalist and a designer. The editor would decide what goes into the magazine, the researcher would find things to put into the magazine, a journalist would find out more and write about what the researcher has found and the designer would set out the page.

If I was to use original photography, I would need to ask permission of the owners of the animals. This is because the animals would be used in a magazine and therefore I would need to get the owners permission to be able to use their animal in the magazine. If I took photos of some animals that needed to be controlled whilst I was taking the photo’s, I would need someone to control the animal whilst I was taking the photo. I would also need to think about transport to get to these places where the animals are however, I would probably be able to drive myself there.