I like this contents page because it uses geometric patterns in order to show the images that represents the articles. The only thing I don't really like is that it looks to plain and simple, there isn't really any colour that catches your eye and also typically on a contents page there would be an equal balance between text and images whereas this contents page only has one image and a little bit of text. If I were to use this as a reference guide to re creating my own page, I would maybe add either more text or more of an eye catching coloured photo.
Although this layout is plain, like the fact that everything is tidy and in place. There is no overlapping images or text that distracts you from the main image or the sub story text.
Double Page Spread
I really like this double page spread because it's visually pleasing and also it has a really structured layout which is key to any good DPS. I like the use of the image in the middle however I don't know if I would follow this as the cut line for the magazine would mean that the image would become distorted and miss out key parts of the photo, Therefore I will try and position my image somewhere that it won't be affected by the cut line.
I couldn't find a DPS from the same magazine as the other sections I have analysed so the colour palette doesn't match the contents and cover, however my magazine will feature a re-ocurring colour palette to support the theme of my arts magazine. I will also have one main image and no other sub images as I think this looks more tidy and represents my magazine theme better than loads of images on one page.
I will put pull quotes into the text to give this section more of an exciting look rather than just the block of text. I'm choosing to do this as my magazine has the theme of arts so it needs to be exciting and not too plain.
Contents Page
For my contents page I used this magazine for reference. It has a clear colour palette of; blue, white and peach, I like this colour palette because it's pastel theme enhances the visual appearance of the plain black and white image in the corner of the page. Typically on a magazine contents page you would find 4-6 sub stories that tell you what can be found in the magazine, they may also have images to support and relate to the stories.
Personally I think this contents page is slightly too plain as it doesn't really have something that your eye is drawn to, however I think they have gone for the simplistic theme in order to represent the "fashion show" they are advertising. If I were to change something about this it will be that I would add a few images to make the page more exciting.
When I create my own contents page, I will follow this structure but I will change the colours to more of a brighter colour rather than the pastel look they have gone for. I will also include pictures to represent the stories I am featuring, I will also add more of shape to the contents page through the images as I will have them in a hexagonal shape along the bottom.
Front Cover
This cover doesn't follow the common conventions of a typical magazine front cover, however for an arts magazine it's a good reference as it has a good artistic structure and has shapes that I can re create and infuse my own colour palette in order to make my own front cover. This cover doesn't have sub stories that tell readers what will be included inside so I will add this down the side to fill blank space. On some front covers they include a few images to go along side the sub stories but I think in order to keep it tidy I will just use the artistic main image with shapes to structure the page.
I will look at pre existing arts magazine front covers to get a good understanding of the common conventions they use so I can follow them, rather than the standard magazine conventions and adding an artistic style to them. I have already established a colour palette of pink, blue and white therefore I will experiment with different layouts that will work well to use my colour palette in a way that will enhance my main image.
Technological advances have had a massive impact on print media. For example in the last 10 years the industry has changed a lot because magazines are now available through online platforms which has taken away some of the profit from the printed versions, and now getting a magazine has never been simpler. All you have to do is subscribe to the magazine and they will send you the online version upon release, meaning you don't even have to get out of bed in order to purchase this magazine. Although this is a very popular way of viewing the media platform, more people choose to stick to the printed copies, personally I would rather hold something in my hand and read it rather than view it online. For me it just gives it more of a real feel to the magazine.
Advances have also seen the rise in celebrity involvement, as they can now be advertised online for everyone to see not just the niche audience a printed version will attract. This work both in favour of the celebrity and the magazine company as the celebrity will bring more reader through their fanbase and other readers that have maybe not heard of them before now know who they are and may follow their career.
Technological advances have also had a negative effect on the magazine industry because it has seen a massive decrease in how people spend their time for example a study showed that people spend around 5% of their media time reading magazines, whereas they spend between 30% - 50% of their time on phones, watching television and listening to the radio. Which consequently has seen a decrease in shares within the media platforms with magazines, books and newspapers being the lowest on the list.
Gauntlett (2007) goes as far as to say that new media (and new media technologies) erodes the boundary between producer and audience to the extent that it makes little sense to talk about media audiences at all anymore. It now means that anyone who knows anything about media creation could become a producer as technological advances has made it the easiest its ever been.
With reference to the research I conducted in my previous task, I now understand the genre to be targeted mainly at the younger generation therefore I would mainly have to create content that excites and involves males and females of the social class C1-E.
The common conventions to an arts magazine include thing such as; Large masthead that fills the top of the page, one main image that clearly represents the genre, content teasers and a clear colour palette.
For one of my products I will be creating a website, I have chosen this idea because I think that in order to make my magazine attract younger readers I will have to make it available to view online as this is how most of the younger audience would read my magazine. In order to attract a sub audience of older readers I will also do a lot of primary research in order to find out what kind of articles and stories they would like to see appear in my magazine. For example things such as; art in music, galleries, and new artists. I will conduct my research using social media and websites such as survey monkey.
When I have looked at a variety of art magazines in my area such as DigitalArts, print and Digital Artist, I have noticed that they all have a conventional target audience of 18-25 of mixed gender in the social bracket of C1-E. Therefore this will be the primary target audience I will aspire to reach. For my main task I will be creating a Creative arts magazine, the main distribution will be to the UK.
Within the print industry there is many legal constraints that magazines publishers have to take into consideration especially magazines that talk about celebrity news/gossip. The reason behind this is because it is very easy to represent a person in an inappropriate or negative way. Therefore there are rules that editors must follow in order to stay within the legal requirements.
The people who decide what can and can not be published is the 'Press Complaints Commissions' (IPSO) and the 'Advertisement Standards Agency' (ASA). These are both situated in the UK and are regulating bodies for publishing and advertising. The ASA control what can and can not be published on magazines along with dealing with complaints received in this subject. For example, if someone was to complain about an advertisement in a magazine, they would have to raise the issue with the ASA. The second regulating body, IPSO, have an equally important role as they decide what content in the magazine can and can not be published. In order for this to happen they set up an editors code which simply says that that editors can't distort images or stretch the truth of any stories. The editors must be as completely accurate as possible and deal with any cases of inaccuracy. Magazine companies also have to take into consideration peoples privacy such as their homes, personal life and names. Again if anyone had a problem with this they could bring it up to the ASA.
Privacy can play a huge part and is a big legal constraint that all magazine companies have to be very careful of. A lot of "gossip" magazines can be quite close to breaching this legal constraint as they constantly publish news about peoples weight loss, pregnancy or even just their personal life and some people may not want this information being exposed to the public without direct permission.
After researching several distribution companies I have chosen Bauer Media to distribute my regional magazine. Bauer Media Group are a large European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. It’s one of the leading Multinational Magazine publishers in the world and is privately owned. Bauer Verlagsgruppe has been managed by five generations of the Bauer family. Originally a small printing house in Germany, Bauer Media Group entered the UK with the launch of Bella magazine in 1987. Under the name of H Bauer Publishing they became Britain's third largest publisher.
The other distribution companies that I looked at included Archant community Media which are a privately owned media company that creates geographical and specialist interests communities across a wide range of media and employing 1,600 people as part of their team. Currently they are the fifth largest printing publisher in the UK, they publish 1.6 million copies a week and reach 6 million readers online a month. It's portfolio of about 50 titles does feature one of the magazines named Cornwall Life that I will use as inspiration as its based in my target area. Their target audience are people of the C1 social bracket and primarily people who live in the country rather than big cities however they would be part of their secondary target audience.
Another publishing company I looked at was IPC Media Ltd who are a consumer magazine and digital publisher situated in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio and selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC Media also produces over 60 iconic brands including magazines such as NME, Ideal Home, Country Life, and Housebreaker. In the 1800's IPC had a primary target audience of upper class middle aged men, this was evident as they produced magazines such as; Horse & Hound, Shooting Times, Yachting World, Amateur Gardening. However since the start of the 1900's IPC has started to target woman by producing magazines such as ‘Woman’s Weekly, Woman & Home and Woman’s Own’. In the modern era they continued to expand there target audience with more titles such as: Sporting Gun, Motor Caravan, Wedding & Home, Country Homes & Interiors and so on. From this list of titles its clear that IPC continued to grow and focus on two main target audiences which is middles aged men and middle aged woman.
The first arts magazine was founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration and interactive media. This was a magazine that released issues bi-monthly, and featured things such as gallery reviews, new artists and information about the genre. The magazine was published by an Author/writer named Patrick Coyne. Since his time the magazine industry has changed a vast amount, for example one of the most common magazine genres now are things such as celebrity and fashion as society feels a sense of importance to stay up to date with the celebrity world rather than the arts world and how things are progressing.
A typical Arts magazine would be released monthly and would include information and events of the up coming month in relation to the type of art found in the area or country the magazine is available in. Because of the amount of information and offers they include they are introduced via a monthly subscription and send straight to the reader.
Although most arts magazines feature the same type of contents they all vary slightly because some of them are mainly focused to the area in which the magazine will be released, however most of them are broad and include articles that attract and inspire upcoming artists all over the world.The main target audience of this magazine would be mixed gender between the age group of 18-15 within the social class C1-E as they are mainly steered towards the younger readers.
