Research

This section contains all the research work I have done in order to complete the brief.

We did areas of research to get an idea of what a real sixth form magazine looked like and contained. To do this I went onto http://www.kehs.org.uk/ which is King Edwards School For Girls high school website. Their sixth form magazine is called "High Profile" this name gives the impression of success so I think it is a good name to have for a sixth form magazine. On the cover of the magazine the pictures are big, bright and it is clear what is going on in them. They also have appropriate use of humor in the coverlines where play on words and multiple meanings are used to make the reader want to read what the story is about. There is also a large range of font styles and font hierarchy to show which title is more important. This is a image of one of the front covers that kehs chose to use for "High Profile"

I also did research on http://www.gshs.org.uk/home which is George Stephenson High School. Their magazine is called "Evolve" which I think is a good name for a magazine because it suggests getting better and improving which is good for students. The font is very informal and curvy, this might be because it relates to the students and suggests that it isn't all about work. The students might also see it as taking a break from all the work they have to relax and read this informal magazine. However, the use of colour on the front cover does not contrast well. This is because they are both the text and the background are both "hard" colours so they clash. This is a contents page that GSHS used in one of their issues.

Comparison
Between Evolve and High Profile, I find that High Profile would draw me in more. This is because the background of the picture is continuous which makes it seem more professional because it doesn't have sharp edited images. The font of the title also makes High Profile seem more appealing because of the formality of it. This is because the Evolve magazine is in a serif font which makes it look like it appeals to a younger audience. Also, the name High Profile suits a high school magazine more because it connotes that it is a high school and denotes that the school is of a high standard. I also think the colour scheme of High Profile suits a school magazine because it looks more professional and formal rather then red, white and black that Evolve have chose to adopt.



I also did research into various magazines contents pages. I found out several reoccurring themes that often popped up on different magazines no matter what the genre of the magazine. A prime example of this was the colour of the font in contrast to the back ground. For example, red font was often used for the cover lines on a plane white background with yellow font used on advertisement to catch the readers eye and accent it. It also emphasis's  its importance. There was usually over 5 images on each page, with a verity of styles. They ranged from album covers, key images which usually involved eye contact from the artist or band to show the relationship and also live performances. The importance of the live performance photo's show that the magazine is involved in the artist/bands life. There was often a sense of symmetry to some of the contents pages. This shows that although it may look like things have just been dropped into place they have been thought about and tactically placed. The hierarchy of text size is also important and dominantly used by every contents page regardless of the genre. The font size usually reflects the importance of the story, the bigger the font the more important it is. San serif is used for most of the titles and serif for the stories, this could be to attract attention to the headlines. The gestures that some of the band members and artists are doing seem to be provoking reaction or just to try and get across their attitude.


I did some research into the front cover of magazine industry, these are the main points that I noticed about most of the main conventions used on the cover of music magazines.


• Big, bold magazine name. Masthead has to be in the biggest font. Logo, colour and scheme font.
• Banner/strapline – phrase underneath name, suggest status
• Key main image. MCU of a person. Non-verbal code. Mise en scene, pose, gesture.
• Head cover line/Lead/Key – anchors the key image
• Secondary + additional cover line – 2 or 3 strategically – right aligned on right hand side and left aligned on left hand side.
• Price/date/issue/website in smallest font.



Magazine Producers
Bauer is a music magazine producer that produces magazines such as FHM, Q and Kerrang! they are the biggest and most popular music producer in the producing business. They claim to reach over 19 million UK adults across multi media channels. This is a quote off their website talking about themselves "Our business is built on influential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. Our strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through our broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Our wide portfolio of influential brands gives us advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors.". There magazine was created in 1953 and has continued to increase as a business and grow as a magazine producer.