Research: Ideology and Values

Look Magazine

This magazine mainly focuses on fashion, gossip and celebrity lifestyles. Many articles in the magazine is based around the theme and topic of fashion and makeup such as the articles "The Front Row's Best Outfits On The High Street Now!", "The New Beauty Miracles To Try Now" and "Fashion's NEW 'It' Girl." There are also articles on gossip and celebrity lifestyles such as "Ellie Goulding- Why Cara & Rita Tell Her Everything, Her Secret Holiday With 1D's Niall".

Looks magazine gives the reader a message on fashion and celebrity lifestyles. The magazine gives the reader a message that they should wear the latest fashions to look and feel good.

The three main topic areas the magazine covers in the latest fashion and the latest gossip in a certain celebrity's life.

The magazine's ideology (the lifestyle that the magazine is promoting) is showing the reader that fashion plays a big part on society and looking good, keeping touch with the latest fashion is a big deal because it makes you look and feel good, it makes people notice you. Also, that knowing about the latest gossip and a celebrity's lifestyle will help with social interaction because people in today's society like to gossip and know about the latest gossip.

The target reader may find the articles interesting because it keeps them informed of the latest fashion and what kind of clothing their favourite celebrity is wearing at the moment, it also keeps them informed of the latest gossip spreading around their social group and the media. For e.g. this issue of the magazine dicusses the gossip based around Ellie Goulding and Niall Horan, it also shows the reader the latest fashion and beauty tips.

Research: Contents Page

Research: Conventional layout of a magazine

TOP OF THE POPS MAGAZINE

Masthead: ‘TOPOFTHEPOPS’ Big bold writing to make the title of the magazine stand out. It’s written in pink to appeal to a young female audience. 

Cover lines: show what else is featured in the magazine, the font is smaller than the main cover line. It’s used to appeal to a wider audience For e.g. One Direction is used as a cover line to attract more readers whose interests is one direction. The cover line about fashion is used to attract a secondary audience who have an interest in fashion as well as music. This helps the magazine gain a wider audience.   

  Image: Famous pop icon- Cher Lloyd. It is positioned in the middle since Cher Lloyd is the main story of the magazine. Cher Lloyd appeals to the magazines target audience 13- 19 year old females. The bright blue colour of her outfit also shows off the bright, fun attitude of pop music. The magazine relays on the image to attract the target audience.

Main Cover line: is positioned on top of the main image, it’s connected to the image. The main cover line reads ‘The Real Cher Lloyd’ which is connected to the Cher Lloyd image. It’s written in bold writing and is placed in a pink bubble to make it stand out.

Colour: the colour theme for the magazine is pink to make it look girly and attract a young female audience. Pop music is mainly about romance, the pink can connote romance. It also shows the attitude of pop music- it’s loud, the pink stand out, fun- the bright colours in the magazine gives you the pop music attitude.

Price/ Barcode: The price for this magazine is around £2.75- £3.99 so that the young readers can afford it since it is aimed at an audience that are in school. It is a monthly magazine so the reader doesn’t have to spend too much every week. 

  

Convergence: The free poster of one direction is used to attract a wider audience who like One Direction as they are a popular icon for teenage girls. Also by the barcode there would be the website name so fans can be kept updated and the magazine gets a wider readership.

  

VIBE MAGAZINE

Mast head: the word ‘VIBE’ is written in big, bold and colourful writing. R ‘n’ B is represented as loud and aggressive and the title written in uppercase and an orange colour connotes this. 

Target Audience: The target audience of this magazine is 14- 19 who have an interest in R ‘n’ B and Hip- Hop; it’s targeted to both genders but mainly females. 

Cover line: shows other features in the magazine and are written in a smaller font than the main cover line. The cover line for this magazine includes article of other R ‘n’ B artists such as ‘Drake’ who’s very popular in this genre.

 

Image: Nicki Minaj is the only image on the magazine and she’s placed in the middle of the magazine to show that this issue is about her. The orange in her hair matches the colour theme of the magazine. Nicki Minaj appeals to many people who listen to R ‘n’ B and Hip- Hop.

 

Barcode/ price: The price of the magazine is around £3.00 and is published monthly so the young readers can afford to purchase the magazine. 

Convergence: Has the name of the website written under the bar code so the readers can view the website and keep updated by the website. It benefits the magazine as well since it offers a wide readership meaning they make a profit. 

The language of the magazine is informal to appeal to young readers. Informal language is used to connect to the readers.  Includes fashion to appeal to a wider audience who are interested in music and in fashion, the fashion feature in this magazine is aimed at the male audience who might want to dress as their favourite icon within this genre.

 

 

 

Research: Convergence

Convergence

Convergence is the occurrence of two or more things coming together. Different type of media forms would usually be placed on a magazine for example social networking sites, websites, audio giveaways (e.g Cd's) and competitions to be entered online and posters inside the magazine and freebies.

Social networking sites and websites promotes the magazine and keeps the fans updated it also helps the fans interact with each other. Convergence of media platforms such as this creates a far wider readership creating more profit for the magazine. 

Seventeen magazine used convergence. Their target audience is teen girls from ages 14- 20. In their magazine they give away freebies which would come in use for a teenage girl for e.g in this issue of the magazine, on the top of the cover it states that on page 20 you could get free lip gloss. At the top it also has a competition is which you can win money. Also it has the website name seventeen.com on the left side, bottom corner so that the readers can check for updates, it offers wide readership creating profit for the magazine. Ad's also sponsor the magazine on the website giving them more money. Magazine convergence is effective for both the reader and the magazine.

Research: Magazine House Style

Magazine House Style

A magazine housestyle is when a magazine uses a similar layout. For e.g where the masthead is placed, similar colours, logo etc. It's effective because it helps the reader identify the magazinethey're looking for since they would have an idea of how the magazine front cover would look like. House style is used by nearly every magazine to give it a specific individual look.

Kerrang magazine always has the same font and similar colour used for the mast head so the reader knows how the magazine title looks like, so they can identify it when looking for it in shops. Kerrang has a big picture which is either on top of the masthead or below it, it is usually of a popular rock icon since Kerrang focuses on rock music.

Lifestyle Magazine Research

Lifestyle Magazine Research

Magazine:	Vogue (Fashion)	Entertainment Weekly (Movies/ TV)	OK! (Gossip)
Image where is it positioned? How much of the page does it take up?	Emma Stone- appeals to a wide audience. The only image. Takes up whole page. Positioned in the middle- Bust shot.	Emma Watson as Hermoine from Harry Potter. Takes up the page, positioned in the middle- mid shot. On top of the title.	Many images to show what's inside. Main article is bigger (e.g the main article is of Kate Middleton- bigger image takes up more space)
Cover lines where is it positioned? How much of the page does it take up?	On the side. On top of the image. Takes up the page below the Title. Written in simple font about fashion.	Shows other features in the magazine. Placed on the sides, on top of the image. Simple font.	On the sides, in bold font but smaller size than the title.
Main Cover lines where is it positioned? How much of the page does it take up?	'Autumn Fashion' written in big, bold, pink writing- 'girl-y' connotes feminism. Positioned towards the bottom of the page.	'Harry Potter'- in a bigger font than other cover lines because it's the main focus.	Based on Kate Middleton so it's in a bigger size, bold font, right besides the image.
Title where is it positioned? How much of the page does it take up?	'VOGUE' positioned on top of the page. Big, Pink writing- goes with the light colours on the cover. Pink connotes feminism. Takes us the top.	'Entertainment' written in big, bold writing and 'Weekly' placed below it in a smaller font and size. Positioned on the top of the page, takes up the top. Below the image.	'OK!' positioned on the side, big, white font. In a red box. The box makes the title stand out the red could connote trouble, romance and danger.
Tagline where is it positioned? How much of the page does it take up?	No Tagline.	No Tagline.	No Tagline.
Price where is it positioned? How much of the page does it take up?	Small writing placed to the left, besides the title. £4.10 affordable for a monthly magazine.	Not clearly shown through image.	Right below the title in a smaller, simple font. £1.99 for a weekly magazine- affordable price for young adults/ teens.
Date where is it positioned? How much of the page does it take up?	Positioned on top of the price in the same simple font and size.	Above the title in simple, small font.	Positioned besides the price, under the title. In a small simple font.