Preliminary Task - Research and Planning

In this section I will keep track of every aspect of my research and planning process. In order to create a realistic media product, I need to research the codes and conventions of magazines, as this will help me to understand what professional magazines look like and it will act as a guide for when I need to make an example cover and contents page. It will also highlight what target audiences expect to see on a professional magazine.

I began my Research and Planning by reconstructing a number of magazine covers and their contents pages. I tried to include as much detail as possible so that I can become familiar with the stereotypical codes and conventions which are used on magazines.


The following images have been selected from my PowerPoint:

I also created a "mock up" example of a cover for a school magazine.

The following image is an example of how i analysed my mock up school magazine cover.

I have also included a "mock up" questionnaire in my planning and research so I can find out the likes and dislikes of my target audience.

The planned target audience of my magazine cover will be school children from a catholic secondary school.The magazine will also be able to target other people such as parents, teachers, the local community, or governors.

Analysis of my questionnaire.

I decided to distribute my questionnaire to students in my form at school, because the vertical tutoring means that a variety of age ranges will be answering the questions on the questionnaire. The ages range from 11 to 16. I also chose to use these particular people because they are current students, which means that their opinions on a school magazine would be relevant and valuable, as they are the exact target audience that needs to be considered when designing the school magazine. Ten students were asked to fill the sheet out, 6 girls and 4 boys. 

Firstly, I presented the masthead "Ilsley News" in three different types of font on the page and asked the students which font attracted would attract them to a school magazine.

Two children, chose the first option, three children chose the middle option and the majority of 5 chose the sophisticated/curly font, therefore this will be the font I will use as it is the most popular.

I then asked which masthead they would prefer, and the majority of the students (6 out of 10) chose "ArchiesWeekly". 

I also asked which topics the students would like to read about in their school magazine, 3 chose latest events and changes, 3 chose after school clubs and 4 chose sports star of the week, therefore it highlighted to me that all students, female and male, enjoyed reading about topics associated with sports or events in the school. This gives me an idea of what to include in my magazine and what to use as a cover story.

All students selected the option which said that they would like the magazine to be published monthly as the majority of students selected the cheaper option (£0.50-£1.00). This links in with the free gift that they would like to receive alongside the magazine, as 8 out of ten chose pens and 2 chose pocket calculator, suggesting that if the students are willing to pay money for the magazine, then they would like a worthwhile gift which they would be able to use.

From the analysis, I learnt that my target audience of students would appreciate cover stories which they can relate to, such as events happening in their school or topics related to sports. It also told me that they would rather pay cheaply for the magazine, they would like it distributed weekly and they would like a free gift that would be useful to them, such as pens.