Target audience

To find out who I am aiming my regional magazine. billboard and radio advertisement at, I have created a survey on Survey Monkey

My independent survey can be found at: Megan's target audience survey

I will soon collect responses and analyse my target audience, I will then know how to construct my magazine, billboard and radio advertisement to appeal to my audience.

Drafting and planning

From looking at other regional magazines, outlined in my first post on Thursday 18th of June:
http://meganhealyyear13.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/research-into-similar-products.html

I have began to look at different styles of font that I could use for my own magazine and billboard's masthead...

I found these on http://www.1001fonts.com/

I feel that the first font, at the top of the page is effective because it doesn't seem like if used, it would be just directed at males or females, it's edgy and cool and I've never seen a magazine which uses a font like this. 

The font on the left I also like because it's bold and straight. I feel that this would be dominant on the page making the masthead and name of my magazine eye catching to readers. I feel that this could be directed at males more so.

I am quite a fan of the font on the right because I think the way the letters are capitalised brings it a sense of superiority. It's neither masculine or feminine and this font would help me target both genders. This style of font could be used stretched across the page or even in the left third.

I also like the font at the bottom despite it's similarity to the font on the right. This is because I feel like I could have it whatever colour I like, and still have the straight, smooth black outline to give it a sense of dominance. Yet, I do think that a single coloured masthead may be nicer.

When creating my magazine and billboard I will refer back to http://www.1001fonts.com/ and especially the fonts in this post. I think they could make my magazine appeal to both genders and more than one age group.

Drafting and planning

After looking into different regional magazine's in my earlier post on Thursday 18th June:
http://meganhealyyear13.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/research-into-similar-products.html ...

... I have now had a further look at different sorts of images that I could use for my main image on my magazine and my main image on my billboard.
I had a look at four big cities in England: London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool and saw these sorts of images...

I think these establishing shots of different cities can influence my photography for my regional magazine and billboard. They make each city seem superior; and the use of colours are effective because they portray excitement and busyness. I think I am going to use a panoramic shot of Birmingham.

These are some examples of different panoramic shots:

 Birmingham Town Centre

 Birmingham Central Library

 Birmingham Council House

 Cannon Hill Park war memorial

St Martins Church

These sort of landmarks will be highly relevant within my magazine and billboard because the positive, dominant images are what encourage people to visit a place. Photography is key for this aspect of coursework and I am going to take various different shots of all of these places including photographs of Brindley Place, Millenium Point and The Bull Ring.

I will try to use many of these photographs in my regional magazine and billboard.

Research into similar products

I have researched into three different types of regional magazines.

1) A city magazine:

I feel like this is the most significant out of the three because my regional magazine will be based on the city of Birmingham. I feel that this is a great choice for me as it's the city I live in and I can be really creative as I know it so well. I like the way the photographer has used an early evening setting, it presents the city as relaxed and laid back, which is a contrast to the reality; despite this, the mid to low angle suggests that Birmingham is quite superior. Also, the use of white font is effective as it's bold and contradicts the lighter background; making the cover lines dominate the front page. The cover lines are relevant to the events in the city and this creates a strong link between the magazine and real life - I would like to create this effect too. Despite the level of relevance that the cover lines show, they leave room for the photograph to capture the attention of the reader. The size of the anchorage text is effective because it's not too "in your face" yet you can tell that this is the main story. There is a miniature date line and this is great because it doesn't take up too much space within the front page but shows that all of the key conventions have been included. The masthead also sticks to the conventions of a magazine because the editor has stuck to the left third rule which makes the magazine seem much more professional. I will use this magazine to influence my decisions such as photography and choice of fonts, colour and layout.

2) A northern magazine:

This magazine can also influence the magazine I will be creating. Even though this is based more so on a rural, more traditional area; I can take advantage of looking at the layout to provide a more creative edge on my own magazine. I like the way that an old farm house has been used as the main image: I think this is a good representation of the North of England that readers can relate to. The masthead is interesting because usually the font is all the same style and colour, yet the difference within the style of font is effective because the red is common colour used in all genres of magazine and this shows that Northern Life is professional. Also, the choice in different types of fonts is great as it shows that people up north are easy going and creative, structure and consistency doesn't matter because the multi-coloured fonts make the magazine look interesting. Despite the northern attitude being laidback and "going with the flow" the numerous coverlines contradict this; this is inverses the northern stereotype. Similarly to the first magazine I have analysed, this one sticks to the generic conventions of a magazine. The masthead, selling line, main image, dateline, cover lines, pugs/puffs and anchorage text have all been included and this makes Northern Life a good magazine that can help me in the process of making my own magazine.

3) A country magazine:

Finally, Cumbria Life appears to be a magazine based on the country side, of course I can immediately see this due to the main image of a mountainous region with numerous fields. I would like to create a magazine like this which can immediately tell the reader what it's all about without them having to see the masthead or cover lines. I like the way the cover lines have been positioned, they do not take away the emphasis left by the main image. In the same way, the use of three house colours promote that this magazine is professional and formal. Whereas, the magazine above seems a lot more informal with a much younger target audience because of the use of colours. I think that the content within the cover lines is relevant to the region e.g. the food and drink aspect and the mentioning of the lakes. As this front page has a basic image and cover stories, I think that the secondary images have been used effectively. This is something I need to think about within my own magazine, "are secondary images necessary?" Also, I like the fact that the services that are advertised are in red, this makes them seem like an alert and full of importance. Similarly to the other two magazines, Cumbria Life sticks to the generic conventions: masthead, anchorage text, cover lines, pugs/puffs, main image, bar code, selling line and dateline. Therefore I think I can refer back to Cumbria Life when constructing my own regional magazine.

Drafting and planning

Similarly to the AS Media Studies course, for A2 I am also going to focus on still images, but also, sound.

I have decided to create a regional magazine, meaning I will compose the first four pages, including a radio advertisement for the magazine and a billboard advertisement for the magazine. 

Fortunately, I will be able to recycle my knowledge from AS Media Studies to produce the magazine, by continuing to use software such as PagePlus, Paint.Net and Microsoft Publisher. I understand the layout of magazines: through the masthead, main image, date line, selling line, bar code, cover lines, anchorage text and pugs/puffs; this will help me to produce the magazine successfully. I also have knowledge of aspects within mise-en-scene and this will give me an advantage when beginning my photography through the elements of blocking, casting, lighting, props, facial expression and colour. This is demonstrated through my final product last year found on:
http://meganhealymedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/drafting-and-planning_62.html

However, I do not yet have a wide knowledge about how to compose a radio advertisement and this will be something I can learn on my journey alongside the production of my magazine. This will help me develop further skills required for A2 Media Studies. I am very excited to learn how to advertise on the radio, I can begin to listen to successful radio advertisements on:
http://www.rab.co.uk/sound-h2-2013/

After listening to specific radio adverts, I can then distinctively pick out the key areas to focus on in my own advertisement at:
http://www.strategicmediainc.com/newsroom/top-ten-keys-creating-great-radio-ads