Media Studies Blog

The feedback I got for my table of contents was to change the font color so that it would be easier to read. My magazine cover was cropped in too much and some of the words were cut off because I exported the picture incorrectly. I moved the text away from the edges for a more professional and pleasing look. My article columns were also too close to the edges, so I moved those in as well.

For my cover, I revised the cover image and changed it. I also changed the cholor scheme of the text to better fit the colors in the picture. I also photoshopped her face in front of the magazine title. I changed the font colors on my table of contents. On my article, I added a website link next to the page numbers and changed the spacing of the title.

4) How did you integrate technologies -- software, hardware and online -- in this project? For my project, I used many different pieces of technology to create it. I used Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Microsoft Publisher for my magazine cover. In photoshop I edited the model's face in front of the text with the name of the magazine. In InDesign and Publisher, I added text on either side of the photo to showcase what was inside of the magazine in order to draw people in. For my table of contents and article, I used Apple Pages. I needed multiple text boxes on those pages because of the way I formatted it around pictures. Pages has a feature where you can connect separate text boxes, so I used that feature efficiently in order to make sure that my table of contents and article flowed together and looked aesthetically pleasing. Some hardware I used for this project was the camera I used to take pictures during the photoshoot. I used a Nikon camera for the photoshoot. I used technol

3) How did your production skills develop throughout this project? My production skills developed greatly thougout this project. I learned how to use Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Publisher. I also learned how to utilize different texts, fonts, colors, and layouts. I was interested in gaphic design before I started the project, but had no experience with it. I now know how to design a magazine cover with photoshop and InDesign, write and layout an article, and create a table of contents along with a flat plan. I also researched and learned about other magazines and what the conventions for them are. I also learned how magzines distributed their magazines in print and digitally. I used color schemes, photography, and photo editing when doing a photoshoot.

2) How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as real media text? My magazine engages with audiences because of the information it provides. Articles, photo spreads, quizzes, and other things like horoscopes engage readers into the magazine and the content in it. It would be distributed as to appeal to teens and young adults, mainly girls. Audeinces of the magazine could also engage in the magazine's website, where more articles, quizzes, and other content could be found. I would also want to make an app for my magazine that people can interact with. Some magazines have recently been putting in Snapchat codes in the pages of their magazine that you can scan using the Snapchat app to go to a webpage, find secret content and photos, and even buy items. I would want to integrate that into my magazine, because that has a good interactive aspect.

1) How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? My magazine is geared towards teens and young wome. It follows the conventions of teen magazines with bright colors and articles about things like teen fashion and relationship advice. My cover page follows conventions because Savannah West's face is overlaying the title of the magazine. Like most other magazines, the model on the cover page is also who the main article is about. My table of contents follows convenntions with the way it's laid out. It also doesn't follow conventions because the background isn't a solid white, it's a picture of Savannah with a blue background. My article has a quote that stands out against the rest of the text, which is conventional. My magazine represents social groups of teens and young adults who use social media. My article talks about the rise of internet popularity and how it can affect a single person's life.

Cosmopolitan Magazine is also a big teen/young adult magazine belonging to Heasrt Media. Cosmopolitan is part of the Young Women's Group of Hearst Digital Media, with 17.9 unique visitors and a 75% audience aged between 18 and 49. Cosmpolitan has one issue per month, and their digital single-copy cover price is $4.99 an issue. A yearly subscription to digital Cosmopolitan is $12. Cosmopolitan's digital magazines are accessable by many apps, including the Apple App Store, Kindle Newsstand, Nook Newsstand, Google Play Magazines, Zinio, and Next Issue. Cosmopolitan Magazine is also available for purchase on digital e-readers like Kindle or Nook.

Seventeen Magazine is the largest montly teen magazine. It's part of Hearst Magazines, which is one of the world's largest distibutors of monthly magazines.  The "Young Women's Group" of Hearst Digital Media has 17.9 unique visitors and 75% of customers are ages 18-49. Hearst Magazine has made Seventeen available online on many apps. These apps include the Apple App Store, Kindle Newsstand, Nook Newsstand, Google Play Magazines, Zinio, and Next Issue. Seventeen Magazine is also available for purchase on digital e-readers like a Kindle or Nook. Seventeen also has apps of their own, "Seventeen's Shopping Insider," which is available on iPhones, and "Ultimate Fashion Flipbook," which is available on iPhones, iPads, and the iPod Touch.

The traditional distribution model for magazines is usually through a distribution service. They put magazines out for retail in grocery stores. They also have subscription services that deliver the magazines to people's homes. In more recent years, you can buy digital magazine subscriptions. In order to distribute my product, I would use magazine distribution services to put my magazine on shelves in grocery stores, book stores, and other retail locations. I would also use it to mail magazines to subscribers, and digitize each issue to distibute online.

Seventeen Magazine's audience is mostly female, from ages 12-19. Seventeen Magazine uses many forms of advertising. They have social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Snapchat. Seventeen pays for ads on these social media sites in order to reach a larger audience. They also have a website. They use these accounts and websites to promote their magazine, along with articles on their website. seventeen.com has a "subscribe" button that advertises both the print and digital versions of their magazine. Less people are buying physical magazines, so they're pushing the digital subscriptions.

In my article revision, I changed the placement of the title because the word "meet" was too close to "Savannah West" in my original. I justified the text instead of having it aligned to the left so that my columns are symmetrical. I added advertising next to the page numbers for glitzmag.com. Before Before After After

I didn't change much in my table of contents revision. I changed the color of the title font to make it easier to read. I also changed the color of the text from black to white. Before After

For my magazine cover, I changed the cover picture. I changed the font colors to match the bike she was on, along with her outfit. I also photo-shopped her head in front of the magazine title to create authenticity. I also moved some of the text to fit around her better. Before After

A magazine I researched with a similar target audience is Cosmopolitan Magazine. Cosmopolitan magazine's target audience is between ages 18-49 and are interested in fashion, beauty, and pop culture.  Cosmopolitan markets their product in a few ways. They use social media, and have a cosmopolitan page for Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and even Snapchat. Their Twitter page shares links to articles on cosmopolitan.com, and so does their Facebook. Both their Twitter and Facebook accounts post videos and links that draw you in with enticing titles and bright colors. Their Instagram page shares photos of people featured in their magazine and/or articles on their website, along with some enticing and funny photos to get people to follow their account. They have a feature on the Snapchat explore page that features around 12 articles from their website and cute animations that you can send to friends. The explore page is updated every day at 11 a.m. They also advertise their magazine on

My target audience is mostly women from ages 13-25. People who would buy my magazine are in the U.S. and/or Canada and England (primarily English-speaking countries). It's targeted towards high school to college level students. The content in my magazine is generally more interesting to younger people. My target audience's income level isn't high. The people buying the magazine are most likely getting money from their parents or have a low-paying job because they're mostly still in school. A subscription to my magazine would be anywhere from $12-15 per year and to just buy one issue off the shelf would be around $3-5.

My magazine cover closely follows conventional fashion magazine covers. It has a person on the  cover and their name is in big letters so that it's easy to identify them. It has the month and year of the issue on the front cover underneath the magazine title. There are also multiple features and article titles on either side of the cover to get people interested in the magazine. One convention it doesn't follow is have the person's head in front of the title of the magazine. My table of contents page follows the convention of stating the issue as part of the title, but it's titled "Directory" instead of "Table of Contents." It has a picture in the background, opposed to the conventional white background. It follows conventions of having the page numbers of the articles bigger than the title of the article. It also has a page number in the bottom right corner.  My article follows conventions of have a big title, and having it written with black tex