My Contents page

Magazine conventions

Today's lesson was about the conventions of magazines and what the mode of address means.
Mode of address is the way the media represents and addresses their target audience( this is also linked to the Ideal reader and my existing research). For this to be successful number of thing have to be considered :

• Style of language
• Use of slang 
• Is it writing formal or informal?
• The quality of what is being written
• Is it humorous or serious ?

Colours magazine

The style of language I used for my magazine is formal  however, friendly as it is addressed to teenagers. I have not used slang as i want the magazine to appear professional and  there is a chance that the staff,visitors or students whose English isn't as developed/ fluent and may not understand the text if its in slang.
The ideal reader of my magazine is someone passionate for the arts, it is suitable for me to say that the content of this magazine should be more serious rather then humorous. This is because the magazine will talk about education and how to improve on art skills and therefore, the quality of what is being written should be of high standard.

Improvement

Feedback on my front cover

Dyanna - I like it because there is a large range of colours used. however, what I would improve is the amount of space that is left blank. Also the logo - palette should be a bit bigger.

Kunigunda - Overall I think the design is very nice and eye catching, but the one thing I don't like is the choice of fonts, because it was very hard for me to read some them.

Mahonni - The title is very attractive and also the background picture because it is in black and white and the painting on the picture is in colour, but what I dislike is the different colours and fonts used for the subheadings.

Philip - I like the use of pictures and the colours used however, there is too much writing on the left side and nothing on the right side of the front page which makes is look unbalanced.

Front cover - Denotation & Connotation

Denotation 

Picture of a girl next to a painting, two smaller pictures in the bottom left corner.

Colourful headings that say : colours in yellow, pointillism in green, upcoming exhibitions in blue and British art contest in red.

Connotation

The background picture tells the viewer that the girl on the picture painted the painting next to her. this is because of her body language - the way she is standing shows the painting is hers and her face expressions show us that she is happy and proud of her work. The fact that painting is in colour and everything else is black and white suggests that the magazine is focusing on painting or art in general.

The various colour used for the heading illustrate fun but too much chaos as they blend together.

LESSON - Denotation and Connotation (14/10/2010)

This lesson helped me to understand how denotaion underlines narrative and representational issues, which  was one of our lesson objectives. I now also understand the difference between denotation and connotation.

Denotation
The simeplest meaning of and image.
Denotating is  identifying ONLY what you see in the picture.
Denotation only refers to what is actually reproduced in the text.
While denotating an image we cannot say what the image may represent as denotaion is the first level of analysis, therefore in denotational terms if we cannot see anything else, we only assume that it is there.


Connotation
Connotation is linked to the cultural experience readers bring to it.
It is the second level of analysis which is identifying what the denotation of an image represents.
Connotation is where we the readers adds our own information so that we can understand what the image is signifying, for example an image of cross would be assosiated with religion and symbolizes Christ.


ROLAND BARTHES
French literary theorist, phylosopher and semiotician.
Acording to Roland Barthes we - the readers , go through  various stages when we deconstruct the meaning of a sing. It was R. Barthes who identified that connotation is when the reader adds its own information to an image in order to understand it better.

LESSON - Representation (6/10/2010)

In this lesson we have learned these new keywords :
- Representation is how the media chooses to present a certain individual, group or event.
- Archetype is the ultimate stereotype.
- Counter type is the complete opposite of a stereotype.

Moreover, media institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly relate to them which is called the visual shortcut.

Front cover draft

Today i have designed two drafts of what my magazine front cover may possibly look like. I have asked my classmates to give me a feedback on which  one they think would be more suitable, and found out all of them liked design 1. This was because they thought that design 1 appeared more sophisticated, organized and eye catching. They disliked design 2 becuase it appeared very common to the rest of the magazines. I agree with this, as I have designed it using the internet - existing magazine front covers. To conclude, this lesson helped me to choose which design im going to use for my magazine - design 1.

Desing 1



Design 2



Contents Page Draft



 















SURVEY 3

I have managed to create another survey to help me find out what content I should use for my front cover. However, I have only asked 15 people who have interest in art, so that it is quicker for me to gather the answers. And these are the questions I have asked:

1. If you were to buy a art magazine would you prefer to read about : ( in this questions each person could choose 3 things)

- Famous Artists/ Designers/ Photographers from around the world  =  7
- Different techniques and styles used in art = 9
- Upcoming exhibitions and art events = 8
- List of contests you could sing up for = 8
- How to use art equipment well = 2
- How the school is doing and what is planned for the next term = 5
- Tips on good preparation for exams and assessments = 6

2. Would you like if the magazine would include more pictures than the text ?
  
         Yes = 6                             No = 3                        Balance between both = 6

My Ideal Reader

Considering last lesson, I have decided to identify the ideal reader for my college magazine. To begin with I already know that the ideal reader of my magazine would be :
- Male/Female
- Aged from 16 to 19
- Interested in art
- A student from the art college

Furthermore, the ideal reader would have an open mind and passion for art, enjoy learning and trying out new things and techniques, visiting historical places and galleries.

LESSON - Ideal Reader

In today's lesson we have analysed some magazines and identified the ideal reader for each one of them. To do this we have used a lot of stereotyping and found out that it was the best way to identify the ideal reader and the better the analysis is the better and more successful the magazine is.
Moreover, we were given some questions to help us analyse the ideal reader and looked at these magazines:

Junior

 An ideal reader for this magazine would be a middle aged woman/ mother. She would most likely be eating cereals - Special K for breakfast as they would be trying to loose weight from their pregnancy. they would also drive a people carrier car as they may have more kids alredy and it is a family car. the woman reading this magazine would probably live ina 4 bedroom house, and in her free time would watch family shows and possibly carttons because of her kids. She would also want her family eat heathy and organic food, and most probably choose family holiday resorts to go over the summer.

Analysing Movie Posters

Kick Ass

The teenager - main character in this movie is represented in a stereotypical way as he is holding a weapon; appearing as if he was fighting. That's why the poster is designed in such way that it embraces violence rather than becoming a superhero. This is because most teenager enjoy watching movies with a violent content.The poster also includes other characters from the movie,which are perfectly portrayed by the clothes they are wearing. The main character in the green - symbolizes energy and balance, learning and growth as he is trying to become a superhero and save lives, Hit girl wearing purple which can be explained as the colour of royalty and power as she is illustrated as the strongest figure. Furthermore there are two more characters : Big Daddy  in black that symbolizes death and red that stands for danger as the character Red Mist betrays Kick Ass .  The layout of this poster is very successful as the background contrasts with the title which contrasts with the characters, and that way everything is seen clearly.

American Pie

This is a typical teenage movie about male friends who have a very high interest in sexual activities during the spring break, which is the main stereotype in this movie. However, there is also one counter type- which is one of the boys. This is because he already has a girlfriend and does not behave like his other three friends.

Pictures

Today I have taken some pictures in the art department in my school, so that it would give me an idea of what my front cover may look like. I have also set up a still life images and used photographs I have taken before and pictures of my art work which I did last year, as they can be very useful to me in the future and i could also use them in the content page.

SURVEY 2

Motto/Slogan for the magazine COLOURS
I have questioned some people about the possible slogan of my magazine, which i would place under the title within the masthead, and these are the results:

Each is important = 4 - because it puts everyone in a equal position.
Creation Always Varies = 12 - because art is all about creating and developing new things.
Different makes a Difference = 8 - because its catchy and interesting.

As most students voted for Creation always varies, I'm going to use it as the slogan.