Allie Aylott- Media Evaluation 11C

Media Evaluation
Brief
For my coursework, I was assigned the task to create a brand new
magazine aimed at a specific audience of my choosing, for me this was
young women aged 14 and up. I had to create a front cover, contents
page and double-page spread for this magazine, including block
designs and mock-up designs (with pictures sourced from the internet)
as well as the real design, using my own original photography. In spite
of this, I assembled a niche feminist magazine which I named The F
Word. A play on words of the topic at hand being Feminism and how
its often treated as a curse word in itself, like the actual F word.

Research
Before I could begin the production of my magazine, first of all I had to
research other Niche magazines which was in line with my genre and
examine/analyse their front covers, contents pages, double page
feature articles and websites, all in what is called Research for PreProduction which i formatted using Microsoft Powerpoint. The first
magazine I selected was EMPIRE A renowned film-magazine in the UK
which was targeted at movie-enthusiasts of all different genres, this
was more popular than the 2nd niche magazine i chose. The second
magazine i chose was Backstage an American Theatre and Performing
Arts Magazine, which has a much more niche audience of thespians
and aspiring performers. My first step in research was to annotate the
front covers of both Empire and Backstage, I picked out key features
of the front covers, font, colours, images used and analysed their
connotations. This helped me further understand what elements i
would need to include into my magazine in order for it to be effective. I
came to the conclusion i should utilise the most common generic
conventions of the two front covers, this included a complementary
aesthetically-pleasing front cover, with a central image, drawing
attention to my magazine - that also relates to the genre of my
research.

Both front covers used complimentary bold colours in order to stand

out to the audience, and bring attention to the magazine. They also
portrayed a significant amount of information on the front cover, but
not so much that it creates clutter. There had to be relevant stories as
well such as on the Backstage cover where it offers the best cities in
America to build an acting career I saw an extensive use of colour to
attract the audience however the magazine also had to stick to a
specific colour scheme so the magazine looked sharp and crisp.
Backstage showed this by having a classy pastel blue, gold and white
hues on the front cover. Generic Conventions I found were retained
within connotations of Theatre and Film, words such as Star, Actor
and Flick all examples of jargon associated with the film and theatre
industry. These front covers left space for the cover star, Backstage
with Michael B Jordan, placed directly in the centre, and Empire with
the Harry Potter cast. All news and articles were pushed to one side, or
around the cover star as not to overlap which helped me in the process
of making block designs of my front cover.
Additionally, I researched the website of one of my researched
magazines, Empire and found interesting results. The Empire website
had lots of interesting articles both formal and informal, with a site that
not only looks good but is easy to navigate around. I found that
common assets of the site were film promos & exclusives, giveaways
and film reviews, all in relation to the genre of the magazine. These
conventions all directly include the audience and make them want to
read the magazine more. This influenced my decision-making in the
magazine to make my magazine fulfil more of the criteria that have
assessed, to have a magazine similar to theirs. After this, I researched
a contents page and a feature article from Empire, which highlighted
many generic conventions, and aided me in making the decisions for
my own work.

Target Audience
During my pre-production research, I also managed to forge and
audience profile for both Empire and Backstage in order to find an
idea of what I wanted out of my own audience. I found not too big a
contrast between the two audience profiles, and there were more

prominent similarities than differences.

For the Backstage Magazine, I think the target audience is teens
(17+) upwards as it mostly outlines theatre and broadway for
upcoming actors and actresses. It features articles on the best places
to boost your acting career and where to work, implying it is targeted
toward young adults in the acting industry. Also targeted at fans of
broadway, as it features information on new plays, musicals and
actors.

GENDER: Male and Female

AGE: 17+
LIKES: Theatre, Films, Acting, Performing Arts, Geography, The
Arts
FAVOURITE SHOW: Glee
FAVOURITE FILM: The Grand Budapest Hotel
HOBBIES: Theatre Shows, Going to Musicals, The Performing Arts,
Poetry, Shopping, Singing
GENDER: Male + Female
AGE: 14+
LIKES: Film, Cinema, Blogging, Netflix
FAVOURITE TV SHOW: Game Of Thrones
FAVOURITE FILM: Harry Potter (SERIES)
HOBBIES:Going to the cinema, Talking with friends, Clubs,
Evenings in,
Watching Netflix

Questionnaire
As I approached the final stages of my evaluation, I was given the task of
creating a survey, complete with general questions on magazines and consumer
preferences, in order to set the foundations of the pricing, genre and layout/colour
scheme of my magazine. The survey results i received allowed me to narrow
down my design choices to a small, yet effective selection which would highlight
the most popular answers from my questionnaire. My questionnaire contained a

series of 8 questions, and I created one graph for each question in order to
simply review the results i received.
How much would you pay for a magazine?
1-3 - 33.3%
4-6 - 44.4%
7+ - 22.2%
2. What are your interests?
Fashion- 11.1%
Socialising- 0%
Music - 11.1%
Gaming- 33.3%
Alternative - 11.1%
Art - 22.2%
Theatre/The Arts - 11.1%
Sports - 0%
3. What topics would you like to see articles on?
Fashion - 0%
Gaming - 22.2%
Tv/Film - 11.1%
Art - 11.1%
Music - 33.3%
Alternative - 22.2%
4. How old are you?
10-15- 11.1%
16-19- 33.3%
20-25- 44.4%
26-30- 11.1%
31+ - 0%
5. What colour scheme would you like to see in the magazine?
Earth tones (Red, orange, yellow)- 33.3%

Cool tones (Blue,greens,pink)- 11.1%

Black and White- 22.2%
Anything vibrant and bold- 11.1%
Soft pastel colours- 22.2%
6. How often do you read magazines?
Once a week- 11.1%
Almost everyday-11.1%
Occasionally- 66.7%
Never-11.1%
7. What layout and style do you think is appealing in a magazine?
Basic, simple structure - 66.7%
Overlapping, more freespace- 33.3%
Custom- 0%
8. What about a magazine makes it appealing to you?
Colour- 22.2%
Content- 44.4%
Layout- 22.2%
Imagery- 11.1%
Other- 0%
From my results, I can gather a number of conclusions that I used to
improve my magazine with. For example, 44% of people said that they
would pay 4-6 for a magazine, therefore I made the price of my
magazine 4.00. The majority of people stated that they find Basic,
simple structure to be more appealing than one that uses more free
space and overlaps text and images. From this, I made sure the
structure of my magazine was more structured and stable in order to
suit the audience. One prominent set of results for me was what made
a magazine appealing to the audience. The majority (44.4%) voted that
they thought content was the most appealing. Therefore, I made sure
my final double-page article was informative, and was worthwhile to
read whereas less people cared about Imagery and layout, so it
seemed that quality was put above quantity. As well as this, the
interests of participants in surveys didnt show much of a correlation,

however music and gaming seemed to be favourites. However I

couldnt really apply this to my magazine as my magazine is about
Social Justice and Feminism rather than pop-culture. Overall, I found
the survey results helpful as it aided me in finalising the basic layout of
my magazine, and the pricing range I should aim at for it, however it
impacted the actual topic of my magazine the least. These survey
results aided me in deciding a more niche topic for my magazine and
helped me understand what generic conventions were popular within
audiences to incorporate into my magazine.

Mock Ups
Post-research & pre-production, I decided to move onto my next task, which was
to create a mock-up of a front cover and contents page for my magazine. I used
these as a guideline and basic template for my final pieces, and the feedback i
received help me to decide what would be included in my final pieces, and what I
would incorporate into it that would appeal to my target audience. As we were
allowed to use any image we wanted onto our mock-ups (For our final piece we
were only allowed to incorporate original photography), for my front cover I chose
a painting of infamous artist Frida Kahlo, posed to look like Rosie the riveter a
famous vintage feminist icon. I edited Fridas face and replaced it with an empty
orange shape, with the text [insert face here]. I chose this as it allows the
audience to understand that they can be an inspirational role model for women
and feminist if they put their mind to it, to show that you dont have to be famous
in order to make a difference in the world. Underneath, I had the names of my
articles, one even with a # at the front as it is a twitter trend, and this appeals to
younger (specifically teens and upward) audiences who are frequent users of
social media, showing that my magazine isnt outdated aswell. Similar to my final
piece, I had the Masthead in bold, large font at the top of the page in order to
catch audiences eye. The feedback I got from this was that I needed to make my
feature article more obvious on the front page, as it wasnt clear on my mock-up
front cover. I was also told to choose a more relevant colour scheme, as my front
cover was mainly a blue/green tinted hue, however this doesn't exactly connote
femininity, and it was hard to find colours that complimented the hue, making my
magazine mock-up seem slightly flat in terms of style and colour.

For my contents page, I received feedback that the lack of relevant images on it
made the contents page seem boring and didnt really convince audiences to
read further as it was plain to the eye and didnt offer any images to support
articles listed. The images i used didnt relate to any specific article id listed,
therefore were easily dismissed. I also received feedback for the layout, as it only
filled one and a half columns, and seemed odd in stylisation of the layout,
whereas it should only be one or two columns of articles only. On my contents
page, I also had speech bubbles directing towards the articles stating wow! and
cool!, however I received feedback that this made the page seem too childish,
and didnt make much sense as to what the purpose of them were. By receiving
this feedback, I was able to understand what generic conventions I should
include in my magazine, and which I should leave out as they either didnt make
sense to my genre, or made the magazine seem less appealing to my target
audience.
After analysing my mock-ups post-production, I was able to see which parts of
the uses and gratifications theory my magazine utilised, and how it would affect
the target audience. The parts of the uses and gratifications theory my mock-ups
used were:
I

Surveillance Learning about the world.

Personal Relationships Building relationships with celebrities/famous

people via interviews

Voyeurism Looking into other peoples lives

First of all, my magazine uses surveillance as it offers articles on

international feminist problems, including the dress code-dilemma my feature article, so from reading these articles my audiences can
become more educated on the world through reading my magazine.
My magazine also uses Personal Relationships as it offers Q&As and
interviews with famous female role-models, including Angelina Jolie
and Laverne Cox, enabling the audience to get an insight to the minds
of celebrities through these interviews, and gathering a greater
understanding of what they stand for. Finally, my magazine offers up

Voyeurism, which is looking into other peoples lives. My magazine

incorporates this by allowing the audience to look into the lives of
other feminists and the activism they do, and learn more about it that
they were previously uneducated on before. However, my magazine
does not include all aspects of the uses and gratifications theory as i
couldnt find any sources of Escapism as my articles were not fantasybased and heavily relied on reality, including real stories and dilemmas
concerning misogyny and escapism, therefore the audience arent able
to escape from their own reality. In my mock-up, I also didnt use
personal identity as the feminists I wrote about were very high-profile
and either celebrities or famous, therefore my audience cannot relate
to them directly on a personal level.

Analysing My Own Work

Connotations Of Title
Front cover

I chose to call my magazine The F Word because the genre of my

magazine is Feminism, which starts with an F. It is also a play on the
taboo curse-word, which is also known as The F Word. I chose this as
feminism is usually considered a topic that is silenced in modern
society, and often labelling yourself as a Feminist is treated similarly to
a curse-word, with ridicule and shame. This relates back to the fact
society silences educated young womens voices, and my magazines
intention is to normalise feminism, and to encourage girls/women to
speak up more about it - rather than stay in silence, having to deal
with casual misogyny and sexism. This also eliminates most other
audiences from the beginning, as it is commonplace that feminism is
associated and targeted at females, so from The F Word most men
will turn away. The title also relates to my target audience as it is a
more mature play on words, for teenagers rather than young girls, as
younger girls would not understand the double meaning.
Contents

My contents page is called Contents as it denotes to the audience

that they are

reading the contents page and able to see what articles are featured in
the magazine.
Double-Page Spread

My double-page spread is titled Feminism Isnt Just Black & White. I

chose this title as it relates back to my article, which details how there
are many layers in feminism, and there is more underneath the surface
of it, including LGBTQ+ and women with disabilities, for example. Its
also a pun on the colour choice i used for the title, which is different
hues of black on top of a white background, making it a direct
reference to the title.

Connotations And Colour

Front Cover

On my front cover, I used various hues of red/pinks, greys and whites,

as i found they harmonised with and complimented the colours of the
image I used as a background for my front cover. I used these colours
as they also connote femininity, as pinks/reds are associated
stereotypically with girls and girliness in itself, in opposition to blue,
which is the main colour commonly used to connote masculinity and
the male gender as a whole.
Contents

For my contents page, I stuck to a similar colour scheme, however only

for the background and base did i use the same shade of red that the
title of my magazine is in, in order to keep a constant theme
throughout the magazine. The font colour i used was white, which
complimented the red background it was set on, and also made it stick
out to the reader, rather than fade away and be difficult to read. The
images i used were vibrant, including warm colours such as reds,
oranges and yellows, giving the contents page itself a warm essence
and theme, making it seem more aesthetically pleasing.
Double-Page Spread

My double-page spread had more cool, simplistic colours, as not to

overload the page with a spectrum of random colours, but to make it
seem more classy and connote professionalism, rather than slightlychildish connotations, again relating back to my older target audience
of teenagers and up. The colours i used were black, white, a

turquoise/mint and red (again this was to keep in with the same colour
as the title, keeping the theme constant throughout the whole
magazine). I chose the font + images to be black and white because it
fits in with the title of my feature article, Feminism Isnt Just Black &
White. I used a plain white background, so the other colours didnt
clash and added to the minimalistic, classy style of the spread.

Font Sizes And Why You Chose Them

Front Cover

On my front cover, I chose to use large font sizes for the masthead and
the title
of my feature article. This is because I felt these were the
most significant pieces of information on my magazine that would
persuade my audience to read the magazine. I made these font sizes
bigger as it made the front-cover more eye-catching, and brings
immediate attention to the magazine from customers walking into a
shop, as it will be the first thing they see, hopefully persuading them to
pick up the magazine and read on. This is a generic convention of all
magazines and also a common selling technique as well. For pricing,
date, and any other sub-texts on the magazine, I used smaller fonts as
they are not the most important information on my front cover, and
therefore I didnt feel the need to focus on bringing much attention to
them. Having a large font size for the masthead and headline is also a
typical generic convention of magazines, therefore that is another
reason I believed doing the same for my magazine would be
appropriate.
Contents

For my contents page, similarly to my front cover I used the same large
font for
my masthead Contents, in order to bring
attention to the fact the audience is on the contents page. For my
articles, I used a medium-sized font for the sub-titles, and for the brief
description of the articles I used a smaller font, as i believe the subtitles should have more focus and draw in audience attention. I used a
medium-sized font for the print-out offering inside, as I believed using
the generic convention of offering a reward in the magazine would
persuade more audiences to buy the magazine in order to obtain the
print-outs.
Double-Page Spread

The font-sizes I used in my double-page spread were large for the first
line of the masthead/Headline, and one-size smaller font for
underneath, in order to put emphasis on the word Feminism, and
bolded Black&White so it isnt undermined in comparison to the first
line of the Masthead. For the sub-title I used a slightly smaller font, but
not so small that it was the same as the rest of the article itself, this
font sizing made the sub-title eye-catching still, and automatically the
audience will read that first before going on to read the article itself.
The rest of the copy in the article is all a small 11pt font, keeping
consistency throughout, and fitting onto the page neatly.

Camera Shot choices and why you chose them

Front Cover

The camera shot I used for my front cover was a close-up of a young
girls face, mainly her side-profile. I used this camera shot in specific as
I did not wish to have any focus or distraction towards the background,
and instead wanted all focus onto my models face, specifically the
gender-sign painted on her cheek. I used this as it is effective in
reinforcing the idea of feminism and girl power, and this makes it clear
to the audience, we can see her facial expression clearly - a serious
one - and the decoration on her face, which relates to my genre
directly, and having no attention brought to the background.
Contents

One of the camera shots I used for my contents page was a mid-shot of
my centric model, the woman holding flowers in her hands, I used this
as it shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an
impression of the whole subject, so you could see her face and the
flowers she was holding, rather than just a close-up of her face like my
front cover. This is a common generic convention in magazines that
focus on a model as it allows the audience to view most of the subject.
The second camera shot I used was an eye-level medium shot, which
included 4 subjects staring directly at the camera. This is a fairly
neutral shot, and is commonly used in magazines as it makes direct
eye-contact with the audience and makes them feel involved.
Double-Page Spread

For my double page-spread, I used 4 images overall, three wide shots

and a two-shot. I used the wide shots as the subjects take up the full
frame, or at least as much as comfortably possible. I chose these for
three of the images as it showed the outfits the girls were wearing
(adding to the formal classy stylisation I aimed for on my double-page
spread), and their facial expressions and positive body language, for
example laughter, smiling or for the image of the subject by herself a
more serious look. I used the two-shot as it showed two subjects in
frame clearly, this is framed similarly to a mid-shot, and created the
effect of being able to put yourself in the moment, as a means of
personal identity almost.

What images you chose and why

Front cover

For my front cover, I chose one image and made it the background of
my entire front cover. The image I chose was one of my younger sister,
a mid-close up shot of her face turned to the side, with the female
gender sign painted on the side of her face in red lipstick, behind her is
a plain white background, so all attention is brought to her face. I
chose this image for multiple reasons, one being that it correlates
directly with the theme of feminism. The gender-sign is painted on her
face to bring about the idea of claiming feminist-ideals in younger girls,
to show that in modern society our intention is to have younger
generations of girls grow up unafraid to speak their mind and stand up
against oppression. I also chose this image because it related to my
magazines tagline Why hide your face?, so i chose the image of a
clear-facial shot, in order to link them together, rather than choose a
completely unrelated image that doesnt connote the same ideas. I
also chose this image as I was able to place text around the image
focus (being my younger sister) as it was clear to read and doesnt
overlap.
Contents

For my contents page, I used two images, one of a woman holding a

bouquet of brightly coloured flowers, and another of me and 3 other
girls taken in London. I chose the latter photo as it was a base for an
article featured on the contents page , about how 4 girls from
Hertfordshire were fighting for less gender-misconduct and concerts
and gigs in London. I thought using this image would add interest to
the article and want people to read further, and gives an idea of the
tone of the article as well. The main image i used was the one of the

woman holding flowers as it was vibrant, and fit well with not just my
colour scheme, but also added artistic flair to the contents page.
Double-Page Spread

In contrast to my front cover and contents page, i used a series of 4

images all taken on the same day, all of women/girls at a wedding.
These photos include females of different ages and ethnicities, in order
to connote that feminism should not be exclusive to just one
demographic of women, and that it should be diverse instead. This is
what my article is about, so choosing these images fit well with the
purpose the article and didnt contradict it (using all white-women
would have). I also chose these images because it showed the women
interacting with each other, laughing and being happy, creating a
positive,inviting atmosphere on my double-page spread, which
encourages having strong bonds with your female friends and uniting
together. I also believe using photos from a wedding would add class to
my magazine as the women are all dressed in black-tie and formal
wear.

How does your front cover speak to the audience?

Front Cover

My front cover speaks to the audience in a informal way, and directly

addresses them, immediately making them feel involved in the
magazine, and also in a way that isnt patronising, or like the magazine
is talking down to the audience. For example, the slogan of my
magazine says Why hide your face?, using third-person to involve
the audience directly, and also makes them feel more relaxed and
comfortable when reading the magazine.
Contents

Similarly to my front-cover, my contents speaks to the audience

informally, while still being informative, the standard page-numbers
and article tab is rather formal and informative towards the reader.
There isnt much direct address to the audience on this page, however
the more serious-tone is juxtaposed by the print-out offering at the
bottom of the page which uses an exclamation mark to seem more
inviting and emphasising a friendly atmosphere for the reader.
Double-Page Spread

My double-page spread speaks to the audience in an informative way

because it is an article. This is solely the purpose of an article, to
inform, however because the perspective is from a teenage girl,
myself, audiences dont feel patronised and can see things from my

point of view. I also use a rhetorical question, in order to provoke

thought in the reader, and keep them thinking about the article after
reading, hopefully having a lasting effect.

How does your text use the uses and gratifications theory to
offer the target audience satisfaction?
Front Cover

My front cover uses the uses and gratifications theory through personal
relationships, as it offers an interview with a famous celebrity,
therefore the reader can further read on and be able to build a closer
relationship with the celebrity through learning more about their views
in the interview.
Contents

This section does not really achieve the uses and gratifications theory
as the page is normally directed to other pages. N/A. See Front Cover
or Double-Page Spread.
Double-Page Spread

My double-page spread uses the uses and gratifications theory by

utilising Personal Identity as the article is from the perspective of a 15
year old girl who details her own experiences of growing up in a
diverse family, and having large female influence. This allows other
normal-girls who have had the same experience to see a bit of
themselves in the author and the article and grant satisfaction out of
being able to relate to the article directly. It also uses surveillance as
the article allows the audience to learn more about intersectional
feminism, therefore they get satisfaction from leaving the article more
educated than before.

How does your magazine play on audience needs?

Front Cover

My front cover does play on my audiences needs, based from

Maslows hierarchy of needs. (Physiological needs, Safety,
Love/belonging, Esteem and self-actualisation). My cover plays on selfactualisation needs as it shows an insight to how prejudice affects
women, and plays on ideas and morality and acceptance of facts, as by
reading you can become further educated on subjects of gender-based
prejudice. It also plays on social needs as it hints at an interview with a
celebrity, and by reading you can feel more up to date with modern

celebrity news and talk and be involved in conversations related to

these.
Contents

N/A
Double-Page Spread

My double page spread plays on the needs of belonging to a group,

which in this case is belonging in feminist groups, all based on activism
for equal rights in terms of gender, allowing the audience to feel like
they belong in the demographic, as the article is about how all types of
women should be involved in feminism. My double-page spread also
plays on self-actualisation as it addresses the topic of prejudices you
may be unaware of, i.e if you are a white feminist you may not include
other women of colour without realising, this helps further improve
peoples morality and makes them feel better about themselves after
being educated by the article itself.

Layout
Front Cover

I laid out my front cover in quite a simple, minimalistic style, as this

follows the generic conventions of most niche magazines, including
feminist ones. My background is made up of one image, and the
masthead is placed directly at the top of the page, leaving space
above for the price and date of magazine. Directly underneath the
masthead is the slogan Why hide your face? . To the left of my frontcover is the cover line of my feature article and a brief description of
what it entails underneath. A few spaces underneath this is the
barcode of my magazine, and underneath that is a block at the very
bottom of the page, going from left to right. This is where I wrote about
the interview inside of the magazine. I thought this effective as it
exemplified what many other niche magazines showed, a lone subject,
and not crowds of information packed on the front-cover, and keeping
a simple layout while still including generic conventions such as pricing
and articles.
Contents

I laid out my contents slightly differently to my front cover, while it

shared some similarities such as the title at the top of the page,
articles to the left of the page and a large photo to the right of the
page, there were many differences also. I distributed layers to show
the information more clearly, and included another photo at the top, in
order to fill up empty space. I made sure the article-text did not

overlap the photo, so attention isnt directed from either of the

subjects.
Double-Page Spread

On my double-page spread, I laid out my 4 images onto one side of the

page, and placed them at different angles, overlapping each other, to
create a more creative and original spin on the layout, rather than a
boring spaced out series of images, which would not have the same
style I was going on, used more for newspapers than magazines. On
the second page, my masthead is placed at the top of the page, and
underneath is the subtitle, and underneath that in smaller font is the
article copy text in columns, to give it a more professional feel for the
article, as in magazines article texts are usually split into columns
rather than huge paragraphs of text. This fit neatly all to the left of the
page. Headline and sub-heading follow above, just like a traditional
article, this would be a generic convention.

Does your magazine use enigma?

Front Cover -

My front cover uses enigma as it uses a cover-line which give the

audience a taster of what will be inside the magazine and also describe
what will be in the main article which encourage my target audience to
read on. It also offers an inside exclusive interview with Laverne Cox,
therefore persuading the audience to read on in order to view the
interview and what it details.
Contents

My contents page does include enigma, one example of this is at the

top of my contents page, next to the image of the 4 girls is a caption
stating how these four Hertfordshire girls are putting a stop to male
concert behaviour, this makes the audience want to read further as
they want to know how the girls are using their activism, as it doesnt
outright tell the audience what the girls are doing. Another example of
enigma on my contents page is at the bottom there is a gift offering
Including Print Outs this persuades the audiences to read on and buy
the magazine as they will be able to take out print out posters for their
rooms/decorations for example, and gives them a taster of what is to
be expected from the magazine.
Double-Page Spread

My double page spread does use enigma, this is found in the sub-title
underneath the masthead, which gives the audience a taster of what
to expect from the article, and also makes the audience question what

the author means by Being a woman is so much more than whats

underneath your skirt, encouraging them to read on through the
article.

How does your magazine compare to a professional piece?

For my final task post-production, I compared my final magazine to a
professional feminist magazine, Ms. Magazine, which has been
running since the early 70s. I compared this as it had the same genre
as mine and followed the same style I was going for - minimalistic.
The first similarity I noticed was that the two mastheads are both bold,
and placed in a large font at the top of the page, bringing immediate
attention to the mastheads, a generic convention of magazines in
itself. model on both magazines are placed on the right side of the
page, in full view, and are both well-known figures, making the focus of
the both magazines the same, as they both are the subject of feature
articles. I also noticed that both magazines followed rule of thirds ,
with the main image taking up the middle third, and coverlids taking
up the other two. Another similarity I noticed was that both article
texts were on the left-side of the page, as to not divert attention from
the model and keeping a neat, minimalistic front page. Another
similarity however is that both of our images have plain backgrounds,
a personal strength for my magazine, as it made the cover less loud
and provides focus on the text and model rather than background and
allows a small colour-scheme.
However, between the two magazines there are also various significant
differences. For example, the two colour schemes are different, the Ms
Magazine features more sophisticated blues and greens, whereas my
magazine uses more stereotypically female pinks, reds and whites,
therefore giving two contrasting colour schemes. Another difference is
that Ms Magazine has more text and information on the cover,
whereas my magazine only offers two articles to read, therefore the
Ms Magazine uses space more effectively than mine. Another
difference I noticed was that the masthead for Ms Magazine did not
overlap the models face in anyway, and kept to the side, whereas my
masthead did slightly overlap my model, however not so much that it
is a strong weakness within my magazine. The final difference I found
was that the tone of my magazine front cover was different, and
directly addresses the audience in its text, immediately making my

target audience feel involved within the magazine, whereas Ms

Magazine doesnt address the audience at all, I think this highlighted a
strength for my magazine and gave a sense of originality to my
magazine in comparison to the professional Ms Magazine

Conclusion
In conclusion, i believe that my task of creating a magazine was
successful in many areas, looking similar to that of a professional
standard and keeping in tact with audience needs, and overall keeping
to the theme of justice and feminism.