Reflection on the entire research:
Conducting this research was really tiring, very time-consuming, and gradually got boring as it took me 3 days of repetitively answering the same questions over and over again. The 2 big detailed research was especially quite stressful to do as even though I was analyzing only the cover of the magazine, there were so much parts of the magazine that I had to decode, find the implied meaning, and the connotations of. The 4 small detailed research was equally as stressful as I misunderstood the instructions when I did my first one, leading to me answering the wrong set of questions and made it more time-consuming than it should've been. This gave me a lesson that next time, if an instruction is unclear to me, I should ask my teacher rather than having to do it incorrectly and making it more complicated. Even though the whole process of completing this research was frustrating and draining, in the end it expanded my knowledge of the media terminologies, media theories and their theorists, and media concepts such as connotations and effects of certain features that they have towards the readers which will definitely help in my section A and B in the exam. Before this, I struggled with applying media terminologies, media theories, and media concepts in my works as I'm new to everything and I wasn't used to it yet. However, because I was repetitively using them non-stop throughout the research, for me it became the same thing as practicing and therefore, I became more familiar with it and understood it more where I eventually could add more and more to my section A and B and I was gradually improving compared to when I was first introduced to all of them.
This is an analysis of the magazine terminologies found in the front cover of my magazine and their possible effects on the reader.
If it's not clear enough:
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFwcTFBl7Q/ue9BGIuBjkJ7sC3blb_Erw/edit?utm_content=DAFwcTFBl7Q&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
Round the Table
Author: Randy L. Scritchfield, CFP, LUTCF
Edition: May-June 2023
Round the Table is a magazine for the world's best financial professionals that delivers business solutions, management practice and technology tips. It provides content to aid producers at every career stage and connects them with readers around the world.
Media Language
The codes and conventions for typical business magazines is to feature a close-up shot picture of a popular and influential businessman or woman to attract attentions of reader's that are interested in their business strategies and advices. However, the image placed on the cover appears to go against the code and convention as it's an abstract image of a person's head, which is considered less engaging as according to research, readers are more naturally drawn to human faces and expressions. Though, it may still work for people that enjoys interpreting and digging meaning to stimulate the reader's imagination and since it's targeted to workers in the marketing field, they may already be used to decoding things to create messages that connects with the consumers. A direct example would be by the implied meaning of a pathway to someone's mind decoded by the image of a stairway in someone's mind. Not only that, the base color of the magazine cover is green and when associated with business, it is a connotation of growth, may it be financial or personal development. The color green also gives a meaning of safety and trust, which correlates with the content of the magazine on how to gain the trust of consumers. All these connotations links with the genre of the magazine being business where they typically promote growth.
Representations
There are not many representations that are displayed in the cover of the magazine aside from the image of the stairs in the person's head that keeps going upward. This may represent the desire of workers in the business industry to keep growing more and the desire for improvement in their career, making a clearer idea that there is a representation of the target audience being workers in a business or a profit-driven related industry. Not only that, the font of the masthead is in a DM Sans. This gives off a sense of modern and clean look and can help convey professionalism that is typically displayed as the personality and impression of business workers.
Audience
The target audience for Round the Table are typically workers who works in the marketing field, specifically in the insurance industry. Based on the uses and gratification theory, workers may want to read this magazine for surveillance, which is to attain knowledge about the effective ways of how to understand the mind of consumers and how those workers can effect the way they think. Marketers would be attracted by the main image that displays a stairway in a person's implies a pathway to someone's mind where this implied meaning would easily be noticeable by people in general and not just workers in that field as not only is it a simple, direct, and not out of the box picture, it is also supported by the curved words surrounding it that means 'examining customer's thoughts'. The image of someone's head itself implies that the content has something to do with people's minds, therefore it may be targeted to either psychologists, marketers, and etc. It engages the readers by encouraging interpretations and gets people to think of the deeper meaning behind the picture, where in the business world, this is something they most likely do regularly. Since the interpretation of the image in the cover is simple and easily decoded, it may appeal to the target audience as a mode of inspiration to be practiced in their own workplace.
Industry
Round the Table publishes their magazines not only as a hard copy, but also digitally in the internet to follow the evolution of technology and the fact that almost everyone now has access to technology. Publishing it in the internet allows Round the Table to gain recognitions from online consumers and allows for a broader range of consumers. With marketing and business in general evolving with technology as well and specifically, marketers working in social media platforms and online websites, it will be much easier and faster to get to them that way instead of publishing hard copies in local stores that either not everyone can access or in the case that it's not published in the specific country they're in. With the fact that the target audience, marketers, spends time working in social medias and websites and that technology is now able to collect and analyze data on reader behavior and preferences. This data can then be used for magazine companies like Round the Table to reach their target audiences in a more accurate and faster way.
All New Nissan X-trail
Author: Unknown
Edition: 2014
All New Nissan X-Trail is a magazine published by the Nissan Automobile manufacturer company particularly for the "Indonesia eXtreme 4x4 team 2014 final battle" and "GIXA SUMUT 2014" event. This magazine features articles on multiple types of vehicles such as 4 seaters suvs that may be targeted to families and off roader vehicles like trucks. The content also includes the new features added to their automobiles and the benefits it brings to the users.
Media Language
The codes and conventions for typical automobile advertisement magazines are to feature a high quality low angle and long shot of the vehicles being advertised with the purpose of attracting the attention of the reader's to the car's overall mechanical features and design which is done by the long shot that captures the whole of the car that shows both the exterior and the interior and not just for example, the front, the side, and etc. This magazine follows the general codes and conventions where it is showcasing their newly invented car in a low angle shot to make it appear powerful where readers can imply that the car has new and added features that may be different to other cars, giving buyers the upper-hand benefit if they were to buy the car. In addition to this, the supporting phrase saying "all new" is bolded and designed to have the largest font when compared to the rest of the texts on the cover as the writer may want to attract the readers by making it more noticeable so that it's the first thing they see to help emphasize the significance of the phrase to them. Not only that, the usage of Dutch angle gives a sense of playfulness, edginess, and trendiness to the car where it may bring out a feeling of intrigue and excitement towards the readers. Because their target audience are most likely automobile enthusiasts, the lighting is mostly focused and projected towards the car to make it look gleaming and give a sense of modern and sleekness to make it more visually appealing and trendy and stand out to their target audience, adding to them usage of the color orange that contrasts with the car's background.
Representations
The identity (or type) of the car have been represented clearly on the front cover of this magazine, in correlation to the age group represented and the features of the car. The choice of having the car shot in a long shot is key to this where it has made the not only the exterior clearly visible where the car looks like a medium to a big size car, but also the interior of the car, which is an important factor in figuring out the age group the car is targeted to. In addition to the size of the car being a medium to a big size car, the snip of the interior shows more or less a 5 seater space where this can typically imply to be a representation of the car's identity to being a family car since it means the car can hold a significant amount of passengers where according to the stereotypes of buyers of 4 and above seater cars, it would usually be children. Not only that, the long shot of the car also showed the location it's in. The location having trees in the back may connote nature and typically cars in nature suggest road trips. This may imply that the car is suitable for long-duration road trips and taking into account that it's on grass, it may imply that it can withstand unstable ground roads and has good stability, suggesting safe and comfort that would appeal to families with toddlers, making us believe more that this Nissan X-Trail car is represented to be family car with representations as such that would appeal to families.
Audience
The target audience for this All New Nissan X-trail magazine are specifically young middle-age couples who may want to explore more about suitable cars for them to use. According to the Uses and Gratification theory, they would want to consume this media text for personal identity. This is as they may feel that the features of the Nissan X-trail may align with their personal identity of being future parents or currently, parents to toddlers where they prioritize their safety at most and may also align with their lifestyle of liking adventures and road trips. Since it's an advertisement magazine for cars, we can already narrow it down to people who are above 20. Furthermore, with the help of the long shot of the car showing a spacious 5 seater medium size car, we can narrow it further down to possibly target audiences such as young middle age couples with toddlers. If we were to follow the common stereotypes, young single people would more likely use a small 4-5 seater car due to efficiency, affordability, etc., therefore ruling out that age group. To support this statement, the usage of the color orange for the color of the car connotes liveliness and energy that generally represents young middle-aged people and in addition to that, the Dutch angle portraying this connotation implies this age group as not only does it match their personality, they are often more exposed and are used to things that evokes energy and uniqueness, making it an important factor when trying to attract that age group as they may be used to that standard when consuming advertisements.
Industry
This edition is a special edition release in regards to the "Indonesia eXtreme 4x4 team 2014 final battle" and "GIXA SUMUT 2014" event. This is a great way to gain brand recognition taking into account the many people joining the event as not only will it be full of car enthusiasts and people who knows significant knowledge about cars, there will be a high chance that their target audience is also there and with the appealing features the magazine has, it may serve as a direct approach to their target audience right on the spot. However, this publishing and advertisement media technique may not work as well in correlation to the continuing evolution of technology and the more people being exposed to it. If this company decides to continue this technique by publishing only hard covers, they may attract less to no consumers as the more people being exposed to technology, the more they use and depend on it to gain information instead of using physical copies of them. Nevertheless, this technique is understandable when looking at the year it was published. To follow the common trend of publishing companies to have an online presence, this company has gradually seem to successfully adapt to the development of technology as upon researching, they have published several magazines online, making it more widely accessible and with the help of websites being able to collect data on reader preferences, it is easier and faster for them to reach right to their specific target audience, especially if they are young people since they spend quite a lot of time in social media platforms, the internet, and etc.
Asri
Author: Imelda Anwar
Edition: December 2015
Asri is a magazine mainly targeted towards architects that seeks inspiration for the current trends of home, cafe, and restaurant designs for them to use it for their future creations. It provides contents such as images of real life locations (such as existing restaurants), the designs that they use, and the positive effects it has on their customers.
Masthead/Title
The Masthead of this magazine is the logo of the company so that it is easily recognizable to the target audience. Furthermore, "Asri" is a real word from the Indonesian dictionary and not just a made up word where it means an area that is clean, has lots of trees and far from pollution. Since it's a real and also simple word, the readers can easily imply that the content of the magazine would have relations to nature such as gardens, wood, plants, and etc.
Typography
The font used by the masthead is a normal, simple, and curvy font. This is so that it stands out differently with all the other sharp fonts used and capture the reader's attention that that word is what the company wants them to read first. It may even be beneficial when attracting the reader's attention if the company has a good brand reputation and their logo is the first thing they recognize, therefore they are more willing to pick it up. To further support that statement, the masthead is placed on the upper left third of the magazine, this is the first thing buyers will see amongst the other parts of the magazine when put in the shelf with other magazines, therefore, drawing the reader's attention immediately towards the logo and its typography which again, may be the first thing the company wants the readers to see. The masthead using a bold yellow color in an architecture magazine in this case may suggest the association with sun, sunlight, and freshness, all incorporating with the nature theme.
Image
The image selected for the cover is a long shot showing the interior and exterior of a house. It mainly focuses on the interior, showing a lot of wooden materials used as the design of the furniture such as the table, chair, glass frame, and ceiling. This gives a hint on the type of designs going to be shown in the content of this architecture magazine and reflects on the overall type of magazine it is. The lighting throughout the image is equally bright and spread across the room so that it is visually clear for the readers to see all the architectural features, elements, and structures of the house. It makes the space look more open as it minimizes shadows and clearly shows the length of the area, even if in the case of this magazine, it's only a part of the house. In contrast to if it was dark, it will make the space look smaller from the limited visibility of the length and width of the structure of the house.
Language
The main coverline found in the cover is the phrase "Identitas Tradisional" along with the other coverlines such as the phrases "variasi ekspresi, unpretentious beauty, when tropical meets vintage, and garden by the bay." The words tropical, traditional, garden, suggests that the magazine relates with nature elements. Therefore this suggests that the target audience may be architects who are looking for ideas on how to incorporate nature elements with interior and exterior designs. It may also be directed towards people looking to build or renovate their homes to have these type of designs. This gives a diversity of the target audience for this type of company which allows them to have a broader range of possible buyers.
Representation
This magazine does not have a clear representation however it may be middle-aged adults as It showcases a house, may it be architectures or home owners. This is as this age group are typically more eligible to be related to the production of houses in general with their expected level of income and the expected age group to have their own families. Furthermore, this age group are stereotypically known to value health and well-being and the incorporation of natural elements such as wooden furniture, gardens, and other forms of greeneries can contribute to a sense of freshness and relaxation, making it more appealing to this age group.
Adverts
Advertisements for furniture, lighting, and home decor products such as cabinets, couches, tables and building materials, such as flooring, tiles, countertops, are common to reach architects, interior designers, and home owners that are seeking for inspiration for their own projects.
What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I like that in this cover of the magazine, the lighting throughout the image is equally bright and spreads across the room, making the space look more open as it minimizes shadows and clearly shows the length of the area. In contrast to if it was dark, it will make the space look smaller from the limited visibility of the length and width of the structure of the house. I can use this method of lighting in my travel magazine to make it visually clear, give my target audience a bold sense of freshness and to help them capture and emphasize important details in the images I will provide. However I dislike the color and position of the coverline "variasi ekspresi, unpretentious beauty, when tropical meets vintage, and garden by the bay." as the color crashes against the color of the background, making it look less clear to read.
Reflection
My teacher told me to do 4 less detailed research and it starts with this magazine and up to this point, I thought that this was the format. However, I recently asked my friend about it and he told me that I only needed to write about what inspired me, what i like and dislike in the magazine and the relevance of its features towards my magazine project, for instance, what I would steal to use on my own magazine project. Therefore next time, when an instruction is unclear to me, I should ask the teacher about it and not just rely on my own understanding and beliefs. I can classify this part as additional research as thankfully, I can use some of its features on my own magazine project.
A-One
Author: Unknown
Edition: March 2013 - June 2013 (Limited Edition)
A-One is a magazine mainly targeted towards young to old middle-aged Asian women, ranging from 20-40 years old who are interested and has the desire to firstly, be exposed to the varieties of culture related fashions and secondly, gain knowledge of beauty, fashion, and dietary tips.
What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I like the typography used in the cover of the magazine where they used a bold and sharp font for the masthead and the headlines of the coverlines as it makes the magazine appear more minimalist, modern, and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I also like how the color of all the words are within the same color palette, therefore they don't overcrowd the space and instead, appears neat and organized. There is nothing I dislike in this magazine as everything came together well and looks visually appealing to me however, I am not going to use any of these features and the other features present in the cover in my own magazine as It does not really align with the type of magazine and my target audience.
Lionmag
Author: Unknown
Edition: June - July 2022
Lionmag is a travel magazine, specifically for travelling in Bali, that is targeted towards travelling enthusiasts and people in general that is planning to travel to Bali. This is as it provides content such as information on popular travelling destinations and the culinary in Bali such as their traditional food.
What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I really like that there are a minimal amount of words in the cover to emphasis the main image used instead where this may help catch the reader's attentions more when compared to numerous words crowding and covering the main image in a travel magazine which will make it less visually appealing. In addition to that, I also like the white background in the contents page and the double page as it gives the magazine a light, minimalist, and modern look that is again, aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and therefore, I may steal this kind of format for my own travel magazine as for me, I would definitely buy magazines with this format as It feels pleasing to read even amongst the long informations. Furthermore, there is nothing I dislike in the feature of this magazine as everything came together perfectly.
Linkers
Author: Unknown, however it may be someone within the "Contributors" list.
Edition: January 2020
Linkers is a travelling magazine that may be targeted towards travel enthusiasts and people who are interested in the cultures of other countries. This is as this magazine provides a variety of content such as historical locations in a specific country, a traditional food of another country, and a tourist spot for another different country. It also provides recent news of the country displayed, therefore readers can stay up-to-date on what's happening in that country in the case where they are planning to travel there.
What inspires you, What do you dislike, and Relevance
I like that there are minimal amount of words in the cover to divert the focus of the readers towards the main image used instead to catch the reader's attentions as according to research, people tend to be more attracted to visually appealing images rather than just words. In addition to that, I personally like the warm tone used in the image as it's light on the eyes though it may not stand out when placed amongst all the other magazines next to it. What i dislike in this magazine are the color of the words "content" and "contributor" as it's completely out of the color palette, It doesn't look appealing, and may as well look disturbing, according to me personally. Not only that, I feel like the contributors could've been placed on another page by itself, rather than cramped in the contents page, making the informations look overcrowded and less pleasing to see. On the other hand, similar to the previous travel magazine, I like how they used the white background in the double page as it contrasts to the color of the texts and the pictures. Therefore, it makes them stand out more and look clearer to the reader, so I would possibly use this format for my own travel magazine as since I found this format twice already amongst travel magazines, it means that it's a effective format.
Here is a link to my Double Page Spread research + development
https://cherylregentsmedia.blogspot.com/2023/11/double-page-spread-research-development.html
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