Considering the creation of my mens political magazine.

After searching for a suitable photo of David Cameron, the best one I found was suitable because it is a clear photograph, with excellent lighting and background. His pose is casual and he is directly looking at the camera, as if on a photo shoot. This makes the magazine seem professional and worth your money.

Next i had to decide upon a name for my magazine. I wanted the name to relate to the topic of my magazine- politics, whilst being catchy and professional. After some thinking i came up with the name CONSERVATIVE. I thought this name would be most successful as it directly relates to my demographic of middle aged business men of the middle/upper classes as they are most likely to support the conservatives as they tend to be more popular with these classes. In conjunction with the background my magazine will be aimed at a very specific demographic, however it will be hugely appealing to them, ensuring high popularity with the magazine. I made sure that the CONSERVATIVE title was bold, and contrasted with the background, which is why i choose white. This ensured it was appealing, manly and eye catching.
 After deciding on the name and background i moved onto the decision making of what articles i would like to include. I began looking around for other magazines with similar demographics for the articles in which they featured.






















I found that mens health in particular focused on the male image a lot, and the way that men are 'supposed to look', for example "16 flat-belly foods", "six-pack abs!" and "stronger arms". Men's health demographic is middle aged men that care about their appearance and the effect they have on the opposite sex. I thought that as my magazine was aimed at middle aged men also, just with the difference of them being educated business men, my magazines should have an article with consideration of how men want to look, as they are likely to have wives at home in which they want to impress. I decided to add an article "20 flat-abs foods", similar to the one on men's health.

I also wanted to include many features that relate to a business lifestyle, as the magazine is aimed at men in businesses so therefore should be obvious on the front cover as so to attract the correct demographic. For this reason I have included many things such as "top business phones for you" (relating to the demographic of businessmen, whilst bringing across the theme of modern technology which middle aged and older men will be interested to find out about). I also included an article featuring a direct quote from inside the magazine (a convention of magazines) saying "Cameron's next pledge: "I fight to make the rich, richer"". This thoroughly appeals to men of this demographic, as David Cameron is likely to be an inspiration to them, as he has made it to the top of his career and he is the one that holds the power to affect THEIR lives.

Below this i featured an article saying "economist James Healy gives the update on the current economic climate and tells YOU how to survive". The "you" stands out in bold, red capitals which enables it to be a very powerful word as it enables the magazine to talk directly to the audience. It also catches their interest, as they are likely to have investments in businesses or savings and are bound to want to know weather interest prices or economic prices in general are high or low. This tells them that this will be very valuable information for them to know.

Below this it says "INSIDE- 10 tips to get you to the top of the property ladder" this would greatly interest these high earning men, as they are likely to be very materialistic and wanting to be setting up their comforts for their future retirements. They would be very interested by tips on how to get to the top.

The real life stories article creates verisimilitude for the audience. The fact that the real life stories are based on things that could easily happen to them, such as debt creates huge interest for them as they can understand and empathise with the stories. The audience are likely to have common problems such as debt so these stories are very successful at making the audience pay attention to it.

The article focusing on Richard Branson is an inspiring article. It tells the audience that men like them CAN become hugely successful, if they follow in the footsteps of Richard Branson, this in turn then persuades them to read the magazine.

To conclude i think my magazine looks fairly visually appealing and i have included a wide range of articles, which enables each article to really appeal to individuals within the demographic.

What i want to create...

So what do i want to create?

DEMOGRAPHIC: Middle aged, middle/upper class, educated men.
 
AIM: I need to create a magazine using the correct codes and conventions, with consideration of the uses and gratification theory, to attract my demographic. After thinking about the magazines available i realised that there are not many magazines out there suitible for this demographic, especiallty the educated men. For this reason i am going to base my magazines on POLITICS, the ECONOMY and BUSINESSES.

INITIAL IDEAS FOR LAYOUT/COMPOSITION: My first thought and realisation was that the magazines available to men of similar demographics is that the photograph posing as the background of the magazine is always an idol to the demographic, or someone that they can relate to. This is because it emphasizes verimimilitude for the audience. So i thought who is the idol for this demographic that is related to politics (one of the features of my magazine). The obvious one is prime minister David Cameron. He is perfectly idolised by my demographic. He is leader of the conservative party, a party whose main support come from middle/upper classes which is the audience in which my magazine is aimed at. He is successful, and has worked his way up in his career, now with a respectable job. This is perfect for my demographic as they are going to be inspired by sucess and can relate it to their lives as many will be involved in businesses or the economy of some kind. Cameron himself is also affecting their lives directly, being the prime minister as he is the one that controls the economy and political situations. As soon as he is seen on the front cover, the demographic will be interested to know his next move, or his new policies.

My first initial thoughts for media magazine front cover....

At first i thought of the magazines that are out there today, starting with the typical young/middle aged womens gossip, fashion and tv magazines. Then for the demographic of older women. The stereotypical house wife where we are introduced to the health, creativity, psychological and cooking magazines. For teenage girls we are shown famous boys, health related and celebrity topics. For the young men we are brought the explicit magazines, car, bmxing, biking, gaming, music and electronical magazines.Finally for the teenage boy demographic we are brought the stereotypical gaming, sporting and music magazines. My fisrt instinct was to reproduce a magazine that my interests relate to, fashion magazines. However to really get an insight on how magazines work i think creating a production for a demographic that i cannot relate to as easily will help me really consider the codes and conventions magazines use to appeal for their demographical target audience. One area in which i realised that wasn't well covered was for the demographic of older, more mature men, maybe with a comfortable, well of family at home, waiting for that big promotion at work, or for their business to really take of. The kind of dominant men of the household.

So i began to think what are this demographic interested in, and what they want from a magazine...

Older male INTERESTS IN GENERAL:

-CAREERS

-FAMILY

-TECHNOLOGY

-ENTERTAINMENT

-WORLDWIDE NEWS/ POLITICS

-WOMEN

-APPEARENCE

-FUTURE

However my magazine will be aimed at a smaller demographic, of middle/upper class working men. These will be educated, mature and knowledgeable, and so are more likley to have SPECIFIC INTERESTS:

-POLITICS (will be opinionated men and are likley to have their own party in which they support) 

-ECONOMY (are likley to have own buisinesses in which they will need to know about the current climate, inflation, the rate of house prices, the best time to buy new technology etc, when to invest, when to sell, house prices for their next move.)

-TECHNOLOGY (the latest gadgets to run in their business)

-HOME LIFE AND DOMESTICS (will have a family at home in which they would support, would look to a magazine for advice, and common problems.)

These i believe are the three main things in which my demographic will be intersted in, but there is not an overproduction of these magazines in the market already. SoWhat magazines are out there for these men already?

 

 

So what are the codes and conventions of these magazines?
-They are simple, fairly masculine/neutral colours, maybe incase a family member may find interest in an article within the magazine.
-Have bold, often white text wich informs the demographic of the appealing articles within the magazine.  

-There are up to date stories emphasizing verisimilitude which helps sustain reliablility and trust between the audience and the producer.
-The front cover features a stereotypical image of the middle aged, middle/upper class man (the exact demographic). This helps when promoting the magazine as the demographic will search for images before text to find what they are seeking, in other words the magazine will be eye catching as they can empathise and understand the image on the front cover.
-The stories feature the stereotypical interests of the specified demographic. the stories are life inspiring and cleverly worded, "10 real adventures for mere mortals" wich is perfect for the middle aged educated man who wants a bit of excitement in life.