Research and Planning front cover

I chose the genre pop as I think it has very clear conventions such as having crazy high key colours. My magazine is aimed towards a target audience of 8-13 year old girls as this seems to be the age limit for pop lovers due to the music itself, its appearance of colours, images, and words, and the idols in the industry appeal to this age group. Both genders between this age do in fact enjoy pop music, but my magazine in particular demonstrates a girls choice of magazine. This is shown through the use of models used, the extreme makeup displayed and the high key colours would mostly appeal to girls.I like the fact I chose pop, because even though I'm working with an audience below my age group, I know exactly what young teenage girls want due to my past experiences of being a young teenager. I think if a male my age was to create my magazine, he would find it more difficult as he hasn't had the experience of seeing through a girls eyes and what exactly appeals to females. 

When creating my front cover I had to make sure I included these:

• Free poster- I thought it was necessary to include this as my target audience are only of a young age, meaning they get more exciting when receiving free things.
• Must see photos button- Again, young teens will be intrigued by this cover line, as it boldly says "MUST SEE". This will make them buy the magazine so they have the chance to see these photos that are a must. If they were to not buy it, then they would feel they were missing out on photos that appeared interesting. 
• 7 pages of Harry and Meg- This cover line would really sell my magazine if my target audience were a fan of the celebrities 'Harry and Meg'. Considering my magazine wouldn't be too thick, 7 pages would be considered a lot, and so teens would believe this is value for money. 
• Quick turn to page 12- This is almost like the must see photos button, but instead of including photos, its a mystery to what is found of page 12. This again will intrigue the audience making them buy the magazine to simply see what is so big on page 12. 
• Fashion to fall for this summer- This wouldn't necessarily be of the most importance to the younger end of my audience, but for 13 year olds, this would be a big cover line. They want to look their best in what they wear and get inspiration to how they can do that. 

• Colour Theme: bright, bold, high key colours (blue, yellow, pink, purple)
• Most magazines have a banner at the bottom of the magazine and so I included this as a selling line. It tells the reader what is included in the magazine. 
• The text that i use is very important for my target audience as they are young readers. I can't use big words that will confuse them and won't understand, as they will drift away from the magazine.

Fonts:

All four fonts represent the pop genre very well. However, not all of them was suitable for the front cover. Font for my masthead was important as it had to stand out and be so catchy it was easy to remember. I felt the top font was perfect for my target audience, as it was different, modern, not too thick or thin and it was easy to read. 

Inspiration:

1. I got the idea of including a free poster from the banner at the bottom. This will maximize sales  as young teens enjoy free stuff.
2. I decided to have a strap/ selling line as this shows extra features inside the magazine. This can really bring an increase into maximizing sales. I decided to keep it at the bottom so it wasn’t in the way, but changed the colour to yellow as this stands out better than pink.

Analysis:

The main conventions I had to focus on when making my front cover. This was particularly important as this is the first page my target audience will see, and so it had to stand out against its competitors.