While magazines are supposed to be read, they are also supposed to be a visual experience which is what sets them different from other kinds of publications. A good magazine layout is essential for a good visual experience that keeps the reader engaged and interested. If a magazine layout is not visually appealing, readers will instantly not be attracted to it so in order to keeps the readers engaged, the layout must be planned in a set by step manner to make sure it is done right.

Planning your content is key in creating an attractive layout. Without knowing what’s going to be published, the layout cannot be planned so the first step is having a well thought idea in mind. The content should we decided keeping in mind that repeated topics and content must not be used as this might drive away the reader.
Coming up with different themes may be a good idea in choosing the right layout. What looks the most appealing can then be used as the final idea. Having a basic theme is very important and it must be followed throughout the magazine. This will not only speed up the process of content collection and compilation but also make the magazine look coherent and attractive.

The most important thing here is the cover. It is the first look of the product. Just like a trailer or teaser is the first look of a film and audiences decided whether to watch it or not after watching the trailer, similarly the cover page of a magazine holds crucial importance. It is the key aspects to promote or sell the magazine and acts as the image of the brand.

Along with making your magazine informative, it is very important to keep in mind the aesthetics. Effects must not be over done or the magazine can look tacky and over whelming. Good quality photographs and other content must be added. Useless material must not be added or the readers can get bored. Overall, the experience for the reader must be pleasant and enjoyable. The product must appeal to its target audience.

Deciding a magazine logo is one of the most critical parts of making a magazine. It is what sells the product the most. Magazines change their logos over the period as they try to improve the product. Here is how the ‘Time’s Magazine’s’ logo evolved over the years.

There is no standard size for magazines. The lengths and widths can vary from brand to brand and their likings. Generally magazines are either 8.5” by 11” and 5.5” by 8.5” however famous magazines like Readers Digest are a little bit smaller with 5.5” by 8.25”.
Elle is now than Vogue and Glamour and similarly all magazines generally are a bit different in sizes. Here is a list of some popular magazines and their sizes

People Magazine Entertainment Weekly Money Magazine Fortune Magazine
7 7⁄8” x 10 7⁄16” Final Trim Size
Discover Magazine
Scientific American Magazine 8” x 10 1⁄2” Final Trim Size
Martha Stewart Living
9” x 10 13⁄16” Final Trim Size
Print Magazine
8 7⁄8” x 12” Final Trim Size
Rolling Stone Magazine
Magazines published by Condé Nast:
WIRED GQ Traveler Bon Appétit Vogue
8” x 10 7⁄8” Final Trim Size
Nylon Magazine
9” x 10 3⁄4” Final Trim Size
Architectural Digest
8 3⁄8” x 10 7⁄8” Final Trim Size

A target audience is a group of people who are identified as being likely customers of a business. In media, it is a group of people who are most likely to consume that specific media product. Target audiences share similar demographic traits like age, gender, location, education, socioeconomic status. 

Identifying the target audience is very important for the marketing strategy of the business. Similarly, creators of films, tv shows, music and all other types of medias plan out marketing strategies that involve researching the market and finding the target audience to get a better response. 

A geographic target market can be consumers in a specific geographical area like a city, state, or country.
A demographic or socioeconomic target market focuses on a specific gender, age group, income level, or education level.
A psychographic target market is a market that has similar attitudes, values, or lifestyle.
The behavioral target market focuses on occasions and degree of loyalty.
Product-related segmentation describes a target approach for customers who already own a specific product.

High Angle
This angle is shot by looking down on the object to make it look small. This makes the object look powerless

Low angle
This is shot by looking up at the object to make it appear big. This gives the subject authority and power

Over the Shoulder
With the point of view being the main subject in the frame.

Eye level
This angle is shot with the object of the picture looking straight at you.

Slanted angle
Shot to show an object from an unnatural point of view

Wide Shot
This is used a large setting behind the object. It covers long distances in a small frame horizontally.

Long shot
Taking shot from a distance to show the large vertical background.

Medium shot
Taking shot from the top of the head to the torso to target the face and the body.

Close-up shot
Used to show detail and depth of the features using a very close shot. The subjects features can be enhanced or emphasis ca be put on something through this.

10. Ariel shot
    Taken from a birds eye view to capture everything in one frame from above

The history of magazines can be traced back to the 1600s. Some examples include Erbauliche Monaths Unterredungen which was a litarary and philosophy magazine published 1668 and The Gentlemen’s Journal published in 1731 as the first ever general interest magazine.

Looking at the recent history, and how magazines have evolved over the years, 2 big changes we have seen are the disappearance of fiction and the increasing use of all kinds of photographs in magazines. Magazines were mostly fiction however fictional content has now shifted towards television. Due to this, audiences stopped reading fictional Magazines and many companies went out of business therefore they changed their content from fiction to articles. Publishers started using all kinds of pictures simply because technology improved. Photoshoots could be done easily and the quality of photographs increased. Printing was also made easy as the quality of black and white or coloured prints improved drastically. Now, magazines consist of beautiful photography related to the type of magazine e.g travel, fashion, lifestyle etc.

Change culture allowed more progression of magazine covers especially their front covers. Now, covers are more appealing, attractive and eye catchy. An example could to be that back in the day, teenagers would typically sit home and sew dresses however magazines like ‘Seventeen’ is all about how teens can get the perfect selfies, style the trendiest outfits and get boys to text them back!

The film, The Great Gatsby involves many symbolic codes which illustrate mystical concepts through artists and poetic expressions or figurative images and indirect ideas. Gatsby’s mansion plays an important role in symbolising two broad themes of the film. It represents his wealth, grandness and emptiness. He lives in a huge mansion and has all the wealth but is extremely lonely. He hosts his extremely grand parties that he throws every now and then.

His parties also signify his richness and money and to some extent his loneliness. Through his extravagant parties he tries to attract the attention of Daisy. The cars shown in the film symbolise the new money style and freedom of going to places. Gatsby possess many extravagant cars which involve the American Dream where people try to gain wealth and prosperity and this case it through his cars.

Vibrant, deadly, deceiving and innocent at the same time, the film Great Gatsby portrays all these moods through colour symbolism. The film mainly follows a range of 5 colour including green, white, yellow, blue and grey. Gold which is self explanatory, represents wealthiness .This post war era of the 20s faced an economic boom in which the growing gap between the rich and poor was modestly bridged. The lifelessness and dullness in the film is represented by the greys mostly. the main character associated with grey is George Wilson and his unimportance. His face is ‘ashen’ and his eyes are described as ‘pale’.

Moving on, the blues represent Gatsby’s illusions, his deeply romantic dreams on unreality. “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” This shows how Gatsby did not have true friends but his gardens provided a place to get away from reality. The greens voice life, vitality and exploration. It represents spring time and other happy events.

A dress code is a set of rules and standards based on circumstances, purpose, social perceptions and norms. Here is an example of how dress codes are used in media.

The Great Gatsby is a period film set in the Jazz era, right after the WW1. The dress codes of this particular film symbolise the fact that liberation in women took to many platforms including their dressing, They broke out of the prim-proper Victorian ideals to more free spirited and casual dressing. The women of the ‘roaring 20s’ wore looser flappy, half sleeved or sleeveless dresses which went down to the knees

A short bob or frizzy curls and waves paired with gemstone broaches, long flapper necklaces and different bangles were icons in the roaring 20s

The Great Gatsby also epitomises the re-birth of fashion for men as they also broke out away from the Victorian and Edwardian norms of dressing.

Language is made up of different codes and signs which are established by some universal rules which govern its meaning and usage. Media Language is the way in which audiences understand the meaning of the media texts conveyed to them. These may be includewritten, verbal, non-verbal, visual and aural.

A media message is encoded and decoded by the audience themselves. Encoding is the formulation of a message that creates its meaning and conveys it. Decoding on the other hand is the opposite. It is the source through which we analyse the meaning by breaking it up and making it able to be understood.

Media Concepts are some key concepts that must be understood before learning anything about media.

Audience: The people towards whom the media product is targeted.

Genre: A specific style or category of the media product

Ideology: The main idea or object behind the story

Institution: The production company that produces the media product

Narrative: The writing, the main idea behind the script. 

Production: Whoever is funding the project, wherever the money is coming from. 

Representation: What it represents e.g. ethical backgrounds etc

Media is mainly about communication and communication has three forms;

Visual: basic entertainment-cinema

Textual: print media-lithographic-handwritten-posters-newspapers etc

Audio: broadcast-widely accessible such as radio, television, internet. This leads to revolution and social networking and industry formation