Features of Successful Article Writing

I have been thinking about my article and what i am going to write about, to ensure that it is fitting to my story, my magazine and of course attracts the target audience.

'WE LOVE POP' DOUBLE PAGE ARTICLE (INTERVIEW)

ANALYSIS OF ARTICLE:

One of the main aspects is the HEADLINE. This is something that will give the reader they're very first opinion and influence the way they want to interpret the story. This needs to be large font, a noticeable colour and placement on the page is crucial to capture the attention of the reader.

This headline is a quotation, which is conventional to a magazine, as it is used a lot.

Some magazines may even include an EXCLUSIVE, which will excite the reader even further as they feel they are gaining information never before heard or seen.

In my case, I will be writing an exclusive interview to fit my chosen story, which is the same story as seen on my front cover. Therefore I will make sure the reader is aware that the interview is exclusive, to create this effect.

Something else which also makes an impact on the reader's attention is the STANDFIRST- the first paragraph, usually in bold and in a larger font.

The next paragraph would usually be more detailed, further revealing pieces of information.

SENSATIONAL LANGUAGE is often used to exaggerate a point to excite the reader further in the article. This may be just a short sentence, or a few throughout the entire article.

In my case this is more difficult to do as I am doing an interview, however I will need to ensure that my interview provides a few sensational features to give the audience that excitement. 

Using a photograph in between the text, and in line with the columns, the writing is broken up which makes the image not only stand out but the whole page looks more attractive and interesting to the reader.

COLUMNS also make the text look neat and clear, and is a conventional for a magazine article.

Another concept to remember when writing interviews especially, is COLOUR CODING for the people within the interview.
In this magazine interview, the interviewer is coded in blue, and the interviewee (Rihanna) is coded in black, with key parts of the answer highlighted in pink.

Front Cover Feedback

To get some feedback on my front cover, I asked a few of my classmates, who helped me makes some final decisions of the colour palette, choice of layout, and smaller aspects of my cover.

This is the before and after images of my front cover:

BEFORE

AFTER

1. One of the pieces of feedback I got was about my colour palette. I was advised to remove the black and yellow box, and make those colours suit the genre and house colours more. I was also told that I have too many colours and should perhaps stick with one or two.
2. Another person said they thought the circle text box with ‘Only £1’ overlapping the masthead took away the sense of importance and took away the bold look of the masthead. Once I had removed this I could see a big difference in the way that the masthead was much more prominent.
3. Another aspect of my feedback was the font colour of the anchorage text. It was said that by using black, the writing fades away into the background (the main image). This therefore takes away the dominance of the anchorage text which should be one of the most important conventions on a cover story. I changed this anchorage text to white as it shows on the image above, and there is much better now.
4. I also took away the pop quiz at the bottom of the page to make more room for increasing the size of the anchorage text and the box it is layered over.

Magazine Interviews

As my double page spread is going to be an exclusive interview with a pop star I have created, I wanted to make sure I had some research to help me decide on the layout, style and features to include in this interview page.

This is an interview from the magazine 'We Love Pop'. Most commonly, the interviews are used within the double page spreads, and feature the star that was shown on the front cover. This is exactly what I have chosen to do with my magazine.

This is a similar story to my magazine's too, as it is about 'Cher Lloyd' being a bad influence of children. My story is about a pop star being a 'Wild Child' based on the anchorage text on the front cover.

This magazine interview, with Justin Bieber is one about bullying, which is an issue that some school children can relate to. The 'Help and Advice' text box could therefore be helpful  for some readers.

My magazine is also aimed at a young audience therefore I will make sure my story is suitable for that age range, and use words and phrases they can easily understand and relate to in some way.

Contents Page Research

I have started doing some research on contents pages of other pop magazines, now that I have mostly finished my front cover.

I looked at 'Top of the Pops' and 'We Love Pop'.

They both had completely different page designs, conventions and colour palettes.

TOP OF THE POPS

WE LOVE POP

Judging by this research, I would say the magazine contents page that looks most like mine would be 'Top of the Pops' as the colour palette of this particular issue is more girly, with pink and yellow. Also, on the 'We Love Pop' contents page, there are much more male colours such as green and blue used. 

I think my research and analysis will definitely help me create a suitable style for my magazine, that not only matches my front cover but fits the genre, and most of all fits the audience profile.

Photography on the Front Cover

This is my front cover as it stand now. I may have a few changes to make, but it is mostly finished.

I really like how it has turned out, as I have managed to carry out all the ideas I had from the start, and used them effectively to create the conventions of this magazine.

Music Mag Photography

These are the photographs I took, before making the final decision on which ones I would use in my magazine.

When taking the photo's I tried to create a picture in my mind of what they would look like on the page, aswell as how they would come across to my audience.

I wanted to have a varied collection of photo's so that when I came to decide which one fits best with my page design, I would have more than one option.

The model I used, my friend Ellie, has long curly hair, which I thought really fitted the theme of my lead cover story- 'Wild Child'

The choice of clothing was very fitting too, as Ellie wore a grey and white animal print dress on most of the photo's.

This final photo is the one I am considering on using for the double page spread, as it contrasts with the other photo's, as Ellie is wearing a different outfit, and her expression is much more serious and relaxed.

Practice Photography

To get an idea on the kind of photos I want to use on my magazine cover, I took some on my phone during school. I used a simple white background from the projector whiteboard. This worked well and created minimal shadows.This brought me to the conclusion that I definitely want to use a white background when I come to take my real photographs.

This is some of the practice photography I have taken for my magazine:

1

2                                                     3

I tried to use a variety of camera angles and shots to give me a set of photos that I could consider.

The photograph I think works best with my cover story is number 1, because the pose would look on the cover, or inside the double page spread.

However, I would adjust the pose slightly, and maybe make it more dramatic and fitting with the story.

Also, the lighting and placement of the background need to be changed, because as the image shows, the shadow is visible below the chest, as well as the black line from the board I used.