Magazine Conventions

21^st October 2010 Lesson

In today’s lesson, we discovered what the mode of address means, since today’s lesson was about the conventions of magazines. Therefore, the mode of address is the way the media represents and addresses their target audience. So, this is also linked to the ideal reader (target audience) and also my existing research. In order for this to be successful, it’s significant to consider the following;

·         Style of writing

·         Use of slang

·         Is it writing formal or informal?

·         The quality of what is being written

·         Is it humorous or serious

Therefore, due to my previous research (questionnaire) I now know that an exciting look is more appealing, due to the fact that my target audience are youths. However, I believe that slang wouldn’t be suitable, since my target audience are students; however some of them are younger and may not be familiar to this specific language used. Although, it suggests that I may also be using formal language, because since this is a school’s magazine it is important to make the magazine look appropriate and not get carried away, by making it look as if it was a simple teen’s magazine. Also, in order to grab their attention, I have to consider if it should be humorous or more serious. Therefore, I have come to a conclusion and decided that teenagers don’t like to take life seriously just yet, but what they don’t realise is that school is just as important, in order to achieve their goals that they are aiming for. This visibly illustrates that I should be using both methods, because the students wouldn’t bother opening the magazine if the front cover would have a serious look that would portray schools misery. Therefore, I chose to use a fun look in order to make the students read the magazine and get something new out of it, in order to make them take the first step towards their career.

Also, what I have considered to be important is that the use of images also attracts many readers’ attention, and not only youths. However, teen’s would like to see on a school magazine something exciting, that would make them look inside the magazine and read all about it. Therefore, this would make the magazine look appealing for my target audience – students.