Statement of Intent

Product 1 (2x contents, 2x covers)

My magazine is called Monday Madness and is going to be released as a weekly publication. ‘Madness’ refers to the variety of real life stories that fit with the theme of other Bauer publications. The wide range of stories targets a younger audience of 16-25 year olds, rather than the stereotypical older, female audience for other Bauer publications. Monday Madness features typical conventions that are expected in magazines, such as a large masthead, barcodes and the price, as well as images on both the front covers and the contents pages. I have chosen colours that stray slightly away from the typical conventions, but that are still bright, to keep the magazine looking modern and trendy. In addition to the colours and fonts, my images and stories are consistent in both the contents and front covers. Monday Madness features two cover stars that are from different backgrounds, with different representations - one being a male who is a member of the LGBTQ community, and the other being a female who suffered loss and grief. Despite being serious topics, they are written in a tone that still fits with the Bauer style, that will attract the targeted audience.

Product 2 (website)

To appeal to different audiences, a website has also been created for Monday Madness, that holds more content and encourages audience engagement through increased interactivity. There will be more images and stories that are lengthier and more developed, as well as more typical conventions like a drop down menu, search bar, videos and advertisements. It follows the theme of other magazine websites, with one main story at the top of the page, with lots of smaller stories featured underneath, which provides plenty of choice for audiences. Similar to my front covers and contents pages, the stories are targeted at younger demographics (16-25), so the layout and images match this approach, by being modern and funky. There will also be a focus on social media, with plenty of links being available to social media pages and platforms, as this encourages younger audiences to engage with Monday Madness. The layout of the website itself is noticeably similar to the front covers and contents pages, to create a brand identity that is well recognised among audiences, so they can rely on receiving the same style of information, just via a different way.

Convergence

The website and physical copies of Monday Madness have strong convergence, through the use of similar fonts, colours, shapes, images and stories. There is a noticeable call forward from the contents pages to the website, as well as a call back from the website to the contents pages, to maximise audience interactivity and engagement. The same stories will be present on both the website and contents/covers, with some written in more depth on the website, to encourage audiences to visit online platforms. In addition, social media will be heavily emphasised across products, to create synergy.