Key Stage 3 Media
Magazine Project
© Boardworks Ltd 2001
Magazine Project
UNIT CONTENTS
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Introduction
Front Cover & Contents Page
Articles
Competitions & Adverts
Letters & Problem Pages
Slides 3 - 11
Slides 12 - 22
Slides 23 - 31
Slides 32 - 40
Slides 41 - 48
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Magazine Project - Introduction
CONTENTS
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Favourite Magazines
Magazine Topics
Study of a Magazine
Target Audience
Target Audience Example
Target Audience - Questions
Creating your own Magazine
Slide 4
Slides 5 & 6
Slide 7
Slide 8
Slide 9
Slide 10
Slide 11
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Favourite Magazines
In this unit you will be studying magazines - how they are designed
and written. You will also create a magazine of your own. What are
your favourite magazines? Write the names on the brainstorm below.
Favourite
Magazines
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Magazine Topics
Magazines cover a huge range of topics, and their
range is widening all the time. For instance, just
twenty years ago, there were no magazines
specifically aimed at men. Now there are many, for
instance “GQ”, “Loaded”, and so on.
On the next slide you will find another brainstorm,
this time on the different subjects that magazines
cover. Three ideas have been given for you. See
how many more topics you can think of.
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Magazine Topics
Home Decorating
(DIY)
Gardening
Men’s Interest
Magazine
Topics
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Study of a Magazine
Beautiful Brides
£3
August 2000
The Front Page
To help you create your own
magazine, you will be looking at an
example magazine called “Beautiful
Brides”. Here are some pages from
this magazine that you will be
studying later on in the project.
Beautiful Brides
Contents
3 Interview - Bride of the Month
We talk exclusively to Catherine
Jones, our ‘Bride of the Month’
and her new husband John.
Bride of the Month
Beautiful Bridesmaids
Best Bouquets
Honeymoon Competition !
10 Beautiful Bridesmaids
Read our feature on
bridesmaid fashion
15 Beautiful Bouquets
Let us help you pick that perfect posy !
25 Honeymoon Competition
Your chance to win a honeymoon
in romantic Portugal!
33 Letters Page
The
Contents
Page
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Target Audience
Before you look at the example in detail, and create your
own magazine, you need to think about your target
audience. Before they bring out a new magazine, the
publishers have to think about their possible readers:
• Who are they? What are their interests?
• What age and gender are they likely to be?
• How much will readers will pay for the magazine?
• Which advertisers will be interested in the magazine?
On the next slide, you will find an example of a magazine.
Talk about it, and then answer the questions on the slide
that follows.
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Talk of the Tyne
August 2000
£1.50
Target
Audience
Example
Newcastle 2000
Shearer Exclusive
Newcastle - The Fan’s Story
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Target Audience - Questions
Question: What interest are readers of this magazine likely to have?
Answer: Fans of Newcastle United football club.
Question: What age and gender are the readers likely to be?
Answer: They could be any age or gender, but most likely young men.
Question: Do you think the price of £1.50 is reasonable?
Answer: Yes, it is a cheap price for any magazine.
Question: What type of advertisers would be interested in advertising in
this magazine?
Answer: Football related, e.g. replica kits, boots, travel to cup matches,
etc.
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Magazine Project - Introduction
Creating your own Magazine
Now you are ready to think about creating your
own magazine. Here are some things that you will
need to decide:
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The topic of your magazine.
The target audience of your magazine
Some possible titles for your magazine.
How much your magazine should cost.
Try to find as many examples of similar
magazines as you can to help you.
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Front Cover & Contents Page
CONTENTS
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Introduction
The Front Cover
Example Front Cover
Analysis of the Front Cover
The Contents Page
Example of the Contents Page
Creating your own Front Cover
Creating your own Contents Page
Slide 13
Slide 14
Slide 15
Slide 16
Slide 17
Slide 18
Slides 19 & 20
Slides 21 & 22
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Introduction
Now you are going to find out more about how to create
a front cover and a contents page for your magazine.
The Front Cover: This should be eye catching and
colourful, because it is the first thing that people will see
when they are interested in buying a magazine. It will
also give brief information about what is inside.
The Contents Page: This will tell your readers what is
in your magazine. It must be interesting to persuade
people to buy your magazine. It should also give clear
information about what is in the magazine.
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Front Cover & Contents Page
The Front Cover
On the next slide, you will find a picture of the front cover of
the example magazine. We saw the cover of “Beautiful Brides”
in the introduction. Now we will study it in more detail.
Answer the following questions before you look at the front
cover again. See how much you can remember!
Questions
• What picture is on the cover?
• What else will you find on the cover?
• What does the title tell you about the magazine?
• What sort of articles are featured on the cover?
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Example
Front
Cover
Did you
remember what
was on the front
cover?
Now let’s look
at the cover in
more detail.
Beautiful Brides
£3
August 2000
Bride of the Month
Beautiful Bridesmaids
Best Bouquets
Honeymoon Competition !
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Analysis of the Front Cover
Title of the
Beautiful
Brides
magazine
Price of the
magazine
Some of the
contents of
the magazine
£3
August 2000
Bride of the Month
Beautiful Bridesmaids
Best Bouquets
Honeymoon Competition !
Date of the
magazine
Notice how the
picture used
on the front
cover is an
attractive one.
This is
designed to
entice the
reader to buy
the magazine.
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Front Cover & Contents Page
The Contents Page
On the next slide you will find the Contents Page of
“Beautiful Brides” magazine. Notice how the Contents
Page includes:
• A list of what is inside the magazine.
• Page numbers so that readers can find the articles
that interest them.
• Pictures taken from the articles.
• Details of what is in the articles.
When you create your own magazine, don’t forget to
include all these things on your contents page.
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Beautiful Brides
Example of the
Contents Page
Titles of
articles
Contents
3 Interview - Bride of the Month
We talk exclusively to Catherine
Jones, our ‘Bride of the Month’
and her new husband John.
Pictures
from
articles
10 Beautiful Bridesmaids
Brief details
of articles
Read our feature on
bridesmaid fashion
15 Beautiful Bouquets
Let us help you pick that perfect posy !
Page
numbers
25 Honeymoon Competition
Your chance to win a honeymoon
in romantic Portugal!
33 Letters Page
42 Problem Page
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Creating your own Front Cover
Now it’s your turn to create your own front cover.
Here’s a chance for the whole class to make a cover
together, before you work on your own magazines.
On the next slide you’ll find a picture for the cover of a
travel magazine. Add a title, price, date, and details of
some of the articles inside.
Remember! The idea is to tempt people into buying
your magazine, so make it as enticing as you can!
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Creating
your own
Front Cover
Add a Title ...
Add a Price ...
Add a Date ...
Add details of some
of the articles ...
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Creating your own Contents Page
Now that you have created a front cover, you
can now practise creating a contents page.
Use the next slide to create your contents page.
Drag and drop the images to go alongside your
magazine articles. Don’t forget to include the
titles of the articles, a brief description, and the
page numbers.
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Front Cover & Contents Page
Creating
your own
Contents
Page
Here are
two images
to help you.
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Magazine Project - Articles
CONTENTS
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Introduction
Writing an Interview
Example of an Interview
Analysis of the Interview
Writing a Feature Article
Example of a Feature Article
Writing your own Interview /
Feature Article
Slide 24
Slide 25
Slide 26
Slide 27
Slide 28
Slide 29
Slides 30 & 31
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Articles
Introduction
In this section you will be finding out more about how to
write the articles that will go in your magazine.
Interviews: Magazines will often feature interviews with
famous people, celebrities that their readers would be
interested in hearing more about. Interviews might also
be with ‘ordinary people’ who are connected to the topic
of the magazine.
Feature Articles: These articles give more general
information about subjects related to the topic of the
magazine.
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Articles
Writing an Interview
On the next slide you will find the first page of an
interview with the “Bride of the Month”. When you are
writing your interview, you could include:
• The interviewee’s name, age, interests, job.
• Comments from the interview.
• A picture of the interviewee, with caption.
When you create your own magazine, you might like to
include some made up interviews with famous people,
for instance football players if you are making a
football magazine.
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Articles
Example
of an
Interview
Interview - “Bride of the Month”
On a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon in August,
Catherine Jones, 25, tied the knot with her new
husband John, 28. The ceremony took place at
St. Austell Church in Paignton, Devon.
“Beautiful Brides” magazine followed our Bride
of the Month Catherine, a school teacher, in the
run up to her wedding.
As Catherine got ready to go to
the church, we asked her how
she felt being nominated as
Bride of the Month.
Catherine and husband John
outside the church.
“I was delighted when I found
out,” said Catherine. “It has helped so much
having ‘Beautiful Brides’ magazine with me
along the way.”
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Articles
Interviewee’s
name
Her age
Interview - “Bride of the Month”
On a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon in August,
Catherine Jones, 25, tied the knot with her new
husband John, 28. The ceremony took place at
St. Austell Church in Paignton, Devon.
“Beautiful Brides” magazine followed our Bride
of the Month Catherine, a school teacher, in the
run up to her wedding.
Her job
Quotes from
the interview
As Catherine got ready to go to
the church, we asked her how
she felt being nominated as
Bride of the Month.
Catherine and husband John
outside the church.
Analysis
of the
Interview
Picture of the
interviewee
Caption for
the picture
“I was delighted when I found
out,” said Catherine. “It has helped so much
having ‘Beautiful Brides’ magazine with me
along the way.”
© Boardworks Ltd 2001
Articles
Writing a Feature Article
On the next slide you will find the first page of a feature
article from our example magazine. The article is
called “Beautiful Bridesmaids”. Feature articles might
contain quite a lot of pictures, along with the writing
that accompanies them.
When you create your own magazine, you could
include features on many different aspects of your
topic. For instance, if you are creating a pop
magazine, you could include a feature on boy bands.
Or if you are creating a computer magazine, you could
write a feature about a new internet site.
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Articles
Feature - “Beautiful Bridesmaids”
Example
of a
Feature
Article
Just look at these pictures of
bridesmaids from around the country.
beautiful
Here’s Jessica
Littleton in her
stunning velvet
dress - ideal for an
Autumnal wedding!
Here’s Rebecca Carlton,
looking a treat in her sophisticated
bridesmaid’s dress.
© Boardworks Ltd 2001
Articles
Writing your own Interview /
Feature Article
Now it’s your turn to write an interview/feature article.
Here’s a chance for the class to create a magazine
piece together, before you work on your own.
On the next slide you’ll find pictures of the person you
are writing about, and a blank page for you to write on.
You can decide who the person is, what their name is,
and all the other details that you need to make up.
You could pretend that this is a famous person, a
celebrity that you already know about, or it could be an
‘ordinary person’ that you are interviewing or featuring.
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Articles
Writing your
own
Interview /
Feature
Article
Interview / Feature Article
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Competitions and Adverts
CONTENTS
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Introduction
Creating a Competition
Example - Honeymoon Competition
Analysis - Honeymoon Competition
Creating an Advertisement
Example of an Advert
Creating your own Competition /
Advert
Slide 33
Slide 34
Slide 35
Slide 36
Slide 37
Slide 38
Slides 39 & 40
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Competitions and Adverts
Introduction
In this section you will be finding out more about how to
write competitions and adverts for your magazine.
Competitions: Competitions encourage people to buy
a magazine. The prize is usually connected to the
subject that the magazine is about. For instance, a
gardening magazine might feature a competition where
readers can win a set of gardening equipment.
Adverts: Adverts in a magazine could be connected to
its subject, or could be more general, for instance in a
women’s interest magazine you might find adverts for
perfume and cosmetics.
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Competitions and Adverts
Creating a Competition
On the next slide you will find a competition from the
example magazine “Beautiful Brides”. Notice how the
competition is for a honeymoon, a subject that bridesto-be will be interested in! The competition includes:
• A fantastic sounding prize.
• Details and pictures of the prize holiday.
• A competition question.
• Details of how to enter, including the closing date.
When you create your own magazine, you might like to
include some made up competitions of your own.
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Competitions and Adverts
Example Honeymoon
Competition
WIN!!!
A Honeymoon in Romantic Portugal!
Don’t miss your chance to win a fantastic holiday for two in
sun-kissed Portugal. You could be sunning yourself on
golden beaches, or touring the historical capital city.
Answer the question below to win this wonderful prize.
Question:
What is the capital of Portugal?
Closing date: 1st September 2000
Send your entries to: “Beautiful Bride” Magazine, 17 Smith
Street, London W1
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Competitions and Adverts
Analysis of
Honeymoon
Competition
Enticing
headline
Details of
the prize
Competition
question
WIN!!!
A Honeymoon in Romantic Portugal!
Don’t miss your chance to win a fantastic holiday for two in
sun kissed Portugal. You could be sunning yourself on
golden beaches, or touring the historical capital city.
Answer the question below to win this wonderful prize.
Question:
What is the capital of Portugal?
Pictures of
the prize
Closing date and
entry details
Closing date: 1st September 2000
Send your entries to: “Beautiful Bride” Magazine, 17 Smith
Street, London W1
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Competitions and Adverts
Creating an Advertisement
On the next slide you will find an advert from our
example magazine. The advert is linked to the subject
of the magazine, as it is for a special wedding list
service. Here are some points to note when creating
an advertisement:
• It should be visually attractive.
• It should make the product or service sound great.
• It should give details of the product or service.
• It should not contain too much information.
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Competitions and Adverts
Wedding Presents causing you a headache?
Example
of an
Advert
Solve all your problems with
WEDDINGLIST.COM
Email us your list and we’ll do the rest!
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Competitions and Adverts
Creating your own
Competition / Advertisement
Now it’s your turn to create a competition or advert.
Here’s a chance for the class to create a magazine
piece together, before you work on your own.
On the next slide you’ll find a picture of a luxury
apartment, and a blank page for you to work on. The
apartment could either be the prize in your
competition, or the subject of your advert. Remember
to make your work exciting so that you persuade your
readers to enter the competition or buy the flat.
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Competitions and Adverts
Creating
your own
Competition
/ Advert
Competition / Advert
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Letters and Problem Pages
CONTENTS
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Introduction
Writing a Letters Page
Example - Letters Page
Creating a Problem Page
Example - Problem Page
Creating your own Problem Page
Slide 42
Slide 43
Slide 44
Slide 45
Slide 46
Slides 47 & 48
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Letters and Problem Pages
Introduction
Next you will be finding out how to write a letters page
and a problem page for your magazine.
Letters Page: The letters page is the chance for
readers to have their say and to comment on topics of
interest to them that have featured in the magazine.
Usually, letters on a range of topics will be shown.
Problem Page: On the problem page, readers can
write in with their problems, and get an answer from the
magazine’s agony ‘aunt’ or ‘uncle’. In some magazines,
these may be personal problems, in others they could
be related to the topic of the magazine.
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Letters and Problem Pages
Writing a Letters Page
On the next slide you will find an example of the letters
page from “Beautiful Brides” magazine. Because this
is a magazine for brides and grooms, the letters are
related to weddings. Notice the following points:
• The letters are addressed to the editor.
• The letters cover a range of topics.
• The letters refer to articles from the magazine.
When you create your own magazine, you could
include a letters page related to your topic. For
instance, if you are creating a music magazine, people
might be commenting on the latest chart releases.
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Letters and Problem Pages
Example Letters
Page
“Beautiful Brides”
Letters Page
Dear Editor,
I’m writing to thank you
for your article on second
hand wedding dresses. It
helped me get a dress for
£50!
I’ve spent the money I
saved on a fantastic
honeymoon in Barbados!
Yours faithfully,
Suzie Barnes
Dear Editor,
I couldn’t agree more
with your article
“Father of the Bride”.
Why should I have to
pay for the whole
wedding, just because
my daughter is getting
married?
Yours faithfully,
Fred C. Tolworth
© Boardworks Ltd 2001
Letters and Problem Pages
Creating a Problem Page
On the next slide you will find part of the problem page
from our example magazine. On the problem page,
readers send letters asking for help with ‘wedding
related’ problems. Here are some points to note when
creating a problem page:
• Use a range of problems related to your topic.
• Give each problem a headline that sums it up.
• Make your answers sympathetic and helpful.
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Letters and Problem Pages
Example
of a
Problem
Page
“Beautiful Brides”
Problem Page
Agony Aunt Julia solves your problems!
COLD FEET
Dear Julia,
I just don’t know what
to do! I’m getting
married in a month’s
time to this wonderful
guy. The problem is, I
think I’ve fallen in love
with somebody else!
What should I do.
Yours desperately,
A Reader
Dear Reader,
This is a classic example
of pre-wedding nerves.
Don’t forget, you’re
probably stressed with all
the preparations for your
wedding. Don’t let the
nerves get the better of
you. Stick with your
‘wonderful guy’!
Auntie Julia
© Boardworks Ltd 2001
Letters and Problem Pages
Creating your own Problem Page
Now it’s your turn to create a problem page of your
own. This is a chance for your class to create a piece
together, before you work on your own.
On the next slide you’ll find two letters to an agony
aunt/uncle who works for a teenage magazine. You will
also find a blank page for you to work on. You are
going to play the part of the agony aunt/uncle. Give a
suitable answer for each of the problems that you have
been sent.
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Letters and Problem Pages
Creating
your own
Problem
Page
Dear Agony Aunt/Uncle,
I need your help. I really
fancy this girl in my class
but she doesn’t seem to
notice me. What should I
do? Should I ask her out
and risk her turning me
down?
Yours hopefully,
Sam from Swindon
Problem Page
Dear Agony Aunt/Uncle,
Please help me! I am a huge fan of the boy
band 3T. I go to all their concerts and
follow them around. My mum wants to
stop me doing this. She says it is interfering
with my school work. But I love 3T. What
should I do?
Yours in desperation,
TeenMag Fan
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