We also have a fairly large image to the right hand side of our company logo, of 2 racing cyclists with a small subheading saying “Track Nationals – Exclusive Report.” – The image behind this subheading is relevant to what the contents will be about, this should also draw the attention of a person within our target audience as it’s about a very large, exclusive cycling event. This would make them think that they are buying into something special.
The Main Image (front page):
The front page has a very distinctive main image, of a famous rider, riding for the “Agisko” cycling team, once again a relevant image to use, and easily spotted on the front page. This should be very eye catching to the reader, it takes up around 60% of the front page, I have added effects to the image as you should be able to tell, I added a blur effect to the background of the image and a stretched type effect to the right of the image to make an effect of “speed”, not making the image too blurred as it may look distorted and out of focus, this image could perhaps involve the reader, making them think of themselves as successful, which involves the reader in the magazine.
Cover Lines:
At the top of the front page we have an image of a race bike, next to the right hand side of the image, there is a bold cover line which states about a review in the magazine, this is about the “Specialized Roubaix” – a top racing bike within the biking community, by having this here and on the front of the main page this should be more persuasive towards the reader on making the decision to purchase the magazine, as this is a very interesting topic to many cyclists for them to read about. Also at the bottom left of the front page we have an image of a pair of top quality carbon cycling shoes (widely bought within the cycling community), the cover line being “10 of the best carbon shoes”, which are “Under test from our tech team” – this article would be very interesting to the reader within our target audience and should be a persuasive cover line towards the reader. It suggests that this is the only place or magazine where you will be able to find out about these shoes.
Mode of Address:
Our magazine has a certain mode of address to its readers; we thrive to involve them within the magazine making them feel as if they are part of “the team” in a sense. Throughout the magazine we try and treat our audience as if they are our “friend”, this should have an effect on the reader by providing them with what they want, in the magazine we give them special ‘Readers offers’, such as; if they subscribe to the magazine for 12 months, they will receive a FREE pair of “Rudy Project” sunglasses. This is a great opportunity for the reader as the glasses are retailed at over £200! This should make the reader think that we are giving them what they want. This is much more likely to make a reader have loyalty to the magazine.
Colour & House Style:
Throughout the whole of the magazine we have used a range of colours mainly different shades of blue, the main use of blue within our magazine is behind the text and images (it is also a colour you associate with males who are the main target audience). We chose blue to be the main colour scheme of our magazine as we think it presents a suttle and “easy-to-look-at” theme. Also blue is the colour of part of our corporate identity / logo and on some of the sub headings and titles. Our house style is mainly to do with the header located at the top of each page, containing our logo, the title of the page and its subheading, by using this method of house style it helps us keep corporate identity within the magazine. It is our own unique brand and identity.
Target Audience / Market:
The audience we target for our magazine is generally cycling enthusiasts and anyone particularly interested in road / race cycling. It is for a ‘Miche’ market. I think to understand and gain information from our magazine you do need some cycling knowledge, particularly when we talk about reviews on bikes and there parts, also the famous people within the cycling community. Our magazine is designed to give the readers all the latest information about cycling, latest events, reviews of bikes, interviews with cycling “Legends” etc. It is basically an all round road and race cycling magazine, open for all ages, genders, ethnicity etc. Therefore, it would not appeal to a mass audience.
Denotation and Connotation:
Denotation – The main image on the front cover, of the cyclist.
Connotation – The image on the front of the magazine suggests the main theme of speed and determination, the expression of the cyclists face shows that he is ‘Cycling-hard’ – in biking terms. The image also shows a sense of success and being the best of the best, you also cant see any other cyclists which perhaps suggests that he is the winner, the race leader. This should shoot into the mind of the reader and perhaps make them think they can go out and be a cyclist and gain the confidence and aspire to being like the cyclist in the image.
Conclusion:
Overall I think our magazine came out very successfully and met our criteria on what we intended for it to be based upon.
I think in general we stuck to our corporate identity and house style and produced overall a magazine for the road / race cycling enthusiast. I think the use of images and fonts within the magazine is set out very well and positioned in the correct places. I think our magazine is stylish and attractive and the use of colours and style reflects the lifestyle of the potential readership. I think there may have been things that we could have improved, such as using very high quality images as a few of the image we used had to be re-sized and lost a small percentage of quality. Also I would liked to have got the magazine printed professionally and also rather than make a few pages in the magazine, I would have preferred to make a full magazine with all the features that are on the contents page.