How to Take a Good Photo

Task 5: IPC Case Study

Task 3: Magazines & Audiences (Part 2)

From this cover of Cosmopolitan magazine it is clear that the target audience is women who are likely to be aged between 20 and 40 and of working class. This is apparent due to a number of different codes and conventions displayed on the front of the magazine.
First and foremost, the eye catching pinks of the front cover's colour scheme are a clear indicator that this magazine is intended for woman. The shade of the pinks as well suggest that it isn't for older women as they're light and 'girly'. This is also the case for the swirly fonts used. This magazine, however, is not intended for young girls which is obvious from the second biggest cover line advertising "Explosive sex secrets!" This then leads us to believe it must be for young adults as they are less likely to have settled down and will be more concerned with improving their love life.
The main image as well is helpful in us understanding the target audience. For any magazine, more often than not, the main image would be of a celebrity of a similar age to the target audience and Kimberly Walsh would have been 29 when this was published in 2011, again leading us to the conclusion of 'Cosmopolitan''s target audience. She is also not overly sexualised and is portrayed as a happy confident woman, which would appeal to women over men. Though, the fact that she is in a rather short dress does add to the idea that this magazine is for younger women as anyone older than 40 is not likely to wear an outfit like this.
The puffs on the cover are also very feminine and the plugs inside these puffs would mainly concern young women. The large numbers of the plugs catch the reader's attention, drawing their eye to what they're advertising: fashion. The fashion they're uncovering in one of their articles is to do with outfits for evening events, for example parties and clubbing, as the cover line "Buy-now-wear-tonight steals" proposes. These sort of outfits are probably not much desired for most women older than 40 and so, again, the assumption is that the magazine is for younger women.
If this wasn't enough to make the age of the audience clear the gossipy cover line "Exclusive! 'My name is Kate Middleton... and I'm a transsexual'" yet again enforces it. Women of a slightly older age will be more sensible and quicker to disregard gossip like this classing it as ridiculous but those of a younger age will have more of an interest in scandals such as this one.
In terms of audience's class, the cover lines are good indicators of this. One uses the phrase "OMG" which is very colloquial and is not associated with high class citizens. Another cover line is "Climb your career ladder" which tells us the audience are intended to be of a working class. As well as this the price is £3.50 which is quite dear and so the magazine is not likely to be purchased by anyone out of a job as it is more of a luxury item than a necessity.
Therefore, all these codes and conventions are what lead me to my original conclusion that 'Cosmopolitan' magazine is a magazine aimed at young women between the ages of 20 and 40 that are of a working class.

Task 3: Magazines & Audiences (Part 1)

Glossary 

• Code - A system of signs which can be decoded to make meaning. 
• Colour scheme - A planned combination of colours used to appeal to a target audience.
• Convention - The widely recognised way of doing something. 
• Cover line - The brief announcements or blurbs displayed on the front of a magazine. 
• Genre - The classification of any media texts into types of categories. 
• Ideology - Powerful ideas about how things should be. 
• Left third - The left-hand vertical side of the magazine where most of the important information (big articles, competitions etc.) is placed in case of a horizontal shelving system. 
• Main image - Typically showing the person/ object associated with the main feature/ article.
• Masthead - The title of a magazine at the head of the magazine cover.
• Plug - Information about the contents of a magazine or newspaper given on the front cover.
• Puff - A piece of graphic design on the front of a magazine used to boost status and attract the reader. 
• Pull quote - a brief, attention-catching quotation taken from an article and shown in speech marks to entice the reader.
• Representation - The way that people, ideas and events are presented to us.  
• Strapline - An introductory headline below the masthead describing the magazine. 
• Target audience - A specific group of people the magazine is aimed at.

Task 2: Getting to know blogger

Things I can do with Blogger:

• create my own website URL and customise my theme to make my blog my own.
• easily create, edit and update posts.
• change the font type, font size and other things about the text (e.g. highlight, italicise, underline etc.)
• add a variety of media to my posts, including photos and videos.
• add hyperlinks to my posts.
• view other people's blogs online, with other people being able to view mine.  
• comment on other people's posts and have people comment on mine.
• tag my posts.

How I think Blogger will be useful for my coursework:

• I can upload my coursework quickly and easily, either at school or at home. 
• I can use the tags on my posts to conveniently search up old coursework to help with future coursework. 
• The ability to add videos and photos to my posts will make my coursework of a higher standard.
• Teachers can easily view my coursework.
• People's comments will help me understand how to improve my work. 

Task 1: My Skills Audit

I am not particularly confident with a mac and can only do the basics. I have also never heard of InDesign, let alone used it and the special effects I can add to photos are all thanks to PicMonkey.

As I use the macs more my confidence is bound to grow and as for InDesign I will look up a tutorial online on the basics of the program and perhaps even before that, open it to see what it even is! These steps should help me familiarise myself with these two products in order for my coursework to be the best it can be.