My final thoughts

The brief I choose focuses on a lifestyle program and how to promote this in print and e-media,

and as I have been looking at different types of specialist magazines for two different hobbies, as

well as how different production companies speak to their audiences through their websites and

what their logos says about them.

   Even though information about different hobbies can be good specialist magazines as well as

life style programs, I believe that for a lifestyle program to be entertaining it have to have some

kind of story to it, whether it is a competition or some sort of host show making jokes on the side

of the main goal to teach about a specific hobby.

   In a specialist magazine, said life style program from Synopticity Productions could easily be

promoted through interviews with the producer, host or alternatively guests that have made

special appearances on the show, letting the interview be about the show and the specific hobby

which the show focuses on. It would also be possible to promote the product by featuring tips

from the show, but mentioning in the article that the credit for the tip goes to the show/host/guest

star of the show. The same goes for an e-media website, in is possible to promote the Production

Company and its show by featuring interviews and tips from people who work with the show and

giving them credit for anything that’s mentioned in the article that’s already been mentioned on

the show.

Magazines

Writing Magazines

Writers Digest

‘Writer’s Digest’ is a magazine with a very conventional front page, containing an image of someone who’s interview within the magazine and a few quotes or brief head line and introduction to some of the content. The reason why magazines focused on writing usually don’t have actual images of writing on their front cover is because this would seem boring and monotonous as that’s what is on the inside as well, and therefore not attract as many costumers buying the magazine. The use of plain, coloured, background makes it look classy and professional. And a lot of pastel colours used together with blank white space within the magazine continues to please the eyes after you’ve turned the first page. Just like in any other writing magazine, this one contains interviews, advice on how to succeed, what others have done to succeed, and what to avoid, as well as competitions, reviews on novels, and examples on other’s stories (ex: poems, short stories or an extract from a book).

Creative Nonfiction

  
   The magazine ‘Creative Nonfiction’ have as front cover which could be seen as unconventional, in the sense that neither of their covers contains an image of someone who’s interview is in the magazine. Instead they have chosen to describe the theme of each issue with an image of something either material or abstract for the cover. However, even if this is unusual amongst many magazines of different genres, it is actually white normal for a writing magazine to use images of typing magazines, since most believe they have a target audience of sophisticated middle-aged/ elderly writers, thus they want to keep the cover and the pages within very neat and simple, yet classy and artistic. This is the reason why most writing magazines, this one included, use very light pastel colours, together with a lot of blank space and black writing to contrast the bright pages and make it easier to read.

Cooking magazines

Fine Cooking

   Fine Cooking, a magazine about cooking and baking, tries to use bright colours on their title most of the time to draw attention to the magazine, amongst all of the other magazines there’ll probably be in the shop they’re sold. They use images of both food and cakes to tease the audience a bit, making their mouths water as they look at the delicious food, convincing them that they could learn how to cook that particular food if they bought the magazine. The use of plain background results that the food is in the centre as the complex deserts and main courses contrasts the plainness of the background. On the side of the stunning images there’s subheadings and quotations from the articles, interviews and recipes within the magazine, also this contributes to the appeal for the audience, making it seem interesting and therefor hopefully getting more magazines sold.
   The content within the magazine consists of recipes, how-to guides, tips and tricks to succeed in the kitchen as well as interviews with professional chefs and bakers.

What’s cooking

The magazine What’s Cooking focuses on the art of baking, as they try to use bright colours on their title they draw attention to the magazine, thus making it stand out amongst all of the other magazines in the different shops they’ll be sold in. They use images of different types of cakes, using a lot of bright colours making the cakes look delicious, teasing the audience with mouths watering as they look at the beautiful creations, convincing them that if they bought the magazine they could cook that particular cake and enjoy the sensational taste whish is promised by the beautiful images. By using plain background they make the deserts the centre and most important part of the cover as the complex cakes contrasts the plainness of the background with very light pastel colours, in opposite to bright ones. Under and on the side of the stunning images of the delicious cakes there’s subheadings and quotations from the articles, interviews and recipes within the magazine, this contributes as well to the appeal for the audience, making the magazine and its content seem interesting and therefor they will hopefully get more magazines sold.
   Inside the magazine, the content consists of recipes, how-to guides, tips and tricks to succeed in the kitchen as well as interviews with professional chefs and bakers, just like most other magazines that focus on baking.

Websites for production companies

British Broadcasting Corporation.http://www.bbc.co.uk/

  On the website for BBC they’ve got images and quotes for the images to draw the viewers’ attention to the articles and make them want to read it, having the articles they believe will be the most popular, based on the viewer numbers for the show the article promotes, and give the most reads, promoting the show and therefor gaining even more views, at the top of the page.

   At the top of the page they have links to different websites that’s parts of their production company; like news, sports, weather forecast and an iPlayer option. The company produces both TV and Radio, therefor there’s also a link to their radio website.  

                                             

Television (TV) 4.http://www.tv4.se/

   The production company TV4 have a slideshow with images, captions and links to articles and summaries about their most recent and popular shows, hoping to raise an interest through teasing the viewers with interesting pictures and therefor gain more viewers for their shows.
   On the top of the page they, too, have links to different parts of their website, for example; news, information about their different channels and programs, an iPlayer option, sport, as well as a part that says “contact”- being a great way for the viewers to easily get help or get in touch with the company if needed.

Independent Television.http://www.itv.com/

    This company have a big picture, with a suiting text, to what they believe to be something which will attract many of the page’s visitors to become interested in watching. Under they have an set of easily understandable links to their different channels and what each one broadcast at the moment, i.e. so you could watch that program straight away on your computer/ other devises. Under this they have smaller images with captions they believe will gain viewers and reads to their programs as well as their articles about said programs.
   At the very top of the page there’s links which give easy access to live TV, information about their shows, as well as lists of their productions, and news. The button that says “help” at the top right gives the audience a sense of comfort since they know that if they have any trouble they could get help, this together with the fact that they’ve got an option to “sign in”, to (seemingly) be a part of the company and therefor get access to watch their shows for free yet others can’t since it’s only for members (even though anyone can get an account) gives the audience a feeling of being ‘special’, thus looking at the company as a good one that takes care of its customers.

Sveriges Television [Aktiebolag].http://www.svt.se

   On the website for SVT they’ve got images and quotes for these images to draw the attention of the viewers to the articles and make them want to read it, having the articles they believe will be the most popular, based on the viewer numbers for the show the article promotes, and give the most reads, promoting the show and therefor gaining even more views, at the top of the page.

   At the very top of the page they have links to different websites that’s parts of their production company, like an iPlayer option, news, sport, children’s area and a collection of popular programs from the past. The broad range of both products results in a big audience with a big age range and range of interests, they try to give their audience a bigger range of products to choose from and therefor, hopefully, gain a bigger profit than if they didn’t. At the same time they try to look like a company that generally cares for their viewers and therefor gives them what they want (or at least what they are told to believe that they want).

 

   All of the websites have the production company’s logo in the top left hand corner, this is since here in the west we read from top left to bottom right, making the logo the first thing you see, unconsciously. That way you know the moment you go onto the page that it belongs to the real production company and therefor can trust them.  Also on the top they all have a search bar, like on many other websites in the right hand corner, as well as links to different websites that’s parts of their production company, like mentioned.