The purpose of the magazine is to inform people about rugby and why they should play it. To do this, there will be interview with people from the team (Captain + sister probably), which will show the reader different backgrounds and how they got into the sport, connotes to them that they can do it too.
Also, the magazine will further explain why Rugby? By describing the benefits of the sport - statistics + interviewees opinions which will therefore encourage girls to take up the sport.
Proposal specifications
Front Page
House style will be gold, white, grey and black as the colours are based on the girls team I'm interviewing, so it connotes the importance of the team in the magazine and also connotes that they are the main feature. It also works to establish a brand for the team, as the colours will be continually associated with the magazine and its topic (rugby) and the team so they will eventually become synonymous with each other.
The masthead will be 'TRY', as it's a pun on the rugby term try (which connotes success, implying that the magazine is successful and trying rugby will be successful) and the purpose of the magazine, to get people to try the sport. Sans serif font, with the Bebas Neu font. This is because it's easier to read than serif fonts, because it's simpler, and it's eye catching, so people will see it and try and read it, increasing sales. Colour will be white with black outlines, to appear easy to read regardless of the main cover image
The main cover image will be a player, most likely Hazel (the captain) or any player, depending on availability, running towards the camera, with direct gaze at the camera to make the player appear more personal. This is especially important as the purpose of the magazine is to encourage the target audience to play, which it does through the 'ideal self' concept (Carl Rogers, 1980), so the model on the front page needs to appear relatable to achieve this effect. Continuing with the relatable theme, the model will be shown in a normal rugby scenario (running pose, standard kit etc.) as the player will have have a 'star persona' (Dyer, 1975), to reinforce the idea of the 'ideal self'. A long shot at eye line level will be used, as this also encourages the ideal-self idea as the audience and the player are shown to be equal, while still being able to see the whole situation. The style connotes importance and gives the magazine an official theme, which is important and relates to the content of the two DPSs as they are about women's rugby growing in importance and popularity.
Main cover line is a quote from a player (most likely Hazel, the captain, but depends on availability) encouraging readers to play the game. Anchored (Roland Barthes, 1969) to the main cover image to give the appearance that the player in the image said this, which is more encouraging to the reader to listen to the message because of the themes of ideal self - if your ideal self wants you to play, you are more likely to.
Other cover lines will be along the right side of the front cover. Each one a different colour (house style), with the title of the advertised article and a brief description, which is all effective in attracting the reader’s attention to the cover lines while not removing attention from the main cover image, where the attention should be. Examples of tag lines are: RFU SPEAKS and AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CAPTAIN
Although I did not completely meet the specifications outlined in the brief, the end result on all created pages still appeal to the target audience and achieve a similar effect to the original design.
For example, I switched the house colours of the front page to just gold and black, as I believed that this design was more effective in grabbing the attention of the audience without taking away from the main image (i.e. the previous colours would be too distracting and wouldn't work with the image, which is the main priority for the page).
However, I did comply with my proposal in that the pose and general layout of my front page remained the same - a payer running towards the camera in a medium close up with tag lines surrounding her head and shoulders, with a tagline below. This is because I believed that this design is still effective in achieving the desired effect (the medium close up makes the person relatable, important for the purpose of my magazine to get people to play the sport), and the layout of the text on top of this compliments the picture by not covering the image.
I changed the contents page house style from mint green and gold to red and white. This is in part due to the availability of pictures which was out of my control - the team was made to play in a different kit then intended on many occasions, meaning I had to change my house style to accommodate this change in order to create an overall brand with the magazine and the team, as well as create an appealing aesthetic.
I also altered the planned layout of the page, which was done due to further research into the designs of similar magazines pages, and comparison between designs, lead me to conclude that the altered design is more appropriate to the purpose and genre of the magazine, as well as looking more appealing and professional. Also, changing the design to incorporate a variety of images, showing both the social and physical/playing side of the sport, is more fit for purpose than the initial concept of only showing an action shot, as it appeals to a variety of people who are interested in both sides of the sport, giving people more reason to join (the purpose of the magazine) as the sport is shown more completely.
I followed my proposed design for my DPS quite closely, still using the same image idea, two players back to back, smiling and looking at the camera, although they were on the left page with the article on the right, I'm order to more closely keep with convention. . This is because through research I concluded, and still conclude, that this is an effective method to present two interviews, as it's very similar to an interview format but with two people on two pages, which is a-typical.
However, I did not use the planned house style - green and gold - as I thought that due to the limited colours on the image that would oppose with the design, it would be better to only use part of the house style - white and black - along with red which was already included on the contents page, to create a clean look that works with the image not contrast against it. It also allows the image and text to both have equal prevalence, as the bright colours of the picture and essential location work well with the clean design and large space used for the article text. This works well and appeals to the audience as both the picture and text are important in conveying information to readers.
One of the models changed in my DPS, from the captain of the team, Hazel, to a newer member of the team, Cat. This is because the other model, Maddie, is an experienced player, as it Hazel, so getting insight into a newer players perspective is important, especially because the magazine and article is aimed at getting new people to join, so seeing the immediate effects as well as the long term is beneficial.
Throughout the project I used various tool in both Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop to create my pages, including:
Also, the clean but alternative use of boxes is appropriate for the target audience of teenage girls, as it has connotations of young and alternative culture (prevalent in magazines surrounding that culture) while the clean look is similar to the themes in rugby.
Adjusting the size of text denotes which parts are the most important - for example the masthead is larger than the tagline and higher up the page, indicating is importance, while the tagline is larger than the text to also show importance.
Adjusting the colour of the text creates connotations, for example the red of the masthead connotes importance and the relation to the team, as they are wearing red bibs on the DPS. The black outline made the text easier to read and appear more important, again connotations appropriate for the masthead. The bright text targets the young audience, as bright colours have connotations with youth while simple black and white do for older people. So using these colours is good for targeting my target audience.
It also follows the brief, as the colours are that of a team based in Sheffield, so it relates to the brief of using a subject around Sheffield for Sheffield.
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