ancillary task..

so, as well as doing a childrens show, i also need to do the front cover of a magazine to accompany it and the front cover of a dvd. i started to research childrens magazines, and i saved some of the pictures to put on here, to analyse and select good points from each and coorporate into my magazine to make it a successful piece.

beano is one of the most famous comics, and i can see why it was so successful, and why it has been for so long. The front cover contains one of easily recognisable characters, Dennis The Menace, who went on to his own very popular television show alongside his loveable sidekick gnasher.

This cover works well because it contains a popular theme for young boys, which is football, it also is very simple, with simple colours and figures, so it clearly is targetting a young audience.

Mad Kids is a publication that I am not overly familiar with, but it seems to be quite a popular magazine amongst children. Similarly to the beano magazine above, it has block letters in primary colours, making it very simple. It also has used two very well known charcters, Wallace and Gromit, and has changed the name to make it funnier for the children.

The cover works well as it has an easily recognisable title, so children could find it easily, it also has different features included in the magzine on the front to entice the children.

This 'Kids' magazine is a branch of national geographic which is a world famous magazine for featuring different parts of the world, and parts of nature. So this magazine, clearly does the same, but has been adapted for children, so will be written in a simpler way yet still be educational.

The front cover works well because it contains a friendly looking dog, and lots of children like dogs, so it works will. There is also a free gift with the magazine, which i would consider using for my magazine.

this magazine, quite obviously, is a specialist magazine as it is based on horses, so would be ideal for children who have a keen interest in horses and go horse riding. a specialist magazine would be ideal for some, but the niche market for it would be very narrow, as itw ould be a rarity if someone who wasnt interested ion horses would buy it.

the front cover works well as the picture is nice and teh horse looks slightly mystical. However, the writing on the cover is sparse and it looks very basic and rushed.

Ater looking at these four covers, i have a good idea about what i would like to incorporate in my front cover, and also in my dvd cover. I will give away a free gift, as many magazines do that, or maybe give a token, and if the children save them up they can get a big prize.. as this would encourage the children to buy the magazine again. I also would like the title to be in bold font, and then carry that over to the titles on the actual show and onto the dvd cover. I think that primary colours work really well, as they leave more attention for the picture on the cover. the price of the magazine would be crucial too, as if the children had to buy it themselves, bearing in mind childrens pocket money is quite a small amount, i think no higher than two pounds would be a good amount.