Magazine Newsstand task (task 5)

This task required me to visit any newsstand and analyse how the music magazines have been displayed. I also had to research other ways in which a magazine was distributed.

This magazine news stand was from a convenience store. There aren’t many music magazines in this store. Nonetheless the layout still indicates the mastheads as the most important part of the cover page. The layout of the magazines is horizontal so it I easier to read.

This magazine news stand is from Tesco and as you can see there aren’t many music magazines only 4. The magazines are overlapping each other, however the reader can still see the masthead which is the most influential part of the cover of the magazine. The layout of the music magazine is vertical. This gives the reader a smaller scope of where to find the music magazine which can be good as it makes the reader focus on that particular section making it easier for the reader to notice. On the other this can be a disadvantage as most magazine news stands show magazine genres like music horizontally like above. This could hinder the chance of a reader picking up a magazine from an unfamiliar layout. The mastheads are bold and large again making it clearer for the reader.

Other types of magazine distribution:

One type of magazine distribution is online magazine distribution. Online magazine distribution is a very popular way to distribute music magazines. This is due to the advances in technology in recent years. This allows magazines to be distributed almost everywhere; on smartphones, computers, and now tablets. It is a very fast and cheap way for distributing magazines as paper is not needed to print out magazines. Magazines can be found within minutes and seconds so the public can instantly view their favourite magazines.

A similar way to distributing the magazine can be done using social media to distribute magazines. This is done mainly by websites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The different magazines are shared to friends, family other publishes via social media. It is a very fast way of sharing magazines as retweeting a magazine can simply distribute a magazine to someone else. NME and Mixmag are examples of magazines that distribute there magazines this way.

The third type of magazine distribution is postal distribution. This is where people subscribe to their chosen magazine and receive their magazine by post. The magazine is delivered directly to the person’s house so they don’t have to worry about going out and buying the magazine; saving time and money. This type of distribution can also allow the magazine to be posted earlier than it is released in the shops. Lastly gifts and more information can be given to the reader who subscribed to the magazine and received it by post.