Impact of Photographs on Magazine Cover Page
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are;
- To examine whether photographs make message more effective
- To examine the extent which photojournalists use their camera to tell stories
- To know how newspaper houses use photograph in reporting an event
- To know if readers find photograph interesting
- To know how photograph capture and retain the attention of newspaper readers
- To know how headlines and photo scanners find photograph interesting and holding their attention
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
PARTS OF A MAGAZINE FRONT COVER
Key parts of a magazine cover design include: masthead (also called: title, logotype, logo or nameplate); dateline; main image (photograph); model credit; cover lines, main cover line; left third; bar code and selling line (see Plates 1 and 2 below). According to Quinn (2012b) however over the years the design structure of magazine cover might have been tweaked to exploit new printing techniques; that is switched from full face to a body shot; used illustration rather than photography; moved the target readership age up or down; or simply freshened things up. Characteristically, magazines are periodicals, hence published in regular schedule. They contain variety of articles and are usually financed by advertising, purchase price and subscriptions. Magazine have been good sources of information and entertainment, for instance a fashion magazine, art magazine, design magazine, cookery magazine, car magazine, health magazine, product magazine, sports magazine, computer magazine and many more (Acebedo, 2012). However, contrary to the saying you cannot read a book by its cover, magazine designers strive to make sale through offering a promising cover, by attracting reader’s attention using the most skillful portrayal of the summary of key inner contents on the cover page. Insua (2012) argues that magazine covers not only offer information about what is inside a particular issue, they also provide significant cultural cues about social, political, economic and cultural trends. With these significant functions in mind, the need cannot be overemphasized for graphic designers to produce befitting magazine cover pages with adequately captivating visual imagery and complementary textual contents. Care however must be taken by the designers, not to mislead the beholder with forged concepts, unnecessary exaggerations or extreme unnatural fantasies. Capabilities and liberties availed to the artists and designers of magazine covers.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to impact of photographs on magazine cover page
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain impact of photographs on magazine cover page. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of photographs on magazine cover page
Summary
This study was on impact of photographs on magazine cover page. Six objectives were raised which included: To examine whether photographs make message more effective, to examine the extent which photojournalists use their camera to tell stories, to know how newspaper houses use photograph in reporting an event, to know if readers find photograph interesting, to know how photograph capture and retain the attention of newspaper readers and to know how headlines and photo scanners find photograph interesting and holding their attention. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staffs of selected print media in Lagos. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made directors, editors, production managers and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Now-a-days images are important part of print media journalism. Images have powerful and extended effects on our memory. Image also helps readers in selection of news story. Images and pictures are very effective tool to play up and play down the news stories because news which includes images are explored by more readers and it will build public opinion on that issue. This research also explored the effects of images on reader’s retention and attention.
Recommendation
Print media publishers should make the front page of their newspaper more colourful and beautiful, to attract more readers and retain existing readers. Prominence should be given to picture usage on the front page because it is the first page that passersby will see and if it is interesting and attractive enough, passersby will stop to take a look at it and eventually purchase the magazine
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