Print Media and Publishing

What this page covers

Most of what is listed here is mind maps, and many are planning maps for a magazine project. Some cover a music magazine, such as Music Magazine Planning, where the author explains a genre choice and a target market. Others cover a film magazine, including Film Magazine Planning, which looks at mastheads and capital letters.

A second group covers conventions: how a front page, a contents page and a double page spread are laid out. A third group looks at publishers and titles, with maps on Magazine Institutions, The Daily Mail, The Sun, Empire and Total Film.

Where to start

Begin with the convention maps. Conventions of a magazine contents page is a clear first read: it lists columns, a main image, smaller images and page numbers. Then look at Codes and conventions of the front page and Codes and conventions of a double page spread.

Next, read the title analysis maps, such as the ones on 'Black Belt' and 'T3'. They show how a title and its design speak to a readership.

Using quizzes and maps together

The quizzes are a small set, and they lean on history. Chapter 6 asks about Penny Press newspapers and Yellow Journalism. Chapter 7 asks about early European magazines and the first magazine for women readers. Chapter 8 is also here.

1. Read a history map such as History of print media.
2. Take a chapter quiz and note the questions you miss.
3. Go back to the map and the flashcards, such as The History of Printing, to fill the gap.

Where it fits

This unit sits in the Journalism strand of Communication and journalism. It is about the printed press: how newspapers and magazines are planned, designed, published and distributed. Maps such as Readership Declines in the United States and the one on accessibility and emerging formats in publishing show how print is changing.

Pick one map that matches your task today, then make a quiz or a set of flashcards of your own from it.