Kids' Magazine

Yes, apparently we have magazines for kids, too! Based on the article ‘Children’s Magazine Cater to True Early Adapters with Mobile Apps’ by Susan Sivek (2011), she stated that parents are having a hard time chasing after the children’s pace on media and technology while the kids are barely sweating with their growing phase. She also added that games are offered in the mobile devices for the kids, but parents have no trouble in catching up with games. But do not take it wrongly, kids magazine are not like teenagers and adults’ magazine. The aim for the kids’ magazine is to educate instead of informing about latest fashion trend, food and so on.

Now, instead of relying on print magazine, it moves to devices app. For example, Ladybug’s Bookshelf iPhone app has an interesting idea of providing stories with animation so that the kids will get to read the story on their own or have the device to read to them. Another key point for this device is to allow young readers to communicate globally through the kids’ magazine apps.

According to Reep (2006), one of the ways to boost usability is by using the colour elements. However, she warned that author shouldn't rely too much on colours because colour-blind people will not be able to understand the element; hence this usability will not work on them. Kids prefer colourful pages instead of mature colours. Hence, kids website are normally seen with colours in the site, then the website or apps will be able to attract kids attention and they will be interested in being ‘educated’ using the apps provided. For example, figure 1.1 shows a kids’ website while figure 1.2 is an adult website.

Figure 1.1: Example of Kids Website

Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/how-to/ten-best-websites-for-kids/

Figure 1.2: Example of Adult's Magazine

Source: http://www.ntchosting.com/internet/website.html

According to Kress & van Leewen (1998), ‘all texts are multimodal’. They also state that verbal and non-verbal text should work together to get a better result. An example as shown in the article described above, the apps provided have not only text but also sound to blend in so that the kids can use the devices to read the text by themselves or have the device to read for them. Hence, the creator of the educational apps should be aware of this to ensure the kids will be attracted and be educated by the apps.

Reference:

1. Kress, G, van Leeuwen, T., 1998, Front Pages: (The Critical) Analysis of Newspaper Layout, in Approaches to Media Discourse, eds A Bell, P Garrett, Blackwell: Oxford, pg. 186-219.



2. 2. Reep, D.C., 2006, Technical Writing: Document Design, 6^th Edition, Pearson/Longman: New York, pg. 133-172



3. 3. Sivek, S.C., 2011, Children’s Magazines Cater to True Early Adopters with Mobile Apps, Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/05/childrens-magazines-cater-to-true-early-adopters-with-mobile-apps137.html. Last accessed: 8th June 2011.