All of the above front covers are from the front cover of We (Love) Pop magazine and so they have all been designed with the

intention of attracting fans of Pop music. Through carrying out an investigation of all of the front covers and comparing them to

each other, I am able to identify the shared features that all of the magazine covers possess and can establish repeated

patterns.

All of the eight front covers, feature typical magazine front cover conventions. We can see the general layout of a magazine

and the conventions which are within them. The conventions are things such as the use of a main image that dominates the

front cover, sell-lines that surround the main image to draw the reader into buying the magazine, smaller feature article

photographs photographs that relate to what is to be included in the content inside the magazine and finally a masthead in an

appropriate colour and font to link in with the magazine cover keeping a repetitive colour scheme and layout.

To add to this, we are able see other repeated patterns throughout the cover of each magazine. Each of the front covers

feature a big pop artist or girl/boy band as the main image. This is what we expect to see on the front of the magazine due to it

being a music magazine; This mix of bands and solo artists show that the world of pop is not heavily one sided of either just

pop bands or artists but consists of a range of different bands and artists. This is most probable; due to the type of music that

is shown throughout this genre of music. Pop is a very upbeat and lively music that is generated by the singers vocals or by

instruments such as guitars, the reason we don’t see them with instruments is that pop music has a very produced sound. Both

solo singers and girl and boy bands are equally popular within this genre as has always been the case. In each one of the front

covers, we can see that the image of the celebrity or band members are always slightly to the right of the magazines front

cover. When the bands are shown as the main image on the front cover they all seem to be making a kind of shocked but

happy face, they are never laid out or positioned in a particular way they are all just clustered together; but when the artist is a

solo artists they seem to be smiling or pouting. This composition is repeated consistently to show a running theme and

repetition between all of the magazine front cover’s. This is a good way of drawing the target audience in to buying the magazine as these are famous artists and idols that the target audience aspire to be like.

There is a real mix between the gender of the artists, there are both female and male solo artists and female and male group

artists; but we don’t seem to see groups where there is a mix of female and male artists. Each one of the magazine front

covers have smaller feature article photographs; there seems to be a running theme between all of them as in every single

magazine cover there is a small picture to the bottom left corner and it is a fashion section and this runs through all of the

magazine covers in We (Love) Pop. This reflect the fact that the genre of Pop is associated with fashion and girly things and

shows that neither sex dominates the Pop music industry.

We can also see other similarities in the mise-en-scene elements that are shown on each of the front cover’s. Costume’s that

the artists wear; the artists are united because of the fact that they are all wearing similar clothing or similar colours; quite edgy

and quirky clothes are worn by them such as studded shorts, jean jackets, converse, shirts, jeans and bright colours are used

to convey the conventions of Pop etc. This is a look that generally associated with the Pop genre; it is commonly shown

throughout We (Love) Pop and what the target audience of pop expect to see the artists to be wearing.

Another shared feature across the eight front covers is that they all include feature article photographs. These seem to be

showing a small banner across the bottom of the page devoting it to presenting posters not only of the artists but other

actors and famous celebrities; these posters hugely consist of male hunks and hottie’s to lure in the target audience as the

Pop genre is mainly targeted at the female audience; but on the front cover featuring Katy Perry there is not banner

advertising posters that are included inside but then it says instead “brace yourself, Joe Jonas, The Wanted and shirtless

Biebs; this suggests that there are posters of there artists inside but you have to buy the magazine to see them, which

persuades the target audience to buy the magazine even more.

On each front cover, the signature We (Love) Pop masthead appears, and on each magazine front cover it is in the exact

same position which is in the top left corner of the magazine. The font is the same every time and does not change

throughout all eight magazine front covers, the only thing that does change throughout the eight covers is the colour that the

masthead is presented in such as red, yellow and pink but the magazine masthead is always predominantly pink throughout

the magazine because that is a typical girly colour and it is also very bright which will fit into the codes and conventions of

the Pop genre. The masthead throughout all eight magazine covers is always visible none of the feature artists or sell lines

cover the mast head which make the magazine easily recognizable. Another repeated feature is that the barcode is always

situated in the bottom right hand corner of the magazine, this is usually where you would find a bar code as studies have

shown that, that is the last place we look as that is very un-important and the barcode is not very important, as it is not used

to help sell the magazine. The cover with Little Mix featuring on the cover does not follow this repetition like the other seven

magazine covers and the barcode is situated in the bottom left corner, but it does not change the image too much as it is

also not a very important area of the magazine that catches our eye immediately.

Sell-lines feature quite a lot throughout the eight magazine covers, alongside the main feature images there are main sell

lines that feature with them. This is mainly the name of the band/artist that is featured on the front of the magazine cover

accompanied mostly with smaller text underneath e.g. ‘The tears the bullies the work’. But on the magazine cover featuring

harry styles from one direction his name is not printed in big bold letters like the other seven magazines it is slightly smaller

than the rest; this may possibly be because he is not a solo artists as their names are always in big bold letter, but because

he is in a band and he is just as important as any other band member. The sell lines are generally positioned along the left

and right hand sides of the magazines, this shows that the main image and main sell line is more important then the other

sells lines possibly because the audience will see this big image first and this will attract them to buying the magazine also

as this feature article may consist of 2-5 pages of the magazine so is a bigger and more important sell line than the rest of

the other sell lines.

In seven out of the eight front covers, the main sell-line is placed consistently to the right hand side more, to the center. But

the magazine featuring Little Mix; the main sell line is to the bottom of the magazine and to the middle. Also four of the eight

magazine front covers, the main sell lines are slanted this also is so the main celebrity image is clearly visible. The remaining

four front covers vary in how they are positioned, three of them seem to be in small blocks in very short paragraph form

whereas the remaining one is just laid out across the bottom of the magazine. Either way, this is a key area of the front cover

where the audience’s eye will automatically go. Feature article photographs, are generally dotted around the magazine such

as in the bottom left, the bottom right, the top right and the top left, this is so they will not cover the main image or main sell-

line, but can be clearly seen next by the audience. Having carried out this overview, it is obvious that We (Love) Pop has its

own brand identity and signature look that is easily recognized by its target audience. This is maintained image through the

repetition of the layout and stylistic features from each issue and is a very good way of helping the magazine to sell and

succeed with its magazine.