RESEARCH INTO CURRENT MAGAZINES

Jessica Thorpe

ANALYSISING 4 MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS

4 front covers I analysed

The features they all share• A band/artist on the front

cover, who will be featured in the magazine.

• Name/logo of magazine• Colour scheme

• Mode of address• Bar code

• Date• Price

• Headline/s

These are present to show what’s to be featured in

the magazine. It could also be so that it can be easily

identified on the shelf, because they keep the

colour scheme consistent, which are good visual

effects.

5 differences between the magazines

• Colour scheme – this is because different genres of music, I believe, bring out different moods of people and therefore use different colours to appeal to the target audience. For example, pop music is seen as quite rhythmic, so therefore the magazine would be filled with lots of bright colours. Where as, rock music is very loud and edgy, so I think it would be filled with reds and black to portray that because red has connotations of danger etc.

• Font of text – this is used to represent the type of genre the magazine is based upon. For example, classical music would use a lot of serif fonts, to make it look sophisticated, which you would usually associate with classical music lovers.

• Artist on cover - the artist/band on the front cover of the magazine would represent the style of music and would be an insight as to what will be featured in the issue.

• Position of artist on cover – on the front cover of ‘VIBE’, was a MCU of Kanye West this would appeal to teenage girls because it’s of his face, and because his eyes are looking directly at you make it feel more personal. However, on the front cover of ‘music’ magazine there is a MS of a woman holding a violin. This would appeal to violinists and classical music lovers because the image is of someone iconic, and the violin allows you to know what genre of music the magazine will be based upon.

4 examples on how one of the front covers uses conventions to display their genre

The title of the magazine, ‘top of the pops’ instantly reflects that the magazine is going to be based upon pop music, because of the use of the word ‘pop’ in the title.Another feature which lets us know it’s for pop lovers is because of the band on the front cover, which in this issue is the Jonas Brothers. They are an iconic pop band and girls love them.The colour scheme is dominated by the colour pink, so again is a convention that the magazine is for pop music fans, because pink is bright and the pop market is mainly targeted towards girls.The number of different puffs on the page also insinuates the magazine is dominated by the pop genre. This is because it is advertising celebrity gossip, fashion bargains, competitions etc. All of these features make it a successful pop magazine because they are all of great appeal to their target audience.

Target audience of the magazine

I think, because they have used a good looking boy band as the main image on the front cover,

and advertised celebrity gossip and fashion bargains, and have dominated the background

colour by pink means that the target audience is teenage girls, because all of the above have

great appeal to them.

ANALYSIS OF 3 MAGAZINES

ANALYSIS OF FRONT COVERS

Analysis of front cover 1Colour scheme – it’s main colours are pink and white which you would stereotypically associate with girls, showing that it could be a gossip mag to do with celebrities etc.

Sell line – this is a final attempt to get the reader to buy the magazine, as they offer things inside that they think will attract the reader.

Masthead – the font is sans serif to appeal to the age of the reader, which would be older children and teenagers. It is also written in pink and in the top third of the page to stand out and to also appeal to the target audience of girls.

Headline – this shows the reader what the feature of the magazine is. It’s written in capital letters and is outlined in pink to stand out and get the readers attention. This font is sans serif.

Bar code/date/price – these are conventional things that need to be seen on the front cover of the magazine. They are also situated at the bottom of the place, which is also conventional.

Puff – this gives the reader more reasons to buy the magazine because it offers something extra inside, and because it’s a circular shape coloured in black will hopefully stand out to the reader because it goes against the colour scheme.

Main image – this is a medium shot of Shayne Ward which is parallel to the headline, putting emphasis on the main feature of the magazine.

Insert – this gives you a sneak peak as to what else you can expect to read in the magazine, and will hopefully be stuff of interest to the target audience.

Analysis of front cover 2Masthead – this is in the top left hand corner of the page in capitals so it stands out to the potential buyer, as we read top to bottom from left to right. it also has the slogan directly underneath, which follows the normal conventions of a magazine front cover.

Main Image – this is a medium shot of a member of Oasis. The picture reflects the music genre of the magazine. His eyes are also in the top third of the page, keeping with the conventions of front covers, to make you as the reader feel interacted with and makes it feel more personal.

Colour scheme – the colours are quite loud and bold on the page and draw your attention to the page, which is parallel to the genre of the magazine, because the style of music is quite wacky.

Bar code/price/date – this is in the conventional place of a magazine.

Sell line – this is a final attempt to get the reader to purchase the magazine, as they advertise articles they may be of interest or free gifts etc.

Headline – this is parallel to the main image on the magazine, and indicates to the reader that there may be an article on Oasis, so appeals to its target audience.

Analysis of front cover 3

Colour scheme – they have used quite neutral colours, which look very soft on the page, which is parallel to the style of music of the magazine

Main image – this is a long shot a man which the main article is based upon, so continues on with the classical theme of music.

Headline – this is parallel to the image of the man, and links with the style of music, so will hopefully appeal to its target audience.

Masthead – the font is white and sans, which gives is even more appeal to its target audience (mode of address) because sans makes it look regal, which is how classical music sounds, and the colour white gives it a purity feel.

Date and price – this is separated from the bar code on this magazine, which is also done quite frequently on front covers nowadays.

Puff – this draws your attention to what is written inside, giving you even more reason to purchase the magazine.

Sell line – this is a final attempt to get you to buy the magazine, as it adds stuff that will be of interest.

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS PAGES

Analysis of contents page 1

Editors article – The editor of the magazine usually always writes a little message to its readers to thank them for buying the magazine etc.

Page numbers – Contents pages always follow the conventions of providing page numbers for its readers so that they can easily access the information they wish to read, and ‘Smash Hits’ is no different. They are also in a darker pink to the text and sized a little bigger, to stand out.

Puff – This puff is coloured in red, to stand out from the girly colour scheme across the page, making the offer inside the circle stand out.

Pictures parallel to text – The 3 pictures in the right hand top corner of the page have numbers underneath, to indicate that you can find some information to do with them on those pages. This is another way to make the contents page less boring and more interesting for the reader.

Anchorage of image – The picture of Westlife is anchored to give the reader a bit of information as to why the image has been added onto the page.

Title – the contents is written in pink and in capitals to stand out to the reader, and I think the features are at the bottom of the page to allow more space for images that will appeal more to the target audience.

Analysis of contents page 2

Title of magazine and contents – this reinforces to the reader what the magazine is called. This word contents is in capitals and bold in the top third of the page to stand out.

Editors article – this gives you a brief insight as to what will be featured in this issue of NME, and what you can expect to be in future ones.

Puffs – There are a number of different coloured and shaped puffs on the page. I think the editor chose to do this because the target audience who read NME don’t like to get bored, so by adding lots of features on the page will satisfy their needs.

Anchorage of image – there are pictures to illustrate the articles inside the magazine. This is so that there is more variety on the page, and more for the readers to look at. They have also included images which they think will be appealing to their target audience and will encourage them to read the pages which are anchored underneath the images.

Features – One of the features has been made bigger and goes against the colour scheme, making it stand out and be easily noticed by the reader.

Colour Scheme – they have continued the colour scheme, of red, white and black, from the front cover and logo. This is so that when the magazine is on the shelf the magazine can be easily identified as NME.

Analysis of contents page 3

Anchorage of image – this has been done to add some variety to the page, and to highlight the most important and interesting articles which will be featured in this issue of Classic fm.

Footer – this has been done to encourage the reader to buy the magazine, and the offer was most likely on the front cover, so was just another way to get the reader to purchase the magazine.

Colour Scheme – there is a consistent colour scheme which is dominated by white. This links with the target audience and is parallel to the genre of the music because its pure and holy, which are connotations of the colour white.

Layout – the layout follows the conventions of the rule of thirds, to give it a professional look. It is also pretty basic with no need for anything flash, which is parallel to the genre of the music.

Mode of address – the language and images represent the style and genre of music and the readers very well, as it is sophisticated.

Puff – this is styled in a way that appeals to the target audience, as it’s not shaped like a star and coloured brightly, it sticks to the colour scheme, but stands out at the same time, doing its job efficiently.

ANALYSIS OF DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS

Analysis of double page spread 1

Page numbers – they always have page numbers and the name of the magazine at the bottom of the page. It is a conventional rule that nearly all magazines follow.

Little writing/lots of images – this magazine is aimed at teenage girls, and the majority of them would rather at pictures of their favourites bands etc than read about them. That’s why there is little writing and lots of images.

Anchorage of images – because there is little text they have made a cartoon strip based double spread to make it more enjoyable for the reader to reader the magazine. The text underneath the images just allows us to know what is going on in each picture.

Headline – like on a front cover there is also a headline on this double page spread to allow the readers to know what this page is going to based upon.

Layout – this double page spread follow the conventions of ‘Rule of Thirds’. This is because it looks more professional and feels more personal to the reader because the eyes of the people in the images are at the top of the page and looking directly at you.

Competitions – the editor has clearly thought about appealing to its target audience, and becuause of this added a competitions where the winner can win a prize that would be of great delight to them.

Analysis of double page spread 2Colour scheme – they have kept a consistent colour scheme all the way through the magazine, from the front cover to the contents page and now the double page spread. This shows that they want their magazine to be easily recognisable.

Themes – the whole of the double page spread is based upon Noel, who is the lead singer of the band Oasis. This will be of great appeal to NMEs target audience because they love Oasis’s style of music so will be intrigued as to what he has to say. Also, by just basing the double page spread upon one artist/band will keep the readers interested for longer, especially if its about an inspiring figure to them. Whereas, if it was on a few people they may get bored and not find out enough detail on they people as they had hoped they would.

Layout – The page seems as though it has been divided into two, as there is text on the left hand side and a medium shot of Noel on the right hand side. This image reinforces what the article is about and could also be used as a poster for his fans.

Insert – the insert just underneath the image sums up Noel’s greatest moments and is there for its readers who don’t a thorough amount of text, and so by adding that in caters for all of the different interests and abilities of readers.

Headline – There is one main headline in bold capitals letters, to capture the readers attention and uses a brief summary of what the article is going to be based upon to hopefully get the readers to notice it and want to read on.

Analysis of double page spread 3Initial drop cap – this is a convention of magazines when writing articles. They do this to add visual interest.

Colour Scheme – the editor decided to use neutral and soft colours, such as white and light purple. This is because the type of people to read this magazine listen to music that is calming and soothing, so made it parallel to the genre of music the magazine is based upon. If the double page spread was filled with bright and loud colours I don’t think it would have quite the same effect and appeal to its target audience.

Mode of address – the language and images used match the genre of music featured in the article. This is because they use higher class vocabulary to fit with the majority of the target audiences lifestyle.

Layout – as you can see the amount of text on this double page spread is pretty lengthy, and only has one image on the page. This is because the people who buy this magazine like long reports, etc to do with musical instruments and the people who play them, and by the use of the added picture at the top of the page draws your attention to it firstly, and reinforces what the article is about.

Main headline – this double page spread also has one main headline, as the article is based upon one thing, not a number of things, and by situating the headline in the top left hand corner allows us to read it first because we read top to bottom from left to right.