Blog 3- Analysis of existing magazines

Magazine covers
From one look at this magazine cover you can get an image and idea of who would read it. The mast head is in a sparkly pink font, which will apply mainly to girls and with its signature font, this cover will be recognised by many people. The font is very curly, which fits in with the style of the music, and has connotations of a very light, happy mood which is what the magazine is most probably wanting to show. There is a lot of colour presented on the magazine cover, and the contrasting pink and purple really stands out to the reader, in particular the '56 hot buys" article. This article combines both images and words to show things which a young teenager might be interested in and which will be another thing that will lure a reader into purchasing this particular magazine. Another thing that caught my eye was the bright yellow near the bottom of the magazine. This block of bright colour distracts the reader from the obvious articles and it highlights a whole new area of the magazine. I noticed that all of the dramatic and/or more serious articles advertised on the front of the magazine are in the yellow font, which suggests that this is adding some risk and excitement to the very happy jolly feel of the magazine. The language used is very child friendly, as are the images, with this particular cover using the High School Musical stars, who appeal directly to children and teenagers, who are the most likely target audience for this magazine. This image is very positive as all of the stars are smiling and looking directly into the camera, almost inviting the reader and appearing very welcome for people to look at and this combined with the bright colour scheme will be an attraction for potential buyers of this magazine. The line underneath this picture of the cast jumps out of the page, as it refers to the reader directly. 'You're a STAR!' suggests that the reader is literally famous, and the exclamation mark which is dotted with a star refers directly back to this statement, and the pink background colour again links in with the title and the feminine theme to the whole magazine.

This is the second magazine in my genre that I have chosen to analyse is Smash Hits! Again this magazine cover follows a colour scheme, although this one appears to be more masculine than the top of the pops cover (above). The two main stand out colours are yellow and blue, although black and white is used effectively in the mast head and some of the features on the cover. The very minimal amounts of pink are used to draw the readers eye into particular headings. Eg WIN!, which has a particularly intriguing sense to it as it suggests that you need to read more to find out. It is also very eye catching as it contrasts with the yellow colour which is next to it, meaning that it stands out even more.
The font used throughout the cover of the magazine is more masculine and that with the combination of male dominancy in the pictures and colours suggests that this magazine is more of a unisex magazine than top of the pops. The images used on this magazine are also very positive, but they are of a more mature fashion and not just people that appeal directly to younger children. In particular the main image shows a member of 'Son Of Dork' and if you didn't like this band then you may not be immediately attracted to this magazine. The member is again looking directly into the camera and using a cheeky grin which I expect would attract many girl readers as well as boys. The font used to express the title 'SON OF DORK' is in very large capitals, on the front of the guy's t shirt, so this could be both a featured article for the magazine and an oppurtunity to advertise the band itself. The bright yellow colour is incorprated all over the front cover, and by using this combined colour scheme it makes the magazine seem friendly, inviting and cheerful without looking messy and untidy. The article in the top right hand corner within a pannel of blue "Louis' X Factor Gossip!" is covering over part of the mast head for the magazine suggesting that it is really important and that it should be seen without anyything blocking its view. Finally, this magazine looks slightly more mature than the other one so this suggests that it could be for slightly older teenagers possibly age 13+, instead of the younger children as this is what the cover portrays.

Contents Page
This contents page has many features which would stand out to the reader. Firstly the main heading "Welcome" is written in a very pink, girly font and the pink colour is continued down the rest of the contents page, combined with very subtle pastel colours to compliment and comply with the 'girly' theme.
There is some information about the magazine producers, down the side of the magazine and this has their typical font/ logo at the top enabling the reader to keep recognising the magazine.
The pictures would appeal to girls more so than boys as they are representing articles about clothes/ fashion, celebritiy interviews, competitions and stereotypically a girls favourite thing, a good looking celebrity interview, probably about what his dream girl is etc. All of the photo's used in this contents page use a close up shot where the subject is looking directly into the eyes of the reader, and all of the numbers in the corner correspond to the colour scheme which is evident on the whole page.
This magazine's contents page would be very good research to use and i plan on referring to it for ideas when i create my contents page in my project.

Double Page Spread
This double page spread has all of the things that make a good pop magazine. Firstly, it has a girly colour scheme which would appeal to a female target audience and would also appeal to a wider age range (11-15 years) as it has a combination of both a girly colour scheme as well as an article about many celebrities. The main image links to the title in the way that the girl is gasping and the mast head reads "DOLLS DRAMA!" linking the two together with the clever use of the facial expression. Again as I saw on a previous cover of 'top of the pops' there is a bright yellow colour used to divert the readers eyes to all over the page, and this extreme contrast of colours gives the page an energetic feel.
This is a very useful double page spread, and when it comes to making mine I will most probably use this one and a few others to research what I would like to do with my double page spread article.