Analysis of existing magazines

A front cover analysis of Smash Hits magazine August 2004 and Top of the Pops magazine October 2007.

Use of colour - There are many colours used in both magazines, the colours are quite vibrant and eye catching. In both magazine the colours used in the masthead is followed through and used in the rest of the front cover in the main sells and to make parts of it stand out more than others.

Font styles - The fonts used in both magazines are sans serif which means that they are aiming to be more contemporary and appeal to their target audience. Smash Hits font styles are more unisex, the only thing that makes it seem more feminine is the 'Steal Jennifer Ellison's style' this is probably because this is wanting to appeal to the female audience more than anything else in the magazine. In Top of the Pops the font used is very curvy which is commonly known to be more feminine.

Language use - In Smash Hits there are many buzz words used, they use slang that their audience can understand which also makes them seem more contemporary and 'cool'.

• 'Juicy secrets'


• 'All new'
  
• 'World exclusive'


• 'Shocker'


• 'Madness'
  

These all make the reader feel that this magazine is better than other pop magazines as they are being told about the latest gossip, the newest stories and all about the newest shows on TV. Words and phrases like these engage the audience to read this magazine. Other techniques used to make the audience interested in this magazine are things such as the rule of 3, on this front cover the 'mad, bad and dangerous' will attract the reader's eye as the rule of 3 is effective and powerful.

In Top of the Pops there are also buzz words used -

• 'Special'


• 'Plus!'


• 'Truth'


• 'Freaky'


• 'Amazing'
  
• 'OMG!'
  
• 'Exclusive'

All of these will catch the audience's eye when looking for a pop magazine. Abbreviated words are used such as 'OMG' so the reader feels like the magazine can relate to them, the magazine seems 'in the know' and makes it seem 'cool' and this also gives the idea that they are 'friends' with the readers. The other techniques used in this magazine are things such as alliteration are used 'star styles' and 'Hollyoaks hunks' the effect of alliteration is slightly poetic and so it makes it comfortable on the ears when it is read aloud. On this magazine cover there are also numbers to suggest a packed issue, '54 star style essentials' and '5 sexy Hollyoaks hunks' these numbers usually stand out well on the front cover to attract the readers eye, this is used as it is a simple yet effective way for people to want to know what it is about.

Images - The main image in both magazines takes up about 2/3's of the page, they both slightly cover the masthead and are famous people at the time who have got a main sell to show that there is something about them in the magazine. Generally the main story in that issue. In Smash Hits there are two other images on the front cover relating to stories inside the magazine. This, compared to Top of the Pops isn't that many, they have 13. For this type of magazine I think it is good to have lots of pictures as it is for a younger audience, they usually prefer to look at pictures then read because the name of the celebrity may not be clear to them at that age.

Layout - The main image in Smash Hits is placed in the top section of the page, this then gives the bottom half of the page to the main sells and other images. There is a tag line which is 'Squeezing stars juicy bits' which is a pun and also has alliteration which makes it flow more. There is a strap line at the bottom of the page to explain about all the artists that will be in the magazine.

A Contents page analysis of Mizz magazine

(Due to Top of the Pops does not have a contents page)

Use of colour - There is again lots of colour being used in the contents page to draw the reader in, the pages are categorized and this is done by headings used with different colours. This will make it a lot clearer for the reader if they want to look at a particular thing in the magazine first and if they are deciding whether to buy it this make it clearer to show what is in the rest of the magazine.

Font styles - There are only two or three fonts used on the page, this is generally a font for all headings and a font for the rest of the text on the page. This makes the page flow better and makes it easier on the reader's eye.

Language use - There are buzz words on the page are words such as the following -

• 'Caught out'


• 'Cringe'


• 'Divas'

This is still following the idea that the magazine is trying to be in touch with the readers. Other things such as 'Star Style', 'Bag a bargain', 'Wise up for winter' and 'Banish those blues'. These all appeal to the reader as they are also easy on the eye but are slightly poetic and make it flow easily.

Images - There are quite a few images which take up over 1/4 of the page this is used not just to reveal what is in the magazine but also breaks up the page so it doesn't look like too much writing.

Layout - There is only a column for the actually contents part on the page. The rest is a paragraph from the magazine, adverts, contact details and images. The paragraph written by the magazine is in the top left hand corner, the pictures below this, the contents in the middle of the page with contact details down the right hand side. There is also an advert at the bottom of the page which is relevant to people reading this magazine. This is a good way of advertising products as they need to get it across to a certain audience and this then means that they can find the right magazine for this.

A double page spread analysis of Top of the Pops magazine

Use of colour - Again the uses of colour on these pages are still vibrant, eye catching and bold. There are still around five colours being used and this probably means that they are following this theme throughout the magazine.

Font styles - Quite a few fonts are being used on this page, especially for the headings. This is probably because they are using different fonts for different topics on this page as they having something about Pussycat Dolls, EastEnders and Zac Efron and David Beckham. This means that the font styles are a way of separating the page in to categories.

Language use - The language used here still follows through from the Top of the Pops front cover that I have already analysed, even if this is not the same issue, the magazine has the same idea throughout all their magazines. They are Using words such as 'Drama', they are using speech boxes from the members of the pussycat dolls to make us feel that we are getting closer to them then we actually are. The language used in these are quite comical.

Images - There are a significant amount of images on this double page spread. This is quite common for Pop magazines as they are aimed at a fairly young audience who would prefer to see more pictures and less writing. Unlike more sophisticated magazines such as Cosmopolitan.

Layout - The main story for this double page spread is Pussycat Dolls taking up 2/3 of the page. There are two other stories on this page which are the far right of this spread. This makes the reader see the main story first then follow through to the less 'important' stories. There are many photograpghs with caption underneath. There is hardly any writing.