The magazine I am going to analyse is Top of the Pops. Top of the pops uses very particular characteristics, conventions, colours and also uses of language to create their house style. The house style of this magazine is cute, young, fun, modern and exciting. It creates this house style by using bright, light and feminine colours such as whites yellows pinks and blues, using many young slang words for example “PHOWAR” which the target audience will use and also be able to relate to, this is also humorous because it is reference to sexual behaviour It also attracts the target audience by packing the magazine with famous faces every young girl loves and having the main image as the biggest current celebrities at that time. The magazine also uses many different celebrities, such as movie stars, soap stars, singers and also many different bands so it can cater for every person personalities within its target audience.
Just by looking at the name Top of the Pops, shows that it is a magazine about popular music and popular culture and by using the word “Top” indicates that it is the best of that type of magazine. Also by just looking at the cover of the magazine you can clearly tell what type of audience Top of the Pops is aimed at. This magazine is targeted at young and teen girls aged from 9 – 14 years old that listen to popular music and are interested in the latest bands, singers, young celebrities’ fashions, gossip and also real life stories. Also you can tell this magazine is targeted at young girls because more images, colours and short phrase used the better, it will attract young readers unlike a lot of plain text and only one or two images. But Top of the Pops magazine cover it is jam-packed with photos of celebrities, colours and also many eye catching phrases and words such as “exclusive” and theses things will draw the readers in, if they walked past it in a corner shop, this is because these are buzz words.
On the front cover the masthead and typeface used, is targeted at a younger audience. Because it is a very bold, sans serif, colourful and fun, it also looks like it is bubble writing, which most young girls use themselves when doodling so this will appeal to them. Cover lines and content are also written in a bold and chunky typeface to carry on the house style. Also the cover lines used are not lengthy they are only four to five words long, this is so that it doesn’t over load the reader with information, because it is for young audiences, also it is only a incite of the articles in the magazine therefore it would make the reader want to find out more, such as “54 style essentials” and also “McFly exclusive” these will make the reader want to know what style essentials and also what the exclusive is.
The cover also uses the common rule when making magazine covers, in that it only uses 3 colours including black and white, and these colours are very unsubtle and bright blues yellows and pinks which are all feminine colours to attract a young girly audience.
The language used on the cover of the magazine sets theme for the house style and also appeals to the target audience. Short snappy phrase are used, using the power of three such as “starts styles essentials”. Also alliteration is used for example “Hollyoaks hunks!” this also is catchy to the reader. Also some of the main cover lines are on canted angles; this is show that the magazine is young and fun and also makes that certain cover line stand out because it is often the pain article within the magazine and so it also to appeals to younger audiences and to carry on home style of the magazine. Slang words are used on the cover and also through out the magazine because these are words that are used often by youngster to day, an example of slang used is “OMG!” which young and teen girls will relate to and use, because It is a common saying.
The main image used on the cover of the magazine is of two teen celebrities very popular at the time the magazine was on sale, this would encourage young people interested in the stars to purchase the magazine also, the stars are both making eye contact and using direct mode of address, this makes the magazine seem personal to the customer which will encourage sales.
The layout follows some general rules when making a magazine cover. Firstly along the left hand side it has a lot of text and images of the features in the magazine, this is done because of the way magazines are advertised on shelves in stores, generally only the left third of the magazine will be used so, because Top of the Pops have put striking information, such as “McFly EXLUSIVE” in the left third this probably is what the customer is going to notice first so could make them want to buy it. Also with the layout the Guttenberg diagram is used because in the primary visual field there is a BBC logo, to let the reader know straight away that this magazine is owned by the BBC and in the bottom left there is a story, so this could make the reader want to read that article first and also there is the bar code, date line and price.
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