Analysis of existing magazines

First magazine cover

The first magazine cover I am going to analyse is a 'Top of the pops' magazine September 07.

The main picture on the cover is of the two famous actors from ' High School Musical ' which followers are aged 10-15.

The authors have given the magazine this title to show who is on the top of the pop music. They have used modern , mostly sans serif font. This makes the cover more attractive to the targeted audience.

The main sells are all about gossip, make-up and fame, which my audience tends to like. They have chosen mostly bright colours like pink and yellow which will attract younger females aged 14-15 or even younger. The use of pink matches with the colour of the artist's T-shirt.They have used pink for the title and some of the main sells.Those colours also suggest that this is a teenage magazine and most stories will be based on music,fashion,gossip,etc. The text colour matches with the with the colours in the main image by making it eye-catching,but not too tufty.

The language used is informal, which again suggest it is a teenage magazine and it appeals to a teenage audience. There is also alliteration in some of the main sells , e.g. ZAC'S 'LOVE LIFE' and 'Hollyoaks hunks' , 'star style' which makes it more effective. I didn't spot any rhymes in the main sells.

The demographics on this cover are mostly for females.You can tell this by the colours used which are mostly girl colours. Also the main sells shows what usually girls this age are interested in. In fact, I think that there aren't any boys who read this magazine. Or even if there are they are mostly gays. The audience is mostly ABC1 class because they are more desirable about gossip and spending money on magazines like this one.

The main picture shows what is on the top this season. In September 2007 the most famous couple and the most famous movie teenagers were talking about were Zac Effron and Vanessa and the movie they play in called ' High School Musical'. It is a posed shot which suggest that the magazine story will be about their life together. If it was a live shot then the story about them would have been about an event they attended or something similar.Live shots are usually taken by paparazzi. The facial expression of the two characters shows their happiness together as a couple. In this kind of magazine it is usually a female star in the picture. But couples are often seen on front covers. ' High School Musical' and Vanessa and Zac were famous all over the world, but mostly in Britain.

There is some other information presented such as bar code which is at the bottom right hand corner. The date and the price of 2.20 is also shown next to the bar code.