Main Coursework - Analysis of existing magazines

The two magazines I am analysing are Smash Hits and Top of the Pops. The layout and design of these magazines are both very similar and they are both targeting at the same audience. The use of colour on both covers of the magazines are within a range of many bright bold colours, both of them have a bold colour and repeat it , this is because readers like the repetition and things to be kept the same. There are things that differ between the two covers though, for example Top of the pops magazine has a more girly appeal using pink and purple and a glittery font , from this and the target audience research I did you can tell Top of the pops is aimed more at girls. From the research you can also see more girls read Smash hits magazine but could possibly be aimed more at boys than Top of the Pops and it uses colours like yellow, black, blue and pink.
On the two magazine covers there is many different font styles instead of just one or two, this makes the magazine appear full of stories and makes you look and focus on all the different ad’s and stories instead of just the one.
The use of language in both magazines is quite simple with just short sentences and words to tell you about things, this is because it is aimed at a slightly younger audience, who would be interested more in images and short texts.
Both the magazine covers have a large use of images they both have a main image usually taking up the whole page, which will be of a pop star or celebrity that the target audience would look up to. They both also use smaller images normally one with every other story they include on the cover this it to attract the audience to look at the text and read more inside.
The contents page’s of both magazine are also quite similar using bold texts, bright colours and a large use of images, these all appeal to the reader as it is more about the images and colour than the actual text they want to read.

At the top of the contents page t says, ‘Check all this out!’ It is in a bold, noticeable font and because it is in informal language it appeal to a younger audience. The Editors letter is in the top left hand corner of the page and it consists of what is going on in the issue and artists that feature in the magazine.
There are three images of celebrities surrounding the Editor’s letter and the celebrities pictured are involved in the issue. The page number they are on is shown beside the image to advertise the story. The other stories and features are listed in a smaller font at the bottom in another section. The main colours used in the contents page are pink and orange. These are used because they are popular colours with Smash Hits target market.

The first thing the reader notices when reading the double page spread interview is the bright coloured background. The majority of the first page is covered by a photo of the featured celebrity. There are three other images of the celebrity splashed across the pages. The main title is spread along the centre. It is big and in a bold, clear font. The text is a certain so it matches the background but it is on a bright coloured banner so that it stands out.
Like the two other double page spreads I have analysed, there is smaller text that accompanies the title, that gives a brief introduction and explanation of what is going on in the text. The main text is split into different sections to make it easier to understand. The language used throughout the interview is simple and informal, so that it is easily understood and slang words and phrases are used to appeal to the target market.

Finally by analysing the features of Smash Hits and top of the pops magazine I can see how its denotations, connotations, ideologies, codes and conventions are kept constant throughout the issue because they represent the same image of a music magazine aimed at young teenage females.

Overall the design it tailored to meet the needs of the target audience in many ways. The use of colour, text and images attracts the audience to look at the magazine in the first place, then the use of celebrity images attracts the readers to actually read the magazine as they want to read about the people they look up to.

Main Coursework- Target audience

I researched the target audience for Top of The Pops magazine. The results show:

62 000 people in ABC 1 class read the magazine, 107 000 people in C2DE class read it, 139 000 people aged 15 -44 read it, 30 0o0 of over 45 year olds read the magazine. The total amount of men that read the magazie is 47 000 and the total amount of women that read it is 122 000. The overall total amount of people reading the magazine is 169 000. I found this information from the website www.nrs.co.uk

These results show us a wide range of different people are intrested in Pop music which tells us it has a large target audience.

Smash Hits magazine was published fortnightly by EMAP. When you look at the front cover of the magazine, the viewer can immediately recognise that the magazine is aimed mainly at females. This is due to its denotations and connotations.

The representation of the magazine is that it is made to look fun and interesting by its bright, bold colours, fonts and images. The audience for Smash Hits is quite mainstream because it appeals to most young teenage females. The specific targeting could be identified by the masthead of Smash Hits because it is bright pink which symbolises that is made for females.

These results show us a wide range of different people are intrested in Pop music which tells us it has a large target audience. This information tells us the magazine is predomently a downgraded publication , read by a younger audience who are mostly females.

Main coursework introduction

My task is create a music magazine. The genre o9f magazine i have decided to focus on is pop. In this task i will be able to show a development of skills form the preliminary task.

Evaluation

I think my finished magazine cover has been quite successful, i think i reached the aim i was looking for. I am please with the use of colour and images. However when it completed it, coloured lines appeared over the image, i don't know where they came from but i will make sure this does not happen when completing my music magazine.












I am pleased with the layout of my contents page but i feel i should have used a wider range of colours.

Over all i think it does appeal to my target audience. I asked a few people within the target audience and they said they would pick the magazine , however with maybe more images and colour to attract them to pick it in the first place.

Flat plans

For my magazine i have chosen a large bold font this is so that it stands out in front of the main image. On the front cover i have included a main bold masthead, i have three main sells including things going on at the college, and then other important information like the date, issue number, tag line, price and bar code. I think the design layout will appeal to my target audience because it is aimed at students and i have used bright colors and a big image.














In the contents page i have included images and links to things on the cover of the magazine. I included a main title pointing out that it is the contents and the month of the issue. Also there was a use of bright colors and images to again attract to my target audience.

Photographs

I have chosen this picture for the front cover of my magazine, as it shows the look of a typical student at the college. The colours are not to dull but do not take away the attention of the writing on the page so i feel it works well as a front cover image. Also it a mid close up shot which is what i was aiming to have as my main image.

This picture could have worked fro the same reasons as above, because of the colours. However it was not chosen for the cover of my magazine as it was not a medium close up.

Introduction

I am creating a college magazine targeted at students. The magazine will be about things like freshers party, college trips and sporting events. The target audience will be to all students.