Analysis of exisiting magazines

The Title is called "Smash Hits". I think this was chosen as the title because it's based on popular music that are in the charts today, which is also good for the appeal as people could think that it's about popular music of today.
The uses of font and styles are very different within every title or subtitle. Smash hits is written in sans-serif with which looks like italic and bold which makes the title stand out. All the other sub-headings/titles are also in bold which makes you want to read what they are about. The fonts each have there own different design to it for example on the right hand side it says "10 CELEB MAKEOVERS" which is bold but in a different shade to any other which is Pink, which shows femininity compared to any other fonts.


Other colours are yellow, white and blue. Which stand out to the readers eyes as they are bright colours and look exciting and easy on the eyes, opposed to them been dark/dull colours.



The size of the magazines is very interesting, the main image is of he pop rock group 'The Son of Dork'. The image of this group is from the top to bottom of the page which makes the group stand out. On the right hand side there are two smaller images of Gwen stefani before and after to show how much she has changed she has become famous which will give the reader something to aspire to because then if people feel unattractive you aren't alone, so it gives a sense of what you could be like if you want to be. On the bottom left hand side there is a smaller image of four girls with a caption of "GET GIRL BAND GLAM", this is definitely aimed towards the female readers as it's about being like your favourite girl group e.g Girls Aloud. It doesn't stand out like 'The son of dork' or the 10 celeb makeovers, which kind of shows that it isn't the main selling point to this magazine. The captions very in different sizes depending on the article and size of the images, obviously the main selling point is "The son of dork" so there caption is the biggest as well as the preview of the interview "Why Mcfly should be afraid...very afraid...!" This is because this is the part of the magazine that the company most want readers to read. On the top left there is also a caption about "The son of dorks" rival McFly which has the second biggest caption, this shows that this is the second biggest selling point especially for fans of both groups as they will want to see what each group is saying about each other etc.



The language in this front cover is informal, this is because most readers are young so they wouldn't understand words that the older generation would know, due to the society of today. Informal language also makes the magazine seem fun and a comfortable magazine to read as it looks easy on the eyes and also the main image is of "Son of Dork" smiling, so that gives off a friendly feel to the magazine.



The main target audience is for young girls, this is because it has feminine writing, colours and fonts as you can see it is easy on the eyes and isn't masculine like really large bold fonts or colours. This is can also be seen as been for the females as young girls could find the "Son of Dork" members quite attractive. Also the sub-images and captions are mainly about how to look as glamorous as Gwen Stefani or as glamarous as being in a girl group. However this could also be seen as masculine because young boys might like the quirky pop rock genre and as it's the main article, this could appeal to younger boys I would say from ages 10-13 because that's the "Son of Dork" main target audience as well as they are fun, not trying to take them selves seriously. so it gives off a very good feel to it, for the younger audience.



This genre of magazine is pop, as you can see the son of dork are a sub-genre of pop and so are McFly and Gwen stefani. Also girl bands are usually revolved around pop (e.g Girls aloud are a powerpop girl group, where Sugababes are RNB Pop) so this is definitely a pop magazine.













The title to this magazine is "Top of the pops", this is probably 'Smash Hits' biggest rival in selling as they have the same features. "Top of the pops" is much more feminine, especially in this magazine. The font in the title is Sans-Serif it is in bold writing but in no capitals which definitely looses it's masculinity and thrives in femininity because it's very easy on the eyes and young girls will find it pretty because of the colour schemes. The other captions are very similar especially the main caption through the middle of the front cover. as it says "you're a STAR" they purposely stood out the word "Star" because they want the reader to read it and they want you to feel like a star. The other fonts are varied as there are some with different types of sans-serif and you can tell this as san-serif has curves at the end, which also shows during mini captions that this is still a feminine magazine.

The use of colours for this front cover are very feminine. The uses of colours are purple, pink, yellow and white. These colours can be seen as similar to "Smash Hits" because these colours are nice and easy to look at rather then been dull and boring and it makes the younger generation want to read it more.

The images are varied, the main picture is of the four main characters from the hit Disney film "High school musical", this is the main selling point as this has become one of the major disney films. To the top left there is a little image of pop rock singer Avril Lavigne and this is also good as a selling point as she is popular with the younger generation, as she has quirky and fresh music. There are a couple of small images on the bottom right about celebrity love secrets, and there are paparazzi images taken of these celebrities. This can also hit the target audience because they will want to know what their favourite celebrities are up to. There are also images about bodies underneath the caption "Body Shocks" it's basically showing what can happen to your body if you don't take care of this properly. This is also aimed at young girls because these days it's all about looks so this can hit them and make them want to take care of themselves properly. Underneath the Avril Lavigne caption on the top left there is a caption and image based on 'The 50 top buys' this is also aimed at girls because they like to keep up to date with the fashion and accessories.

This magazine is informal, similar to "Smash hits" this is because this magazine is targeted at the younger audience who wouldn't understand techincal terms for things and it just makes it easier on the eye and easier to read, if it's informal.

The genre of the magazine is definitely pop as the genre is featured in the title "Top of the pops". This is also shown as pop because the film "High School Musical" is based around cheesy pop songs, also Avril Lavigne is a pop rock singer, so this a full on pop magazine.

The main target audience for this magazine is definitely younger girls, this is because the magazine is layed out very feminine as it's covered in fashion, celebrities that are in "love", which really wouldn't interest boys. Also the fact that "High School Musical" is mainly watched by young girls so this is a good way to get young girls to read this magazine.








































This is a contents page to a music magazine. The font is quite different ot the front cover as well as the layout. The font is a different serif but it's still bold and stands out. The colour font is black and white, it's black for when it tells you what pages to go to. But it's white in the different sections. This could possibly mean less confusion for the reader as they know where everything is going. the font is in Caps locks through the contents page, this could also be for less confusion so you know where to go, if you want to read a certain article.

There are a few images in this contents page, the biggest image is of a model in a pose of what you'd see a soldier doing in the army, this comes across as quite powerful and sexy and if this was towards at women, it would give a sense of female empowerment. There are also a few other images placed above this, which are smaller then the picture of the model. Above this picture of the model is a small image of what looks like a model, this shows that the magazine could be more about modelling/fashion as well as music, which appeals to younger females because they now aspire to be beautiful and model like. Above this image is another image of Zac Efron, this could be seen as the main selling point as he is well known and as this magazine appaers to be for the younger female audience, this will appear to them the most.

The layout is laid out into different sections, the layout are the images on the left hand and the page numbers and what you can find on the right hand side. This is good because you can see what to expect from each section that is laid out and see the pictures on the left hand side. For Example next to the image of Zac Efron is the number 12, which hints that an aritcle about him will be on page 12.

The language is informal this is because it's easier to read for the contents page, and as you don't need to read a lot for the contents page, it is informal as it's a short sentence and not full of long complicated words. It just gets straight to the point.






This is a double page spread to a pop music magazine. This double page spread is based around the pop rock group "The Jonas Brothers".
The use of font is more mascuiline then feminine in this page. As you can see on the left hand side as there is kind of graffiti font where it says "Report!" and "The Plot". The rest of font is also more masculine this time around, this is because "The Jonas Brothers" are all obviouly men so it wouldn't look right having girly language. This also could appeal to younger boys aswell if their into "The Jonas Brothers".

The main image is of "The Jonas Brthers" and it takes up 1/2 of the double page spread, this is because they are the main selling point to this double page spread and it's kind of like a poster as it is such a big image. Underneath the big image of "The Jonas Brothers" is little images of the characters from "Camp Rock" As "The Jonas Brothers" are the main selling point, they can also sell "Camp Rock" as they were featured in the movie and becamse three of the main characters. On the top left of the double page spread is a little image of the main image/poster for the movie "Camp Rock" this could get people interested in the movie and could make the reader want to watch the film.

The colours are very varied from blue -> Pink -> Yellow -> White, this is very much like the front covers and contents page this is very easy on the eye and isn't to in your face. The shades aren't to bright either they are very neutral colours which is also good as again they don't interfere with the main selling point "The Jonas Brothers".

The text is very different to the front covers, on the left hand side is a big section for an interview that involved "The Jonas Brothers". There are eight questions and answers about what they are doing, this is good for female/male fans who want to know what they are doing. This is also a good selling point not just for the magazine but for the group as it will achieve them more publicity.

The genre to this double page is pop as "The jonas brothers" are pop rock and "camp rock" is similar to films like "High School Musical". This is good because younger people prefer pop to anything else as it's the most easy listening and the most entertaining at that age. This magazine also looks quite young, fun, fres unlike genres like Hip Hop, Rap which are more darker, less bright. So this double page is definitely pop.

Target Audience

This is a chart on how well magazines are selling at the moment.

The music magazine I am looking at are Pop magazines, Pop magazines are the most popular which means that the majority of the public buy pop magazines.

"Top of the pops" magazines are roughly selling around 169 000 a month . Seeing as there are millions of magazines around the world, this is a stable amount of sales for "Top of the pops". Looking at the results on who buys these magazines, it shows that ages 15-44 buy this magazine more then any other. This shows that my target audience should be for people from the ages of 15-44, because they are the ones that are buying them.

This is also showing the popularity of pop from a wide range of ages, which goes to show that it doesn't matter what age you are. This is a good result for 'Top of the pops' as music magazines are slowly becoming unpopular, so these good sales shows the appeal that "Top of the pops" have on the planet. This also is a good clear summary on who's buying it, the main reason Pop magazines are popular is because they aren't expensive which means that people in the lower classed brackets can buy this magazine to. 62 000 copies of 'Top of the pops' are being brought by the upper class brackets and 139 000 copies are being brought by the lower class brackets. Which shows that my main target audience will be 15+ in the lower class brackets. The upper brackets are professionals e.g. Lawyers and doctors who make a lot of money, which could be better for "Top of the pops" if they buy the magazine because these people would be able to buy the magazine more often then lower class brackets, however the reulsts show that disappointedly people from upper class do not buy this magazine as often as lower class brackets, which are junior managers, electricians etc.

As my magazine will be similar to "Top of the pops" I have now seen what target audience i need to target. My main target age will be 15-44, this is the age range that the "Top of the pops" magazine sold at it's best. 47 000 (0.2%) of men buy "Top of the pops" magazines where apporixmately 122 ooo (0.5%). This shows that my main target gender will be women, as quite a lot of men are buying "Top of the pops" there are obviously articles in this magazine that appeal to them. For my magazine I will need to make it appeal to the ages that "Top of the pops" appeals to (15-44) and also the gender (Women 0.5%/men 0.2%).

Introduction

I am going to make a music magazine for my main task. this will carry on from my preliminary task we done earlier this year. I have been asked to create a front cover, contents page and a two page spread out. The magazine genre I have chosen is pop.

Contents Page final

My contents page is very simple it has a blue background colour like the front cover and it has bold writing for the main title, in a blue shaded colour. The main points to the magazine are similar to the title, they go from left to right which is quite effective as it's not going down one straight line. A picture has been added on the left hand sidee just under the first part of the contents, so the contents page isn't just plain. Each point of my contents page has a different colour font to make it more interesting which I think works because they are very nice shades of colours, majority of them are shades of blue which keeps with the theme of the magazine. I put most of the font in captial letters because it stands out more and it makes it a bit more interesting. My contents page is really spread out which is good as it's not cramped together so you can see what's what basically.

I like my contents page because it's simple but effective which means people will look at it because it's not right in your face. I think a lot of my stories are realistic aswell for the contents page (e.g. College girl makes it into girl group) that is a good story to have because how often do college people make it big that comes here!

I chose the background colour blue, one because it's my favourite colour and two because it's not in your face and it's a well-rounded colour because nobody hates it unlike other colours.

The picture goes well with it as it's like the front cover picture, it's very simple but it's of the college girl so it makes you want to read it if you're younger, because you're going through the same stuff she is.

Design evaluation

The first design I am going to look at is the image on the left. My deisgn is pretty simple the main picture is in the middle of a girl looking straight into the camera. The title is called "1 2 3... SDC" I chose that name because it's unique. Over the picture are sub-titles telling you what the stories are there are three stories below and three stories above so it's equal between the picture. My sub-heading is "The things you need to know abo college..." this is place under the title in a smaller font so the "123...SDC" stands out more. I think this is a good cover, even though it's simple the sub-headings are interesting to catch the readers eye. E.G "The smoking ban that split the college." This is interesting because estimately the majority of students that come to the college smoke, so if there's a sub-title like this then they would want to read more, especially if they are a smoker. I think it's a good design for a magazine.

The second design on the right is the contents page. It basically has the title "contents page" at the top in capital letters. The rest is very simple but quite effective, basically the I wrote down the page number and what it's about again and it goes from side to side, as you can see. I decided to do that because it's quite effective and it's not boring like how other magainze just have it just one sided. I think it's a good contents page because it's not like a typical contents page.

SDC Media AS

I have been asked to create a magazine for Sussex Downs college, it must include a front cover and a contents page. Creating this magazine will include taking photographs, creating a new magazine title, creating new stories for the magazine cover. The contents page will include the page numbers and what the stories are about.

The two pictures above i have taken for my magazine. One of the pictures I took was when her eyes closed so Obviously I could not use this picture, the other picture had her eyes open and her looking straight at the camera so it looks like she's looking straight at you that's why I picked it.































For my front cover I wanted the main colour to be blue so I put the background colour light blue. I named the title '1 2 3... SDC' because it's got a unique title, nobody has ever used a title quite like it. I put the picture in the middle of the front cover because then I had space to write the stories above and below like I did in the design. I used three sub-titles above and three below to make it equal, all had there own unique style to them. I also put in small font for the issue number, date etc as normal magazines. I put the barcode down the bottom right so it's out of the way, which is good because then I have enough space for my sub titles. I used a mixture of caps lock for each sub-title to make them stand out and show what there about. I like this front cover beause it's different, it's not to in your face but you will still notice it.