Codes and conventions of pop magazines.

Masthead

The masthead will always stand out, and the consumers eye will be drawn straight to it. The masthead will relate to the music, for example, ‘Top of the Pops’; this involves the word pop which immediately tells us what genre of music the magazine will be focusing on.

Cover lines The cover line should have some link to the featured

artists in the magazine; the band or artist must attract the target audience, for example a pop magazine would feature One Direction or Justin Bieber.

For example, the cover line below is from the top of the pops magazine and is referring to Jessie J who is also the main image on the front cover of this magazine. This attracts the audience, and tells us a bit about what the article features.

Main image

o The main/background image usually shows a band or artist within the pop genre.

o The artist on the front cover usually looks directly at the camera, making direct address to the audience. Words like ‘you’ are also used on front covers a lot so it again directs the audience and persuades them to buy it.

o The artist on the front cover fills most of the frame, and is placed in the centre.

Colour

Pop magazines usually feature more female colours; yellow and pink are used a lot on the front of pop magazines. This is because they’re bright colours and will attract the attention of the audience young girls.

Puff content The content of the puff in pop magazines is anything that’s

featured in the magazine, from something that will help the reader like ‘make boys fancy you’ to information about the cover mount for example, ‘free lip set just for you!’. A magazine puff could also contain information about the prizes you can win in the magazine, or simply just a list of artists that will be featured in the magazine. A magazine puff could also contain a quote from one of the articles in the magazine.

Main sell lines

The main sell line usually talks about the artist who is featured on the front image, and what they’re talking about in the magazine.

Style The style of pop magazines are informal and very casual;

this is because the audience are young girls, and so formal long words may confuse them, and would not be understood completely.

Abbreviations like ‘OMG’ are used frequently. Words like ‘Hot’ and ‘Fun’ are used to attract people to buy

the magazine alliteration is also frequently used.

Content

Pop magazines contain a variety of different things ranging from interviews and facts about celebrities within the genre, games, freebies and tips on fashion and boys.