Analysis Of Magazine Front CoversCover 3. Top of the Pops 2010

The Wanted Edition

FRONT COVER ANALYSIS

THE HEADER

The header informs the buyer of the company that produce the magazine, and how it directed from BBC. It passes exclusives on about ‘winning’ a meeting with Zac, and the swirl towards to right side enforces the female target audience. All this included in the header tells us that it is a busy front cover full of information.

THE MAIN IMAGEHaving five males as the main image shows complete domination. Their poses are casual and friendly, suitable for the young readers. This particular cover has plenty of pictures of males that are seen as sex symbols to teenage girls, also the producers have thought carefully about techniques because they know teenagers prefer images to tonnes of writing on the front cover.

THE MASTHEAD The masthead on this issue is overtook by the large and powerful main image, there is still a sneak peak and regular buyers would still recognise this, it has to be there as it is an important selling must-have. It enforces the girly pink colour with the contrasting white; adding extra feminine details.

USE OF FLASHER The tiny flasher suggests there is extra in this magazine, the purple circle creates a attention seeking layer on top of the picture, emphasising there is more! Using language like ‘Win!’ and an exclamation mark adds importance and interests buyers.

THE MAIN COVER LINEInfluences the young girl target audience with the bright yellow and pink fonts, states in huge capitals the band’s name, and ‘OMG’ is very typical teenage, informal language. Placing it over the top of the image shows the buyer the link between the cover line and image.

THE SELL LINES/COVER LINES On this teenage magazine cover are lots of different sell lines, in different fonts, sizes and colours. To give extra impact on how busy a youngster's life is, and to inform and notify the buyer of what is going to be inside. The cover is packed full of quotes, style tips, and quizzes about grabbing a hot boyfriend, stereotyped gossip that interests the buyer.

BARCODE ISSUE/PRICE

The smallest part of the magazine, yet probably one of the most important. The barcode, issue number and price are essential, for selling copies. The date is an added bonus so regular buyers can keep up with when the magazine is from.

THE FOOTERThe footer tells you publishing and advertising companies that help produce the magazine, issues that apply, terms and conditions and executive information. This is still within the colour theme.

RULE OF THIRDS This front cover does abide to the rule of thirds, information wise the left side is very dominant and important. The lower half of the magazine gives extra details about the exclusives inside. And the middle and right hand side is very much took over by the well-known boy band.

BACKGROUND The white background used helps to let the information and cluttered layout have the focus. With all this information, it ensures that the magazine doesn’t look cheap or too much. It makes what’s important stand out clearly.

TARGET AUDIENCE OF THIS MAGAZINE

The target audience for Top of the Pops magazine is young teens aging from 11 to 15. Most of these readers being female, because they are interested by the male bands and photographs, which are a huge selling point for Top of the Pops magazine. This magazine connotes the pop music genre through imagery and colours, which all appeal to the teenage girl. It is a very youth orientated magazine cover, with use of catchy sell line s and girly colours, jam packed of gossip! Usually the images are huge icons or role models for the readers. Colour is the primary key for setting the theme for the magazine as its consistency is what we first notice and familiarise to. It is £2 weekly, which seems a lot for a teenage buyer!

METHODS USED TO ATTRACT THE TARGET AUDIENCE:

The colour scheme definitely completes the attraction of the target audience, Top of the Pops considers age groups and uses colours like yellow, pink, white and purple to imply teens are pure, full of happiness and connote childishness. All these slight details attract the younger girl target audience. The slang language is simple and formal and exaggerates the younger readers, easy to understand and adds dramatic tones. They can relate to the cool language. This front cover is splattered in photographs of good looking males, JLS, The Wanted, Justin Bieber, and Zac Efron, all males that girls of this age group would see as sex symbols, creating a page full of images will automatically appeal to teenage buyers. The way that the people are represented in the photos are happy, clean, innocent and don't challenge dominant ideology in any way. This cover portrays splashes and circles within the selected colours which make the front cover easy on the eye.

STRETCH AND CHALLENGE ACTIVITY

GENERAL BACKGROUND HOW, WHEN IT STARTED, HOW IT HAS CHANGED AND WHY?

Top of the pops magazine is a glossy teen monthly magazine, published by BBC magazines. It was launched in February 1995 and is still in publication despite the cancellation of the TV show.

The top of the pops magazine was published after the TV programme began. The name Top of the Pops puts across the idea that this is a music magazine, featuring articles mainly on pop music and music that is in the charts or upcoming. The TV show Top of the Pops featured all sorts of artists that were featured in the chart during that period as long as it follows the similar genre and creates imagery of teen spirit.

WHAT GENRE/TYPE OF MAGAZINE IS IT? DETAILS OF ITS TYPICAL CONTENT AND THE ARTISTS/BANDS IT CURRENTLY FEATURES.The main content of this magazine includes "celebrity" gossip, cringes, fashion and beauty advice, articles on pop and movie stars, quizzes, horoscopes, posters and song lyrics. The brand identity of this magazine is a happy, cheery, pop music, commercialised, innocent pre teen magazine. It conforms to dominant ideology and is aimed at a younger market interested in celebrities and "teen stars".

WHO PUBLISHES THE MAGAZINE-HOW MANY SALES DOES IT MAKE? The readership is 98, 030 and the publisher are producers from the BBC.

MORE DETAILED RESEARCH INTO TOP OF THE POPS MAGAZINE