Magazine Analysis

There are two main examples of pop magazines. Top of the Pops and We love Pop. The front covers of these magazines are always very busy and friendly. The pictures are engaging with the audience and there are always lots of different stories and colours.

Top of the Pops We love Pop

Masthead:The masthead fits the codes and

conventions of the top of the pops masthead. It always has the same font

and the ‘of the’ is always in the middle of the circle. Generally the masthead fits

across the whole of the top of the page but sometimes it will be slightly angular reaching 2/3 across with stars lined on

top and on the bottom.

Cover Image/mode of address:The picture on the front is of a Taylor

Swift who is a very popular singer. The picture is medium shot and central. Its of direct address as she is looking straight

forward, so formal. The cover is also child like as it is aimed for younger years and

teens, with the bright colours and gossip.

Barcode:The barcode is pretty much always on the

front which is conventional. Its pretty much always on the bottom half of the cover it tells you the issue information

and the price of the magazine.

Competition:With these magazines they are aimed for teenage fan girls who would do anything do win something to do with their celeb

crush. So in order for more buys from the magazine they will place the competition on the front page to draw the attention.

Quote:On the front cover of this magazine it’s a convention for there to be a quote from perhaps the star on the front. Its to give

you a taste as to what they will be talking/what the interview was about

inside the magazine.

What’s Inside:This area of the magazine has the convention of the top of the pops

magazine where it tells you what you're going to find in the magazine. It’s

normally the most exciting stories.

Top of the Pops front cover:

Masthead:The masthead for the ‘We Love Pop’

magazine follows the conventions of most of its covers. It generally has a heart instead of love as that normally how

teens write when they’re texting also its in a speech bubble which is suggesting

that many kids should be saying this out loud because teens and kids love pop.

Cover Image/mode of address:The image on the front is of the famous

pop/RnB singer Rihanna. So immediately this brings the attention because they will want to know what its got to say about her. She is looking straight at you so this Is known as a direct mode of address almost as if she is trying to communicate with you. This is

known as a formal cover. The cover is very bright attracting the attention of teens and

children.

Barcode:The same with the other cover the

barcode is generally on the bottom half of the cover and it includes the

information about the issue and the price of the magazine.

Exclusive:There is another convention of this

magazine which is they leave a little strip at the bottom which will have a short sentence about an exclusive which is

saying that only they had this information first which will more than certainly excite

the readers.

Fashion:Teenagers love fashion and for a pop

magazine to involve fashion and celeb gossip and pop music teenagers will love it. Most of the time the fashion is related

to the season but sometimes it will be advice from a celebrity.

What’s Inside:The cover will always have a short

sentence or two which will give you a sneaky peak as to what’s inside the

magazine. It will mention what the actual story is about or it will say what celebs they will be talking about. This is there

ways of exciting the readers.

We love Pop front cover:

Celebs & Gossip:The top of the pops magazine has a

section dedicated to the gossip and the celebrities. The pages are generally quite separate but there will be a lot containing

this information.

Big Numbers:Top of the pops have another convention

of on their pages and contents age especially they have lots of big numbers, I

believe it’s the bigger the number the more interesting the piece is and the

more people will look at those pages first as they are drawn to those numbers first

and get curious as to what’s there.

Shopping/Fashion:There are many things that teenage girls like and one

of those things is shopping and having the latest fashion outfits. Top of the pops is a teenage girl

magazine so it focuses on the stuff that girls will want and girls want shopping and fashion.

Header/Title:The top of the pops magazine have the convention of having the title of ‘Inside

the mag…’ for their contents page. It always has the same font and slightly

angled with a different coloured background each time.

Top of the Pops contents page:

Front Cover:The contents page of these magazines

will have copy of the front cover printed so that they can point to the different elements and elaborate as to which

pages they are on.

Main piece:Just under the title of the contents page

there is normally a big picture of a certain pop star/ group and then a bit of writing.

For example in this issue its about the Saturdays. The convention is that the

article is finished off with a hand written name, conventionally a girl and there will

belike a kiss at the end of it.

Posters:The strip at the bottom of the contents

page is saved to show you which posters are included in the magazine. This allows you to know which ones you want to stick up before even reaching that page in the

magazine.

Inside this month:The ‘We love pop’ magazine has a new

issue out monthly and this art of the contents page includes what has

happened over the last month in celeb world. Which is a good way of ordering out the page for the younger readers to

understand.

The header:The header is always in big and bold

capital letters with the ‘o’ from love filled in. It is a convention for it to have the masthead from the front cover on the

right corner of the title. Also the contents title is also always ‘WE LOVE THIS…’

We love Pop contents page:

Main Picture:The biggest picture on the page should be

who the article is about. The picture is Leona smiling which is very friendly and

engaging. This means the mode of address is very formal and direct.

Q’s & A’s:With the Top of the Pops questions, they will have the question in one colour and the answer in a plain colour. In this one its pink as that’s a very girly colour and

girls stereotypically like pink. The pictures inside the boxes are relevant to the

answers/questions so it gives us more of a visual look at it.

Subject:In smaller writing, it tells you what the article about and if there is a celebrity involved they will write their name in capitals. For example this one is about

asking Leona some questions.

Quote:For the tops of the pops magazine double

page spread the first convention is that they will begin it with a massive quote

from the article which the celebrity had said. It will be the first thing you will see when you look at the page. The quote is normally out of context so you have to

read to find out more.

Top of the Pops double page

spread:

Main Picture/Poster:The main picture for this article is

doubled up as a poster, this is probably so that when they go to get the poster they

will also read the article. The picture allows us to know that it is aimed for

younger children as she is posing more childlike rather than maturely.

Colours:The colours are bright and stand out.

They are quite girly colours as the magazine is for teenage girls. In the story the use of different bright colours makes

some of he text stand out as perhaps those sentences are more exciting.

Quote/Headline:The quote is from the article intriguing the reader because they will want to

know more about what the quote means. It is in big capital letters to attract the teen more because it sticks out on the

page.

We love Pop double page

spread: