Front Cover Overview

All of the above magazine covers are the magazine ‘We Love Pop’, so they have been designed with the intention of attracting fans of pop music. This essay will be exploring shared features across the magazines, and to recognise repeated features throughout.

All of the eight covers all contain typical magazine conventions. Some general conventions used are the masthead, sell lines, a main image which covers the majority of the page, feature article photos which relate to the article and appropriate fonts for the genre.

In addition to this we see other repeated patterns, each magazine features a solo pop artist who is doing particularly well at the time. Obviously the audience is expecting to see a music artist, but the repeated use of solo artists indicates that bands are not as common in the pop world as they are in other genres, for example rock. This is likely to be because solo artists deliver a more distinctive sound to more individuals in a band. Also because pop music tends to use a lot of computerised melodies rather than actual instruments. The artist always stands out on the cover as they are the only person filling up the whole frame. The composition of the artist being centred in the frame shows that they are obviously the main focus of the magazine and indicates the main artist each month. This idea is emphasised through the exaggerated facial expressions of popular artists Cher, Taylor Swift and Jessie J who all put on a fun, playful posture which goes with the type of magazine and makes them stand out more with their creative poses.

The artists who feature on the magazine are also usually female which links with the readership of the magazine who are predominantly girls. The males are usually displayed in a way that draws attraction towards them from the girls. Since the female target audience find their favourite pop artists attractive, the magazine uses this to interest them into reading more about them, by using sell lines from the males such as ‘I’d love to have Aston’s abs!’ which is focused on the physical appearance of the male artists. This differs to the female articles, which are usually much deeper and have more personal opinions in them.

We can also see other similarities in the mise-en-scene, like for example the costumes. The synonymous look for pop artists is to wear bright clothes with bold prints and glitter. For the men which are shown they wear smart clothing, or often clothes which complement and show off their bodies. This is displayed particularly in the image of Ariana Grande who is shown wearing a luminous

pink skirt and crop top. One artist which slightly breaks this convention is Justin Bieber, photographed in a navy and white hoodie which is obviously quite casual and not particularly colourful. Though this may seem unmatched to the general style, it accompanies the sell line which describes him as ‘Swaggy’ quite well as it shows that he is young and care-free, and he supports the more relaxed style. Perfectly styled hair for both the males and females is also an ongoing look, as it shows that they are well put together and at the same time bang on trend. The female artists wear a lot of brightly coloured makeup (for example Jessie J’s pink lips or Taylor Swift’s orange lips) which matches with the idea of everything being shown as colourful and playful.

Another shared features across the eight magazines are the feature article photographs. These are almost always related to style which shows how fashion and pop music go hand in hand, and because there is always space for this article on the front cover demonstrates its importance. These clothes (like the ones photographed on the artists) are also brightly coloured which shows the continuous theme of bright clothing continuing to a level where the target audience are able to purchase it to look like their desired pop artist.

On each front cover, the signature ‘We Love Pop’ icon is shown, changing the word ‘love’ to a pink heart to show the clear femininity of the magazine. The fact that the magazine name is placed inside a speech bubble is quite a unique way to present it, and demonstrates the magazine’s creativity, bubbliness and clear awareness of social media. There is also always a strapline placed at the bottom of the page, usually displaying posters of male artists which appeals to the readership’s interest in boys.

The sell lines are used quite heavily throughout the magazine cover, which is clear by the busy layout. Although the cover artist dominates the page, it is filled with other articles around it mainly about other pop artists, fashion, gossip and boys. This could be because the young target audience has interest in more than one famous pop artist so in order to fully grab their attention there needs to be lots of fun, colourful information spread over the page, so the more articles they see which they are interested in, the more likely they are to keep re-purchasing the magazine. This is a good way of arranging the magazine for the audience as at a glance they will notice numerous amounts of information which interest them and therefore draw them in.

The colour scheme of ‘We Love Pop’ tends to revolve around the colour pink, but also uses other bright, fun colours such as orange and yellow. The colour

pink is a typically female colour which is why it is good for demonstrating the gender of readership, and it is also quite a positive uplifting colour so it reflects the light-hearted, entertaining fun articles which will be found inside. It also grabs people’s attention as they walk past and the colours are bright and stand out against other backgrounds.

Having carried out this overview it is obvious that ‘We Love Pop’ has a brand identity which is unique to their magazine and remembered by their target audience so that it is easily recognisable. It is maintained through the repetition of layout devices such as colour, placement of articles and artist’s costume which is what helps the magazine to succeed in selling so many copies.