Magazine prices and place of sale

Amy DiMartino

• The images above show I variety of low priced magazines that will generally be under £1 such as ‘star’. The organisation of these magazines is very messy and crowded this means that there is not much of a colour scheme within the magazine. The 3 magazines advertise there cheap prices using large pugs on the front page to draw people into the how cheap it is. The busy front cover draws in readers as it connotes that there will be a lot to read about on the inside, implying efficiency and good value for money. The quality of the paper and the magazine its self is of low quality this is reflected within the cheap pricing.

• These images show examples of medium priced magazines and the typical conventions they display, such as NME which is sold on a weekly basis at a price of £2.20, the organisation of these magazines is neater as apposed to the cheaper busier magazines. Magazines such as NME and Kerrang usually have a certain colour scheme for each issue. This makes the magazines look more professional and sophisticated. The cover lines are much more prominent this could reflect upon reliable sources and detail within articles.

• These images are example of much more expensive magazines, with ‘Q’ selling at more than £3.50 an issue, plain and simplistic colour schemes are used to indicate that these magazines are expensive and sophisticated, in the case of the rolling stones magazine the main image covers most of the masthead but this does not matter as the magazine is so well known that the audience can connote which magazine it is. The paper used is of high gloss quality and this reflects on the high pricing.

Conclusion

• To conclude I feel that cheaper lower quality magazines are much more crowed and bold to attract the attention of the audience where as medium priced and expensive magazines seem to be neater and sophisticated as the audience are already interested as they would already be going out to purchase these magazines. The change in the paper between magazines is reflected by the amount the magazine cost to make and this controls the amount it is sold for.