This is the front cover that I analysed. Once choosing the genre of music magazine that I wanted to create my music magazine around, I had to analyse a front cover of a magazine already on the market in this genre. I chose 'Top of the Pops' magazine, mainly because it seems to be the main pop music magazine available to the target audience interested in this genre of music. As I looked at the magazine front cover, many of the choices that the producer of this media product made led me to imply that the target audience of the magazine was a young female audience. Many of these elements incorporated into the front cover of this magazine will be considered during my production, and 'Top of the Pops' will be a useful source for me to refer to when I need help during this process of producing my own music magazine front cover.
Beginning to analyse this front cover of 'Top of the Pops', I pointed out the effectiveness of a banner upon a magazine front cover. Straight away, the information within this banner is highlighted as the banner segregates it from the rest of the cover, thereby implying to the audience that it is of significance to their lives. Within the banner, the information included helps me to infer that music magazines in the genre of pop strive to relate to their target audience's lifestyle in a number of ways away from music. Included upon the front cover of this pop magazine, the cover line 'Amazing offer! 10% off at Pineapple' is enticing as it implies that as a result of buying the magazine, an offer for a brand that they are likely to be familiar with and find attractive comes with this purchase. The logo of 'Pineapple' as a brand is included upon the front cover, and this is effective as when browsing magazines that are being sold, the target audience of 'Top of the Pops' are likely to notice the logo, and as they are familiar with it, be drawn to the magazine straight away. This is a useful way of enticing the member of the target audience upon first glance; it is a visual tool used in order to attract the eye immediately and make the magazine instantly more attractive. This is something that I could incorporate into my music magazine; focusing upon the target audience for my 'Pop' magazine and including a visual tool such as a logo in order to entice them upon first glance. This could be a logo for a popular/well known brand among that age range, or alternatively a well known name of a type of media that the target audience consumes frequently.
The use of numbers upon this pop music magazine is clearly used as a way of bringing different members of their target audience to purchase their magazine. By using numbers upon a magazine front cover, the target audience may be more inclined to purchase it because the numbers seem to imply that there is a lot of information available within the magazine. The use of numbers usually means that the target audience notice how much is included within the magazine's content, thereby are usually more inclined to purchase the magazine. The coverline 'star styles to copy' is appealing to the target audience as they are a young female audience who idolise these 'stars' mentioned; the stars are presumably celebrities who they are interested in and therefore they are likely to want to copy the styles that they have. They usually want to share something in common with these celebrities, and by adapting their style to that of their idol allows them to do so. To elaborate, the target audience of young females may have an intention of one day looking like their idols, and by including a feature which will help them to do so (by giving them information regarding the styles of these celebrities), the magazine instantly seems more appealing.
Celebrity endorsement is also used as an enticement upon this magazine front cover; an image is included of a celebrity popstar that the target audience are likely to be familiar with. There is an implication that this celebrity is well known among the target audience, as the image of this celebrity is located within the box that links with the coverline '89 star styles to copy', which suggests that she is one of these 'stars'. Tulisa is a well known popstar, and the target audience may be inclined to purchase the magazine because they are interested in her life, or alternatively enjoy her music. She has recently been involved in the talent show 'The X Factor', which may entice the target audience even more because the magazine is current and includes information about celebrities who are in the limelight at the current time. There is also a large interest in the style of X Factor judges usually within the media, and this information shared with the target audience therefore is likely to be appealing to them.
The front cover includes the main coverline, and ends this with 'by Selena x' in a different font type compared to the rest of the text included upon the front cover. This implies that it is 'Selena's' handwriting, which makes it personal and therefore may be appealing to the target audience of young females as the magazine seems as though the celebrity included within the main image of the front cover has contributed to it. The incorporation of this text also gives the target audience the impression that 'Selena' is a friend to them, because the use of the 'x' is usually used between friends or those who care for eachother. This may appeal to members of a young female audience as they are likely to idolise the celebrity included within the main image; they may be attracted by the fact that she seems friendly towards them. The coverline 'Flirt Alert: Celebs caught kissing' is attractive to the target audience due to the fact that it indicates to them that the magazine has exclusive information; the word 'caught' implies that the magazine took photos or have obtained information that these celebrities didn't want to be revealed to the public. Therefore, this information seems secretive and implies that it can only be found in this particular magazine, and this attracts the target audience as it seems exclusive and as though it is revealing information about celebrities they are likely to be interested in. This may make it stand out from it's competitors, as this information isn't likely to be found in these magazines too, which consequently makes it unique.
The rule of three is used through the coverline 'Mad, Bad and Dangerous', and this is located on the left third. By using the rule of three, the magazine is likely to attract members of the target audience, as it is an effective technique that draws people in to read the rest of the content by seeming short yet revealing information about the artists. The phrase 'the unseen side of Little Mix' is appealing as it seems to be revealing something about a new band; the target audience of young females are likely to be interested because they are new to the music scene and the public know little about their personal lives due to this. This magazine, however, will allow them to learn about their lives, which makes it attractive to the target audience. The magazine seems to generally reveal the behaviour that a young female audience would want to imitate; the positioning of the band 'Little Mix', with their mouths open. The colour scheme of the magazine front cover, consisting of turquoise, pink and white, seems feminine and therefore would presumably immediately attract a young female audience to the magazine when seeing this.
Studying this magazine front cover has allowed me to infer how a pop magazine attracts it's target audience, I began to form ideas for my own front cover of a pop magazine. I noted any important aspects that I thought should be included upon my front cover in order for it to be recognised as a pop music magazine. Certain conventions, I found, were present upon the 'Top of the Pops' magazine front cover, that I could possibly be inspired from. For example, I noted that I could maybe include an offer linking to a well-known brand that the audience are aware of, likewise to this 'Top of the Pops' magazine which includes an offer for 'Pineapple', a well-known brand recognisable to a young female audience. I also inferred from the magazine front cover that it is a good idea to include small images of celebrities that the target audience of the magazine are likely to be aware of; these could be placed alongside coverlines upon my magazine front cover, and from this I learnt that it is key to place visual tools upon my magazine front cover if I am trying to attract a younger audience, as they can relate to images straight away when glancing at the magazine, therefore an image is more likely to catch their attention than text upon a magazine front cover.
From this pop music magazine, it was clear that it is good to include a fashion element within it, as it is likely to relate to the lives of members of a young female audience that like this magazine I will be trying to attract through my front cover. Presumably, the majority of a young female audience would be interested in fashion as they are aware of what they wear, and try to adapt their styles to current ones presented in magazines such as this. A magazine is one of the media sources whereby they get their information from regarding fashion, alongside the television, internet and radio etc. As a magazine allows them to consume information via visual tools usually, it is important to include information about their everyday life as they can relate to the visual aspects of the magazines well and therefore are likely to want to consume information in this way. It was evident through my analysis that maybe an article could be included that gives advice to a young female audience; at this point in their lives, they are likely to come across common problems that causes them to seek advice from outside sources that are usually unbiased. An insight into an artists life (someone who is likely to be of interest to the target audience that is trying to be attracted) could be included upon my magazine front cover; as it is evident from this front cover that members of the target audience enjoy/are intrigued by information regarding a celebrity that they know of, through the headlines that refer to the lives of celebrities such as 'JLS' and 'Selena' Gomez.
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