I analysed a contents page from an issue of 'Top of the Pop's'. By doing so, it was clear to me the types of stories included within a pop music magazine, particularly learning from this that within a pop magazine which is targeted at a young female audience, the stories included have to relate to their lives away from music too. By being a pop music magazine, this indicates that a large audience will be interested within it, as pop music is usually enjoyed by a great number of people (this type of music is called 'pop' because it is popular and mainstream). To elaborate, images are included again upon the magazine's contents page, and this emphasises the idea that a young audience are likely to take in the information presented to them within a magazine via a magazine's use of visual tools such as these, likewise to the front cover of this issue of 'Top of the Pops'.
It is evident that within this pop music magazine's contents page, the magazine is constantly trying to appeal to a young female audience. This is indicated through the use of language, which the audience are likely to relate to at their young age. This language is simplistic and words are used which the age group being targeted would use frequently. The phrase "We love shopping" appeals to the target audience as young females are likely to enjoy shopping; it is a common activity carried out by young females, and as this pop magazine is targeted at a mainstream audience, shopping is likely to be enjoyed by these readers. The use of the word 'We' implies to the target audience that the magazine is including them, almost as though they are a friend to them. The target audience feel, as a result of this use of language, that they are contributing to the magazine in some way and therefore are appealed to it as it seems as though it involves them. One of the articles stated expresses; "Everyone's wearing..." This phrase appeals to the target audience, as 'Top of the Pop's' is trying to attract a young female audience, and at a young age girls usually want to adapt their style to the current fashion; styles and clothing that the majority of the people their age are wearing.
The article "How to get classy curls" is effective upon the contents page, due to the fact that alliteration is used firstly. "Classy Curls" may attract the target audience's eye, and it also appeals to a young female audience as it implies that the magazine is going to provide them with instructions on how to achieve a look that will make them fashionable. The description provided of the "Curls" is "Classy", and this adjective is appealing as it's a positive and admirable description that a young female audience will be attracted to. The contents page includes the use of second person; articles such as "How YOU can live like Selena" and "Your say with CBBC's Dick and Dom" is appealing to the target audience as the use of "you" and "your" implies that what the magazine is saying is being directed at to the individual who is reading the magazine. The incorporation of celebrities within the articles makes the magazine appealing as the target audience recognise the names and are more inclined to purchase the magazine as a result of this, as their favourite/admired artists appear.
The article "Win 1D's signed ipod shuffles with the lads personal playlists" is appealing to the target audience of young females as the use of the word "Lad" is a colloquial term, and therefore the target audience for this pop music magazine is likely to be aware of this word and use it frequently, which makes the magazine attractive to the target audience as they are able to access the language easily. The fact that the target audience have the chance of winning something which includes "personal playlists" of an admired band of theirs, is appealing to them as it may feel as though they are receiving a gift from their favourite celebrity if they win the competition. The use of "1D" indicates that this band must be well known, as by presenting their name in this way it implies that the target audience are aware of them; instantly when they see "1D" they know that the magazine is referring to the band One Direction. This shortening of bands included within the pop magazine implies that a young audience is able to understand something when it is shortened if well known; connecting to a young person's use of their phone as they are likely to text often; shortening language connects to text language e.g. the use of LOL for laugh out loud and OMG for oh my gosh. The target audience of young females will be able to access this type of language generally as they are familiar with it and therefore they presumably will understand such words that are shortened.
Furthermore, the phrase included within this contents page "hottest accessory" is attractive to a young female audience, as it relates to fashion and the clothes that they wear; again it emphasises how a pop music magazine aimed at such an audience needs to take into account what their lifestyle is like in order to seem appealing to them. A young female audience will be interested in accessories as they are aware of their appearance and usually want to keep up-to-date with the styles that their age group are adapting to. Visual tools are also used once again as upon the contents page, with a smaller image of the front cover of 'Top of the Pops' located upon it, and this is labelled in order to guide the audience to the pages where the articles featured upon the front cover are within the magazine. There are also other visual tools included that are likely to keep a young female audience engaged; images of clothing and accessories, which are also labelled with the number of the page that these can be seen upon. Upon my own contents page, it would be effective therefore to include the number of the pages that the images relate to that I'm going to include upon it.
It was clear that at the top of the contents page, in order to direct the target audience of young females to the list of articles, the magazine included a banner that implied that this was the contents page; "Inside the mag..." This is useful in a variety of ways; firstly, the colour of the banner atttracts the target audience to read what it upon it as it is segregated the text written within this from the rest of the page, and therefore due to the fact that it is segregated, it's information that the audience are likely to process first, and this is effective as the magazine directs them to read what the magazine consists of through this banner. The "..." included after "Inside the mag" is effective as it directs the target audience to the information that the magazine consists of. This is a useful technique to include within my contents page in order to direct a young female audience to read the contents of the magazine.
There seems to be certain parts of a young female's life that pop magazines such as 'Top of the Pops' appeal to, when looking at the contents page. As the articles are segregated according to the interest that it is linking to, this helps with my contents page as it is clear what a young female audience reading a pop music magazine wants to read about; "We love shopping" refers to the interest of shopping, and therefore indicates to me that a young female audience would want to see articles upon the contents page that are related to shopping/fashion. Linking with this, there are images of clothing and accessories which attracts them to this section as they are visual tools that are easily accessible by a young audience. There is a section which is entitled "All About You", and this attracts the target audience, as it involves them within their magazine; focusing upon their lifestyles e.g. "How YOU can live like Selena", along with articles which link to the interactivity that the magazine offers; "Your oops! Share your shame with Radio 1's Aled & Dr Mel". Here, the mention of a radio station is appealing to the target audience because the magazine is based on pop music, and therefore the target audience of young females are likely to listen to the radio frequently as 'pop music' is mainstream and therefore it seems as though there will be a large audience who do listen to the radio that read this magazine. Including DJ's "Aled & Dr Mel" is effective as the audience are likely to be aware of who they are if they listen to the radio station "Radio 1", and it is likely that they have either heard of or listened to this radio station, which means that the incorporation of Radio DJ's does make it appealing to this young audience.
Moreover, "Celebs & gossip" as a section includes celebrity names, and therefore the target audience are likely to be attracted to the magazine's content as they recognise artists written upon the page; for example "JLS", "The Wanted", "Olly Murs" and many more; a target audience of young females are enticed by information about their favourite/admired celebrities. A visual tool is included again, an image of a poster provided by 'Top of the Pops' to it's readers, of two members of the band "One Direction". This again is effective as a young female audience find this easily accessible and are attracted to an image of members from their favourite band. "Wins & Offers" as the title of a section is effective, as the target audience are likely to be attracted to the magazine if it offers them a chance to win prizes that they are interested in; for example, an article stated is "Win! 1D's signed iPod shuffles with the lads' personal playlists", and this is effective because the audience will be interested in the prize that they will recieve if they win the competition; it is a prize which relates to a familiar pop band. Linking with one of the competitions, "Win! Doodles and dolls from The Wanted", a visual tool is included within this section which is an image of one of the band members "from The Wanted" writing something, and therefore this entices the target audience as it is more believable that their favourite band has contributed to their prize if they win.
The colour scheme of this contents page is consistent with the colours that are used on the front cover, which teaches me that the colours chosen for my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread should be consistent in order for the target audience to keep engaged.
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