2. The Masthead of this magazine is By writing which issue or
mainly white and the cover line is edition this magazine is it allows
also white. This shows that with the the reader to keep up-to-date
main image on the front an and would allow collectors to
attachment with the main cover line have the newest issue in order
that this is the main article in the with the others.
magazine. The use of little colour in The main image is a medium
the gaps of the lettering related to close-up and also bleeds off the
the use of small colour that some of page. This allows the reader to
the text on the front is in. With see as much as they need
Beyoncé's head covering the without taking the focus away
masthead we can tell that this is a from knowing who the central
well known magazine and they can image is of.
afford for people not to see the
whole masthead because of its The use of having Beyoncé in a
regular connotations. pink/red colour dress and the
background fading in to nearly
The main article is clearly about the same colour allows the
Beyoncé as her name is clearly reader to have the idea that the
shown bigger and bolder than main article will be about her.
anything else apart from the The way she is posed is also
masthead on the page. By grabbing quite sexual and appealing. Her
the readers attention to other smaller hair and clothes style represent
cover lines the headline is used in something of the 1980‟s and the
yellow and following detail is quote “no-one can define me.”
shown underneath in white. The really relates to her power and
yellow also stands out well across control, which I thought related
the pink/red background to when Margaret Thatcher was
in power; and the teaser „Back
FRONT COVER ANALYSIS to run the world‟ also relates to
Thatcher in power.
3. TOTP magazine is mainly aimed
at young teenage girls around 11- The use of imagery on the page
15. We can see this through the suggests a young audience as
amount of pink used on the page. young audiences like to be quite
The masthead is bold and stands visual to keep them entertained.
out and using white on a pink The language is also very
background works well. Pink is informal and colloquial for
also a colour chosen regularly in example „OMG! OUT TO
TOTP magazine so this follows LUNCH WITH 1D!‟ and „OH
the trend. The bubbly, font, BOY, IT‟S BIEBER!‟ this
especially on the „S‟ shows us represents young teens,
that this is a girly magazine. especially with slang such as
The lifestyle being sold is trying „omg‟.
to get young teens to be like their By having someone such as
idols in a clean manner, i.e. Cheat Justin Bieber on the front cover
the look! They are trying to show and quite a few other features of
young girls that if you use the boys we definitely see the
same makeup as Jessie J you may intended audience is for girls.
be slightly more like her, realistic The black and pink main cover
or not. Also by having a flash line really stand out against the
saying „Rock it like Rita the rest of the text, especially as its
instant style makeover‟ the in bold fonts. The pink follows
audience can have an insight into the trend and the black helps the
Rita Ora‟s fashion. pink to stand out.
In many TOTP magazines they tend The teasers such as „9 new
to use the rule of thirds in separating dating tips to try today!‟ and
out the detail on their front covers – „plus all this lot‟ along with the
shown by orange lines. The cover plugs and pull quotes really draw
lines are mainly set across the right the reader in, and with this much
and left side and leave the centre for
RULE OF THIRDS detail on the front cover they
the central image. expect to see much more inside
4. The slogan used on the The smaller images, along with
smash hits magazine is quite plugs, teasers and pull quotes
small and catchy and gives fill up the page and give loads
the reader the assumption of little bits of information
that smash hits is the best about what will be included
magazine of this genre inside which really draws the
because it hogs the hits. reader in. Also by using a large
The central image on this flash in the lower centre of the
magazine is of Avril Lavigne front cover this is in a bright
and Pink, two main idols of colour making it stand out but
young teenage girls aged also covers Pink to make her a
around 11-15 who were at little more decent for the
the top of the charts at the younger readers.
time this magazine came out. To show the age of the audience
This will make the reader intended some of the language
want to buy the magazine as used is very informal, contains
they are really big singers on some slang and is quite cheesy,
the cover. The poses they are for example „AAARGH
in also relates to the main CRINGE!‟ and „Spookarama!‟ .
cover line „Avril V Pink‟. This makes the magazine a bit
The mast head „smash hits!‟ more young and quirky and
really stands out against the doesn‟t make it too formal and
pink and white background. serious.
With bright green and white The bright colours and lots of pink
running through the whole used really relates to the target
front cover as well as the audience which is young teen girls.
mast head the audience can The barcode and price is still
relate things together but to presented on the front cover but
mostly make it stand out is small so that the price doesn‟t take
the black outline around the the readers attention away from the
words. content of the magazine
5. As you can see in every music In this issue of Billboard the
magazine shown here the audience can clearly see who the
masthead is always at the top, main story or cover line is about,
either central or to the left. who is Pink. The change in
With Pinks head covering the having pink stand in for the „I‟
masthead we can see that this and also having her image in front
is a well known magazine and of the masthead gives a 3D effect
would most likely have as though she's coming out of the
subscribed readers, so the magazine. The link with her name
audience don‟t actually have to – Pink, and the pink shadow
read the whole masthead to behind the words work well
know what magazine it is. together and help the word stand
out clearly against the grey
Unlike most other magazines
background. This also links in
and issues of Billboard there
with the teaser below „The colour
are no other small images,
of money‟ . By having small
which in some cases may be
colour like yellow pointing out
good at this wont take the
other features like about Owl City
readers attention away from
and Lianne La Havas this breaks
the main article. By also laying
up the page from being too black
it out like this the magazine
and white but doesn‟t take the
looks more professional.
attention away from the main
The bar code and price are word on the page.
small and almost unseen so Having the flash and puff on the
there is no attention taken right hand side in the centre
away from the front cover allows the audience to read along
The small header allows the reader the word Pink and then pick up on
to gather some information about the „Plus‟ … and this will tempt
what's in the magazine as we see the reader to want to see what the
the masthead. It also fits smoothly magazine contains. It also adds
between the b and the d. some colour
6. The house style of this magazine The header „Rihanna‟s
is mainly purple, pink, white and most honest interview…
blue. These are quite girly colours ever!‟ suggests that Top of
and along with the bubbly, curly the Pops magazine is the
font we can assume is a teen girls best magazine of its genre
magazine. because they have an
exclusive and are the ones
We can see that this is a up-to-date
to have Rihanna's most
chart music magazine by the
honest interview. By
recognisable celebs featured, for
positioning this
example Little Mix as the central
information just above the
image, JLS, The wanted and Zayn
masthead its clear for the
from 1Direction. Also with the use
reader to see this
of a lot of young good looking
information and want to
males we can see that this is a girls
read more.
magazine, alongside „Biceps &
Boxers‟ as the title above the The cover lines are pink,
picture of JLS. blue, white and black which
follow the house style. They
By splitting the front cover up into
are mainly about boys and
boxes this makes the magazine
beauty tips which suggests
easier to read and analyse but by
the audience is for girls
having the box with Zayn from 1D
in it slightly tilted it gives a more The teasers „Bullies, Boys
laid back but structured feel. & Body Image‟ are
A lot of the cover lines used are problems that can happen
quite simplistic and give the small to anyone but mainly
bit of content the audience needs. young girls so this
With the main cover line in white information may be
bold font and the line below in a helpful to them and may
black quirky font this also breaks give them advise which
the content up. will encourage them to
read the magazine.
7. The house colours are There are usually the
mainly grey, black and same 4 subheadings
blue. This usually is the which are
same house colours for UPFRONT,
most of the contents FEATURES, MUSIC
pages in Billboard AND IN EVERY
magazine. The word ISSUE. This allows
„contents‟ is also always the reader to know
in the same font along what to expect and
with some other parts of keeps the magazine
the magazine that stay structured and neat.
the same.
One of the main
There are a few pictures features of this
of celebs on the contents magazine is the „No1
page with page numbers on the charts‟ feature.
next to them to show This is what really
what page the content makes the magazine
will be on. The pictures a chart music
have no particular magazine and this is
relevance to either sex probably one of the
so this magazine seems main things the
to be a mixed gender reader will look for.
magazine. This also appears in
every issue in the
The language used is in
same style.
between formal and
informal. There doesn‟t
seem to be any slang
used so the language is
CONTENTS PAGE ANALYSIS
almost normal everyday
speak.
8. Unlike most other magazines The mode of address is very
TOTP‟s contents page says casual and laid back. The
„Inside the mag…‟ instead of magazine involves the reader
contents. well, using words such as „we‟
and „you‟. The magazine uses
The magazine sticks to the
some slang like „mag‟ and
same house colours as the
„celebs‟ instead of magazine
front page, usually being a
and celebrities, and using a
pink or purple colour.
heart symbol instead of using
Quite a lot of images are the word love.
used on this page. As the
magazine is aimed at The subheadings of this content
younger readers they are are bold and stand out against
more entertained through the background to draw the
imagery. Features such as readers eye to the most
fashion, boys and hearts important sections. The font is
break the content up so it is quite curly and girly suggesting
easier to read and visualise. the target audience is for
females.
An image of the front cover
is used with page numbers The page numbers are really
directed by arrows to show big compared to the rest of the
the reader what page the text and the text next to where
cover lines are on. This the numbers are. This is so that
makes the magazine very the reader can easily navigate
simplistic and allows the the magazine to find what they
reader to easily find what the want. By having it in bold, pink
are looking for. colours against the white
background this also makes it
The contents page follows the stand out well.
rule of thirds theme from the
front cover making the
magazine more organised. RULE OF THIRDS
9. The house style tends to The position of the word
be grey, white, blue and „contents‟ is always at the
black like nearly all of top of the page and in
Billboards contents pages. bold letters so the reader
This allows the magazine can clearly gather what
to be directed to either will be given to them on
male or female sex. this page.
There are quite a few The same headers are used
images used on the through all Billboard contents
pages which are: upfront,
contents page, alike features, music and in every
Billboards other contents issue.
pages, usually consisting
of 3 small images under The page numbers
the header and a larger relating to the small
image of an artist around images are predominantly
the middle of the page. bigger than the other page
This creates structure and numbers. This content is
the same style to the page probably more important
in every issue. and will catch the readers
attention over other things
The mode of address isn't which is why they
childlike and relates to the numbers are big and bold.
target audience which is
There is a small Billboard
16 - 26 year olds. The
logo in the top right
content is more
corner of the No1 charts
professional than other
column which reminds
magazines like TOTP‟s.
the reader what magazine
The language is a bit more
they are reading and that
formal so its not simplistic
Billboard is one of the
for the older readers.
only magazines which has
this content on their
10. The magazine sticks to the house The mode of address is quite
colour theme of being pink and cheesy and informal for
white with a bit of yellow. We can example Gossip2Go, Oops!
see from the small image of the and We „heart‟ boys.
front cover that the contents page
The structure makes the
sticks with the same colour theme.
magazine quite neat and
This relates to its target audience –
breaks the content up into
11-15 year old girls.
sections, for example boys,
This issue includes a Flash with a shopping, you (the reader)
puff included to boost its image, for wins and offers and celebs and
example this issue is „The FAME gossip.
Issue‟.
There are lots of images that
This issue follows the same engage the reader and as the
connotations as most other TOTP‟s target audience is for young
contents pages as it has the same teen girls. To make the reader
header: Inside the mag… instead of less full on and wordy the
the word contents, the same large pictures break up the word
pink numbers directed at the cover content and make the contents
lines it relates to . It also has the page easier to visualise. Young
same headers in nearly the same readers also become
places. This makes the magazine entertained more by a lot of
easy to navigate and to find what visual images. The pictures
the reader wants. also help the reader quickly
pick out what they like.
We can see that this is a girls
magazine by the fashion, nail The contents page also tend to
varnishes, the we „heart‟ boys stick to the rule of thirds theme
section and the amount of pink so the page looks more
used. professional and organised.
This is one of the conventions
of the contents page.
