Front cover overview

1. The target audience is easily identifiable just from glancing at these 8 magazine front covers,
brightly coloured puffs, fonts and images all specify that pop magazines are aimed at young
preteen and teenage girls varying between the ages of 8 to 14. Not only do these magazines
promote pop bands and artists but in recent years they have ventured into exploring
youtubers such as Zoella, the recent YouTube sensations are also mostly targeted towards
young girls, they are relatable, offer fashion advice, makeup tips and an insight into their
lifestyle as new celebrities. Most girls who are readers of each magazine have once or do
aspire to be famous within the pop industry, this is why pop magazines have started to
feature youtubers, to gain a wider following from different audiences and fan bases,
encapsulating new followers by using a wider range of celebrities.
These 8 front covers of ‘We Love Pop’ and ‘Top of the Pops’ are typical front covers of these
magazines, as you can see all the conventions of the front covers including colour schemes
and font choice are similar on each of the magazine covers, this is a classic and predictable
approach for a pop magazine as the genre of music has to be conveyed through the use of
colour, font and images. Obvious conventions that instantly jump out at the readers include
the main image and masthead, the masthead and sell lines are all relevant to the images
presented the main image should dominate the front cover and colours should work
complimentary alongside it to really draw the reader's eyes towards the magazine. A good
sell line can determine if the magazine sells or not, it has to be relevant and age appropriate
but also intrigue the reader to an extent where they have to buy the magazine to find out
more. Mostly all the text on each magazine is summarised into simplistic language, which is
fun and visually appealing to passers-by. The brand identity for each magazine can be
identifiable for everyone as the logo does not change throughout each issue, leaving a
lasting impression on the public.

2. On each of the front covers you can see that the artists are placed mostly to the right hand
side of the cover (this predominantly applies to ‘We Love Pop’) this is to avoid interfering
with the layout of the masthead, defining it to be what you notice first and highlighting the
magazine's brand. Gender specific magazines are very common and while pop music
magazines are primarily aimed at young teenage girls, the colours used such as orange
identify it as gender neutral leaving it open for all genders to read, the celebrities used to be
featured artist can also be seen promoting the magazine as gender neutral, they display that
there is not a single gender who dominates the pop industry, women can be seen dressing
provocatively which the majority of female readers have no interest in and men are shown
topless aimed towards a female audience.
There are many similarities in mise en scene such as outfit choice and background, female
artists are always wearing something that is considered fashionable in today's society, this is
mainly for the young girls who will be viewing these images so they can attempt to mimic
their icons clothing choice and be up to date on the latest fashion trends. When the
magazine's main image is a girl band such as Little Mix, they will each wear outfits that
complement one another, this makes them seem ‘close’ and conveys friendship within their
group which younger girls idolise. Usually boys clothing is more laid back but when
examining costume you can pick out small details which add to their aesthetics and the
overall pop theme, One Direction can be seen wearing a lot of blue, white and red in their
photoshoots and as seen on the ‘We Love Pop’ magazine above, this emphasises that they
are a British boy band and illustrates the theme of friendship to a further extent.
We are able to see repeated patterns in the two magazines and depict similarities between
featured articles, they both stick to the same topics including fashion, boys and celebrity
gossip. ‘We Love Pop’ are enthusiastic about competitions and giveaways offering posters
and also having free gifts. ‘Top of the Pops’ often have skylines and banners promoting
offers and competitions which is one of the many distinguished conventions of the magazine,
on the other hand ‘We Love Pop’ noticeably has more than one puff featured on each issue
of their magazine, this is one of their fun ways to create a more youthful vibe by using many
shapes and block colours. Posters are advertised in pop magazines and there is often more
than one pull out poster for the readers, The majority of posters and large colourful images
are for the younger side of the audience as they prefer to visually take in information rather
than reading lengthy articles which the older age ranges would enjoy.
The lifestyle promoted through each magazine is enlightening and promotes a typical young
girls lifestyle, on most issues of the magazines there are topics relating to boys or dating
tips, this encourages young teenage girls to mature and contribute to discovering who they
are. Free gifts are a running theme throughout the two pop magazines, they lure in young
readers who see the word ‘free’ and are instantly drawn towards purchasing the magazine,
some free gifts include cosmetic and hair products, posters, stationery and sweets, this type
of advertisement is evidently for the younger target audience as they make quick purchases
and tend not to consider the contents of the magazine. The use of a puff on pop magazines
can help to inform readers of any special offers but also add dimension to the front cover.
The overall layout and language used is noticeably aimed towards a younger audience,
phrases and words used on the front covers such as “cringe”, “crushes”, “blab” and “awks”
all convey to the audience the modern and youthful vibe, this language indicates how the
magazine considers the language used amongst younger generations and uses it to their

3. advantage when drawing in new customers. The layout of the magazine clearly represents
the pop industry, it is bright with colour and does not follow any specific guidelines regarding
structure, unlike for example an R&B magazine which follows a clear simplistic structure
indicating that it’s only about the music and not fun too.