This contents page from Top of the Pops magazine effectively targets its teenage audience. Bright colors, informal language, and images of celebrities in casual clothing establish a fun, relatable tone. Short blurbs and visual elements tease various articles about music, celebrities, fashion, and advice without revealing too much. This piques readers' curiosity and encourages exploration of the full magazine.

1. Contents Page Analysis.

2. This contents page is from an issue of Top of the Pops. Even from a glance, it is
clear to see that this contents page is perfect for the target audience of the
magazine. This is because of the colours used, the mode of address and the general
feel of the contents page is geared towards a teenage audience.
The title of the contents page is “Inside the mag…” The word mag creates a laid
back feel, as it is a slang word. The slang makes the contents page more informal,
and allows the audience to relate more. The use of ellipses creates a sense of
mystery and suspense because it leaves the audience wondering what they will see
inside the mag, and this makes the audience want to read on.
Underneath the title, there is a smaller version of the front cover of the issue. There
are arrows coming away from the page numbers and pointing to different parts of the
front cover. This is a fun way to tell the audience the page numbers, without having
too much text to bore the audience. The advantage of this is that the audience will be
looking at the front cover again, so they can easily pick out what articles they wanted
to read, and find the page number straight away.
To the right, there is a small box that has a title of “3D Posters”. This would excite
the audience as 3D posters are not something that you see every day. There is also
a small image of the glasses. There is a brief explanation of what the glasses are for.
At the end, it says “wow!” This is effective because the buzz word will interest the
audience. Moreover, through using the word ‘wow’, the mag is encouraging the
audience to see the idea in a similar way and think it is ‘wow’ too. There is a list of all
the page numbers the glasses can be used on, along with the celebrity posters that
are in 3D. This would interest the audience because they will want to see their
favourite celebrity in 3D. The 3D glasses were probably cover mount, and so the
audience would have been happy to get a freebie. There is then a small box
underneath that says “We Love Boys”. This box says that the highlighted areas are
where you can “get inside boys’ heads”. This would interest the audience as teenage
girls are interested in dating, and would want to know more about boys and
understand them more in the hope that they may get a boyfriend.
The box underneath is titled “Celebs and gossip”. This shows that the magazine is
following conventions of pop music magazines by containing gossip on celebrities.
This box contains all the articles about celebrities and gossip, and their page
numbers. The page numbers are in pink and this matches the colour scheme of the
article. The celebrities, or main topic featured in each article are in bold, and this
makes them stand out. There is also a short sentence on what each article is about.
This allows the audience to know enough to get excited by it, but not too much, so
they still need to read the article. Then we see a circle shaped medium shot of One
Direction holding dolls of themselves at the bottom of the page. This provides a
break from the text, so stops the audience getting bored. Harry is wearing a grey
hoodie, Niall is wearing a white shirt, Louis is wearing a stripy shirt and Zayn is
wearing a black and orange jumper. Their costumes reflect their typical style and star
image, which makes it easier for the audience to recognise them. They are all
looking directly at the camera, giving the audience direct address, and making it
more personal for them. They are also smiling, and this will make the audience

3. happy, while reinforcing the happy and fun brand identity of the magazine. The
audience may also think that if they win the dolls, they will be happy and smiling too.
The leftmost box is titled “We Love Shopping”. The word love is replaced by a heart,
making it more interesting and fun. At the bottom of the box, there are three images.
One is of a white jumper that has the word “cute” written across it. This would appeal
to the audience as they would want to find out where to get all the latest fashions.
Also, many young girls wear clothes like this. The next image is of a bright pink boot.
This would also appeal to the female target audience as their favourite colour is likely
to be pink, so they would want to buy these boots. An image of eyeliner is also in this
box, and this relates to the article on page 42 that says “Everyone’s wearing…
coloured eyeliner”. The audience would see the eyeliner and want read the article to
find out more about it.
The main colours used are pink and yellow. These are bright and fun colours, which
links to the audience’s personality. It also links to the brand identity of the magazine.
The font used in the title of the contents page is a script font, making it look
handwritten and more causal. The most important parts of the articles are in bold, so
they stand out. The first letter of each of the sub-headings has a swirl effect, which
links to the style of the magazine’s masthead. They are also in a bigger and bolder
font to the rest of the text, making them stand out. The boxes have a 3D effect to
them, caused by the shadows behind them. This makes it look like the articles are
jumping out to the audience and catching their attention.