The magazine uses a pink color scheme and images of boy bands to appeal to its young, female target audience. There is no single dominant image on the cover, focusing more on cover lines. Inside, article pages use pink banners and mastheads for branding and easy-to-read fonts with short sentences and many images. Advertisements blend in with the page layout and color scheme rather than standing out.

1. TASK 2
ANALYSIS OF A SECOND
MUSIC MAGAZINE

2. FRONT COVER
Masthead
The masthead isn’t very bold but the
style of font is very distinctive to the Main image
magazine and is easily recognisable The main image on this magazine is
as it also has an outline that contrasts smaller and much less dominant than on
with both the background and title. the cover of NME. This changes the
focus of the front cover from the image
to the cover lines. The image is a long
shot so we can see the body language of
the band to show their closeness to one
Other images
another. The Mise-en scene of the
The front cover uses a lot of second
photo anchors to the genre of music and
images to support the cover lines
target audience as the background is
which implies that the target
pink which is a typical ‘girly’ stereotype.
audience is quite young and prefers
The clothes they are wearing also
picture based magazines.
connote the ‘pop’ stereotype and boy
band.
Cover lines
The cover lines are a mix of
contrasting colours. The main
cover line is on a banner across the
main image which implies that Name Dropping
what they’ve got to say is more The magazine uses name dropping to
important than their pictures. The show who will be featured in the
other cover lines are also in magazine. As it’s in a footer it also gives
contrasting boxes which makes the Use of flash the cover a fuller feel and a neat finish.
page look busier and more ‘teen The use of flashes to advertise features inside
friendly’ for the younger target makes it stand out. The ‘real-life special’ is in bold
audience. to show that this is meant to the focus of the puff.

3. Header Masthead
The header of the magazine is filled with
small features of the magazine. It is also
yellow which contrasts to the pink and
makes it stand out more. This also
FRONT COVER The masthead is in a similar colour to the
background instead of being really bold
like the NME magazine. To make the
masthead stand out, they have used a
matches the snapshot of McFly’s feature white outline around the masthead
to show that they are the main aspects which contrasts to the pink background.
of this issue and implies that these are The font is san serif which makes it
what is worth buying the magazine for. easier to read and seems less fancy
which appeals to the younger target
Cover lines audience. The masthead is also in pink
The main cover line has a pink drop which connotes that the magazine is
shadow to tie in with the colour scheme quite ‘girly’ as the colour pink is
of the magazine and it also gives it a less stereotypically associated with young
sophisticated look. This is also linked with girls.
the pull quote that is used ‘the truth
behind those girlfriend rumours’ which Images
not only implies the ‘childish’ aspect of There isn’t particularly one main image
the magazine as it connotes that the which the front cover is based around
readers have a crush on him. The use of a but the image of Shayne Ward catches
pull quote also gives an insight to what your attention first as It is anchored
will be in the magazine in order to attract with the cover line placed immediately
the readers. The other cover lines use below the masthead. The image is a
persuasive writing such as ‘you just can’t medium-close up so we focus more on
miss’ to make the reader feel obliged to the facial expressions rather than the
buy the magazine. The cover lines also body language. The other images on
don’t follow the usual ‘C’ layout of a the front cover are placed on banners
magazine which make the cover look and puffs to anchor them to the
more chaotic which suggests that the different cover lines which makes the
magazine is full of articles and the reader cover seem fuller.
will be getting their moneys worth.
Footer
This acts as a footer to give a clean
finish to the edge of the page.
However, the way it’s positioned on the
page implies that is a page turner and
gives the idea that all you have to do is
turn the page to find out what the
secrets are.

4. Editor’s note
The editor’s note is positioned at
the top of the page to show that it’s
important and should be read first.
The language used is quite informal
CONTENTS Masthead
The masthead is repeated again but in a
different colour to the front cover. This
such as ‘tons more’ and colloquial
suggests that the masthead on the
such as when they describe the
front cover isn’t generic and fits to the
gossip as ‘hot’. It includes the main
colour scheme of that issue. The
features that were on the front
masthead it yellow and white which
cover and these are in bold to make
contrasts to the pink of the header and
them stand out more with a quick
also has a black drop shadow which
glance at the page. The editor’s
again differs from the white of the
note is also on the template of an
masthead on the cover which gives it a
actual piece of paper that’s been
more distinctive look as the main
torn out of a notepad to imply that
background of the contents is white.
it’s the note from the editor.
List of team Images
This is one main image but it looks like a
The left hand side is a list of people
couple of images placed onto a
on the team of the magazine such
background. There is also speech
as the designer and photographers
bubbles placed on top to show that the
etc. It is placed on a black banner
magazine is aimed at a younger audience
so it is clearly separate to the
and gives it a less sophisticated look.
information on the contents page
which connotes importance. They
have also shortened ‘smash hits’ to
‘sh’ which shows familiarity with
the audience.
Title
Page numbers The title for the contents page is near the
The page numbers are placed on bottom of the page so the focus of the
top of the images so we know that readers is on the images above rather than
they are linked to those articles. what the magazine contains. The page
They are also in pink to tie in with numbers are also in a darker shade of pink
the colour scheme and contrast the that the article titles so it is easy to
to the white background of the differentiate between the two. Again, the
images. The name of the magazine is repeated by the page articles that were features on the front
number as part of the house style. cover are in bold as these are assumed to
be the articles that the readers are most
interested in reading.

5. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Pattern
They have the pattern of a tyre print
to anchor to the theme of the article.
It also gives a neat finish to the
corner of the page.
Copy
The font is easy on the eye so it’s Title
easier to understand and read. The The title of the article isn’t in a block
language is not very sophisticated in font, it’s transparent with a white outline
order for the younger target around it to make it stand out from the
audience to be able to understand it page. It’s in white to contrast with the
such as using shorter sentences with dark colours of the image. The term ‘boy
less technical terms. The text also racers’ is used to connect with the young
only takes up a small section of the ‘girly’ target audience. The sub-heading
page which leaves the article mainly underneath is also quite basic because
image based which again makes it you can see what the article is about
easier on the eye and more from the amount of photos in the article.
appropriate for the younger
audience.
In bold there is snippets of
information about the band at the
bottom which makes the article into
a small news article of the band as
well as informing the readers about
what they have done.

6. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Caption
The caption/masthead that is used on the
contents page is again repeated on the
article page to keep the title of the
magazine running throughout the
magazine. The pink banner at the top of
the page is also the same as the contents
page so the colour are still contrasting but
fitting the generic colour scheme.
Images
The images that are used are action shots
rather than posed shots like the main image.
This is to support what is being said in the
article. The photos are also spaced out with a
white gap between them so it is easy to
distinguish the different photos. On each
image, there are quotes referring to who is the
image which again is suitable for the younger
audience because it gives them less to read in
one long article.
Advertisement/ Competition
This is positioned in the bottom right corner so
it’s the last thing you notice before turning the Use of puff
page so it’s hard to miss it. They have linked the The puff is pink in colour which matches the
competition to the theme of the article and the banner at the top of the page in order to give
people featured in the article as a way of a clean finish to the page. It also attracts the
persuading people to take part. It also blends attention to that particular photo which is also
well with the layout of the page as it looks as larger than the other second images which
though it is in it’s own image box as well following connotes it is more important than the others.
the colour scheme of the page unlike NME when
the advertisement is in a contrasting colour.