CTEC Unit 01

2. Contents
3. LO1
4. Top of the Pops
5. Purpose
6. Genre
7. Form and style
8. My magazine house style
9. Front cover analysis
10. DPS analysis
11. Content
12. Meanings in the product
and frequency
13. Target audience
14. Target audience
15. Target audience
16. Psychographics
17. Production process
18. Production process
19. Retail outlets
20. We Love Pop
21. Content, circulation and
frequency
22. Production process
23. Production process
24. Retail outlets
25. Front cover analysis
26. DPS analysis

5. Purpose
• The purpose of both publications is to entertain young teenage girls by giving them tips, help, advice
and many other thing including quizzes, interviews, articles and posters of popular bands.
• The ident for the magazine ‘Top of the Pops’ connotes that the magazine is about Pop music and that
they're at the top, hence the verbal code ‘Top’.
• Top of the Pops don’t actually have a strapline on their front cover (for example: The UK’s Best…) but
they do use language which still attracts the readers, for example: “Star Style made simple!”; “Love, lies
& a scary surprise”; “Who’s after a 5SOS smooch?” which all made the magazine seem fun, interesting
and like there is a lot of gossip and fun things to read inside so the reader will then buy the magazine.
• On the Top of the Pops website, there isn't a slogan either as it only displays the Masthead of the
magazine. The layout of the website is also very plain and simple, this could be to make everything
more visible and easier to see what the website includes (looking inside of the magazine, there is also a
button called ‘Free Gift’ although it doesn’t actually show you what the gift is (this could make you more
eager to know so might end up buying the magazine to get the free gift) as well as watching an
‘exclusive’ video.

6. Genre
• The denotation of the genre is pop music.
• The readers can tell this from the verbal code of the
masthead ’Top of the ‘Pops’’, which obviously connotes
pop music.
• ‘We Love Pop’ connotes the passion the publication
has for this one genre of music.
• On the main cover there is always a famous pop star or
band, which ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) straight away that
it is a pop magazine that helps sell it’s issues based on
capturing the attention of a young, passive reader with
the use of ‘star appeal’ (Richard Dyer).

7. Form and style
• Through out the magazines bright colours have
been used on every page to make the magazine
more happy, light hearted and fun which appeals
more to younger female teenagers.
• Also throughout, the magazine uses different
fonts for almost everything, as it makes the page
seem more fun, interesting and exciting,
therefore making it appeal to the target audience
more.

8. Magazine house style
• The house style of my magazine will consist of the colours: Red (to signify excitement, energy and love), Pink (to signify love, romance
and excitement), Yellow (to represent Joy, happiness, optimism, imagination and hope), Blue (to signify peace, stability, trust and
loyalty), Purple (to signify wisdom and enlightenment), Orange (to signify energy, balance, enthusiasm and warmth), White (to signify
purity, simplicity, peace, youth, good) and Black (to signify Power, elegance, style and innocence). . Most of the colours on my magazine
will be bright (especially the front cover) but I will have some pastel shades in the magazine as well so there is more variety and utopian
colours. http://www.slideshare.net/marketingboys/colors-meaning
This picture
denotes the name
of the person
company who
took a specific
photo on a page. I
will use this so
that I’m not
stealing anyone
else’s work.
At the bottom of this double
page spread (DPS) of Ariana
Grande, it gives the reader
information on when her
newest single is out, her new
album that is out now, her
website and the radio channel,
which says “Listen to The Official
Chart, Sundays, 4-7pm, Radio 1”.
I will use this for my magazine
so that reader’s can get the
latest information about their
favourite stars or bands.
On the top of each page, the section of the
magazine has been named, so it’s easier for the
readers to navigate around the magazine.
This is a picture of the page no. located at the
bottom of every page. I will also use this for
my magazine so that the readers can say
what information is on what page. Its also
easier to pick up where you left off by having
page numbers. And it looks best when
they’re at the bottom of the page in the
middle.

9. Masthead = simple font, which won’t be too complicated for young children as it
won’t make a difference to them, hot pink, which is quit a girly and happy colour
for girls and definitely not suitable for boys, it has stars around the edge which
makes it more pretty and again more girly. The white font connotes purity which
makes the magazine more cleanly for young females to read.
Date, Price and Barcode = ‘9
September 2014, £3.99’ –
monthly subscription.
Main headline = uses bright colors to appeal to
young females and make the circle stand out
more and the info inside the circle. The circle
shape also stands out as most other things are
square. It could be the shape of a bubble which is
fun and interesting instead of squares which can
be the shape of a brick which isn't so fun.
Colloquial or slang language has
been used by the word ‘lot’ to
appeal to the younger target
audience, as they might use more
slang than adults. ‘social climbers’
(Maslow) would find this
appealing as it suggests that the
reader will gain more information
through reading this magazine,
therefore would know more than
others which gives them an
advantage to others who haven’t
bought the magazine.
The magazine cover overall uses a lot of
bright, stereotypically girly colours to
appeal to the target audience of
younger pre-teen or early teen female
girls. It also makes the page look more
fun and attractive, therefore more
enjoyable to read. The colours include:
hot pink; yellow; blue and white. These
colours connote a very happy, exciting
and safe feel to the magazine,
therefore making it appeal more to the
target audience.
Main image = popular
people from girls’
favourite boy bands to
make the magazine look
more fun, interesting
and enjoyable. Each of
the boys in the main
image is star appeals
from popular bands. The
reader can then see that
the magazine knows who
is most popular and that
they know what they’re
talking about so
therefore it would be a
good magazine.
‘Pops’ the sub-genre is pop
music.

10. The title has used a pun
in the title to appeal to
the target audience as
puns are never serious,
portraying that the
magazine and the
interview isn’t very
serious. This makes it
more light hearted for
the audience, which
makes them want to
read the article more.
This bold heading of the
interview takes up almost
half of the page, making it
seem like the title is just as
important as the actual
interview. This suggests
that the interview isn’t
important. The reader then
thinks that the interview
will be fun, entertaining
and casual, which is just
what a teen magazine
should be.
On this page there is a big picture which
almost fills up the whole page. The reader
sees this and instantly knows who the
interview is about and knows that there
isn't much reading because the space is
filled up with a picture. This attracts the
reader to read the article because not all
teenagers like reading heavy paragraphs a
two or more pages of an interview.
This magazine also has
images in line with the text
as well. This makes the more
interesting, there is less to
read and more to look at.
They also show the reader
more about Ariana’s lifestyle,
which attracts caregivers
(Maslow) who will be able to
feel that they could connect
with the star more, through
seeing personal pictures of
them.
The layout of the interview is clear to the
reader as the questions are highlighted in
bold and in pink whereas the answers
aren't in bold and their colour is black.
Some words in specific have been
highlighted, for example “I would rather
swallow my own head!” this could have
been done because its certain more
interesting words that stand out from the
others that might be more important, for
example her favourite drink. This portrays
quite an informal language as that is the
language more frequently used by
pre/young female teens. The words: “I’d
rather swallow my own head!” have also
been used as one of the main quotes on
the double page spread. The editors chose
this line because it’s strange but funny,
which young teens always find amusing
and interesting to read.
The colour scheme of this page is
white, pink and black. These three
colours together are very pretty and
girly which reflects the star’s
personality, as well as the black
being used for the main text so that
it is clear and easy to read.

11. Content
• The content of both magazines contains interviews,
posters and details of bands in the charts and other
stars. It also includes fashion trends and tips, beauty
tips and lifestyle tips. The magazine will normally come
with a free gift and poster of a band or pop start.
There are also articles about the pop stars, quizzes,
horoscopes and song lyrics.
• On the front covers the magazine usually specify that
they will cover: ‘Gossip, Cringes, Shopping, Boys’.
Clearly without having to look inside the mag or read
anything else we know what the magazine will be
about.

12. Meanings In the product and
Frequency
• The magazines have a quite happy, cheery,
innocent and commercialized identity therefore
making it a dominant ideology.
• I can see this from the colour scheme and the
variety of fun fonts used throughout the
magazine, for example, the pinks and yellows
which connote happiness and are girly colours.
• Both are monthly subscription, 12 copies a year.
Top of the Pops readership is around the 298,000
mark and their circulation is between 216,954
and 225,000.

13. Target audience
• Uses and gratifications (Katz)
– Either inform and educate or personal relations
ship. Inform and educate as the reader may learn
something new about pop star or band that they
didn’t before by reading the magazine. Personal
relationship because by reading the magazine, you
can build an admiration for a certain star or band.

14. Target audience
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
– Either social climbers or care givers. Social
climbers because girls will feel that if they know
more about certain stars or bands they are more
privileged than others who may not know as
much. Care givers because girls may feel engaged
with and/or sympathetic towards a star or band.

15. Target audience
• Demographics
– The audience will be most likely in group E
because they will be too young even top get a
Saturday job yet as they're still in school.

16. Psychographics
The audience for my magazine will be aspirers because young girls are interested in
who’s most interested in who’s most popular and who isn’t, image appearance and
fashion. This is why I will focus more no colour and puffs to make my magazine appeal
more to the target audience.

17. Production Process
Process:
• Decide date of publication,
– Once the date for the release of my magazine has been chosen I will then be
working with a schedule which is in the slide after this.
• Manage a schedule,
– This is where my schedule will be managed and decided which is what
everyone will have to work against.
• Decide the over all budget,
– The editorial team will choose what topics that will be included in the
magazine, then look at how much money we have and decide a final budget for
the production of whole magazine.
• Decide content that will be included,
– At this stage journalists and reporters do a lot of research about the topics and
content that will be included in the magazine, interviews will be arranged and
artwork/ graphics are also worked on at this stage.
• Edit the magazine
– We edit the magazine to make sure all facts are correct, checking spelling and
grammar and the house-style is carried out.
http://hosbeg.com/the-magazine-
production-process/

18. Production Process
• Decide the layout of all the pages,
– The editorial team then choose the layout of each page in the
magazine and which order they should all go in. To do this, the main
programme that is used is InDesign. Adverts are also placed in the
magazine at this point.
• Proofreading,
– Once a hardcopy of the magazine has been printed, editors will look
through it and find and correct any mistakes.
• Send file of the magazine to the printer,
– Once proofread, the DTP file of the fully finished magazine will be
sent to the printer. If the editors approve he printing, the printer will
then start mass printing.
• Distribution.
– The magazines are neatly packed and sent to a warehouse where the
magazines are distributed and then sold to the public.
http://hosbeg.com/the-magazine-
production-process/

19. Retail Outlets
• Top of the Pops and We Love Pop magazine can
be found in almost every local corner shop, as
well as more commonly known shops like WH
Smiths, the Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Tesco's and many
others.

20. Further Research

21. Content, Circulation and Frequency
• The content of the magazine contains interviews,
posters and details of bands in the charts and
other stars. It also includes fashion trends and
tips, beauty tips and lifestyle tips. The magazine
will normally come with a free gift and poster of a
band or pop start. There are also articles about
the pop stars, quizzes, horoscopes and song
lyrics.
• We Love Pop is a monthly magazine, with the
circulation of 115,000

22. Main image= a pop star who
is well known so the reader
can then see that the
magazine knows who is most
popular and that they know
what they’re talking about
so it will be a good magazine
to read.
Barcode, price, date,
publisher logo
‘You need this mag!’
grabs the readers
attention and makes
them think they need it.
Verbal code ‘Exclusive!’
makes reader more
interested in what will be
in the magazine.
Strapline= more exciting
words highlighted in
pink
Main Headline= has a 3D effect and two different
contrasting colours (blue and pink) which is both girly
and funky so will relate to the target audience.
Colloquial language has
been used by the word
‘Whopper’ to appeal to
the younger target
audience, as they would
find these type of words
funnier and use them
more themselves rather
then adults.
Masthead= simple font,
which wont be hard to
read for young girls, hot
pink heart instead of the
word ‘love’ makes the
magazine more casual
and fun as young girls
always doodle heart and
use them when writing
about their crush, for
example. The speech
box also makes the
magazine seem more
fun because it relates to
text messaging which
girls do a lot of. The
utopian hot pink
background stands out
from the page which
brings attention to the
masthead.
‘Pop’ is the
sub-genre
of music.

23. The heading of the interview is bold and takes up half a
page, which suggests the title is just as important as
the actual interview. This suggests that the interview
isn't important so the reader denotes that the
interview will be quite fun and light hearted which is
what a teen magazine should be.
On this page there is a big picture which takes up the whole
page. The reader sees this and instantly knows who the
interview is about and knows that there isn't much to read
because the space is filled up with a picture. This attracts the
reader to read the article because a lot of teens don’t like to
read much and have a shorter attention span than adults. This
image of the star is fun and different from the others which
makes her stand out so that the readers will think that the
interview will be fun and interesting.
This magazine also has an image in
line with the text with the text. This
makes the text more interesting, as
there is less to read and more to look
at. The font used for the questions is
bold and pink, and the answers are in
black, some which are highlighted so
it makes the readers think there even
more interesting content for the
reader to read.
This interview uses a drop capital
and a utopian pink coloured box
behind it which makes the page
look more interesting and stand
out by following conventions.
Stand first to summarize the
article. This is good for readers
because if they just want to scan
it quickly without reading the
whole interview, they can read
this paragraph (outlined in bold
to stand out) and get the same
information, just not as in depth.