The Masthead

The magazines mast head is written in bold display font to grab the reader’s attention and

making the magazine stand out. It replaces the word ‘love’ with a heart shape to make the

magazine title appear more fun and exciting rather than it all being in text. This is unusual

for a magazine to do as it may be seen as informal, however, in this case it makes the mast

head stand out more and grab attention as an audience would rather be presented with

visual than pure text. The masthead also clearly shows the genre of the magazine so the TA

is straight away drawn in and can understand this is a pop magazine.

It is written in black font to make it look demanding and to make it stand out from all the

other bright colours which surround the magazine so we can clearly see this is the

masthead.

The Image

The image dominates the entire front cover and fills the page. It is centred so we can see

who the main artist is and what the main sell line is. On this particular magazine, the artist

featured is a typical girl pop group; The Saturdays, they are shown with their typical star

image. They are dressed in bright, fun and vibrant colours such as oranges and pastel

colours. This gives them an exciting look, these colours are also typical pop colours.

They all have the same shocked, surprised facial expression with their mouths slightly

opened making them look

The fashion Section

There is a fashion section shown in the bottom left corner with the headline ‘The Top Ten

Trainers’ the use of alliteration gives it a chatty and catchy tone. So the reader is able to

look and remember this. Underneath is a small slogan saying ‘Go on treat your feet!’ direct

address is used to give the magazine a friendly feel as if it is talking to them, intriguing the

reader making them want to read more. It also rhymes, making the slogan become catchy

and slightly humorous. A young teenage audience would like this as it creates a softer tone

and makes it more memorable.

The Skyline

Unlike usual magazines, the skyline is positioned along the top of the magazine in a strip of

bright colour. Yet, this magazine breaks this layout convention. It is positioned just about

the mast head, it states ‘Girls Fashion! Boys uncensored!’ some of this is cut off by a puff

saying ‘1D….’

The Left Hand Third

The left hand third is conventionally where we usually see the main headlines, besides the

main sell line. All of the sub headlines are in line with each other, therefore this front cover

magazine convention is met. The reader is presented with an image and beside it is a

headline which relates to the image. The first image is of Justin Bieber who is a pop artist he

is young and has hundreds of thousands of young, teenage girl fans. This is therefore not

shocking to see him feature on the cover of a ‘We heart pop’ magazine, where they aim to

attract young teenage girls as there TA. In the image he has a shocked facial expression with

his mouth open. Next to the image is the headline ‘Do you want to see me GRUMPY?’ as if

Justin Bieber is saying it himself. The image links well with the headline as his facial

expression suggests the audience do not want to see him grumpy. There is use of direct

address here as well as the word ‘you’ is mentioned. Making the audience feel as if Bieber is

talking to them directly. The fact it is in speech marks also suggests the idea he is speaking

to them and asking them the question directly. The word ‘GRUMPY’ is capitalised to grab

attention and create intrigue. This would interest the audience and make them wonder

what has made him grumpy, making them buy the magazine to read more!

Underneath this headline is a small caption which says ‘Meet Bieber the diva’ the rhyme of

this sentence is catchy and fun, adding to the style of the magazine which is a fun and

vibrant feel.

Next, is an image of The Wanted’s star Max. The image of him also links to the caption as it

states ‘Are The Wanted really poor?’ his confused facial expression goes well with this as he

is he too looks shocked by this like the reader would be. It again, creates interest and makes

the reader feel like he is speaking to them. The caption underneath says ‘We investigate’

the word ‘We’ is used to make the reader feel they are part of the magazine community as

the magazine is investigating, but literally, the reader will to.

Finally, the last sell line is ‘Drama at Download’. It uses alliteration to make it seem catchy

and fun to allow the reader to look and remember it quickly. Underneath is a caption saying

‘Your date with Richard Wister, he is another teen, who young girls may look up to and like.

Direct address is used again here, to make the reader feel like it is her date with him as she

is being spoken to directly.

The use of attractive males is used to attract teen girls who may find them attractive and

would want to read about them. This would increase the sales of the magazine.

Each sell line in the left hand third is written in a bright, sky blue colour to add to the

colourful theme of the magazine and to make it look fun and exciting, it is also the same

blue which has been used in both of the puffs to make it look professional and neat. Yet, it

has also been used to make it stand out and grab attention. As the caption underneath is

written in a smaller font and in black to show it is not as important as the sell line which

features above it.

The Puff

There are two puffs which feature on this magazine cover which is unusual and there is

normally only one which would feature on the top left or top right. In this case, the puff in

the top left is a sky blue colour, like the other puff and it is also the same colour as the three

sell lines which feature in the left hand third. This has been created to give the magazine a

professional look. The writing is written in white to make it stand out and create contrast

with the blue, but still makes it look professional. It contains the words ’12-page 1D pull out

spesh’ , this would attract One Direction fans as there would be unlimited amount of gossip

and pictures all about One Direction. They are also a hugely popular pop band therefore, it

is important they feature on the cover as they relate to the genre the magazine specialises

in. The abbreviation of One Direction to 1D, would attract there top fans as they would be

familiar with this. It also makes the reader feel the magazine understands them like a friend

would. It has also shortened the word special into ‘spesh’ this gives a chatty tone to the

magazine which is important as many young teens would speak to their friends using

shortened words like this. It also suits the style of the magazine. The ‘1D’ is written in a

larger and bolder font than the rest of the writing so that it stands out and grabs attention.

The second puff is the same circular shape as the other one to create a tidy link and to make

it look professional, it is also the same colour. Yet rather than the text being white it is black.

This allows it to still stand out yet, it has been written in a different colour to show the puffs

are both about different things. Inside the puff it says ‘Girl Power Posters’. This links to the

TA as the target audience of this magazine is young females; therefore they would like the

idea of girl power and feel as if they can relate to this, which is one of Blumler and Katz five

benefits, this one being identifying with others. Also, the fact ‘Girl Power’ is written in bold

makes it sand out more than the word ‘posters’ to grab all the girls attention and make

them read on. It is as if the magazine is talking directly to its TA. The fact ‘Girl Power’ is

written in bold could also make girl’s look and feel powerful and strong. This breaks

stereotypes as to women seeing to be weaker than men.

Behind the puff are two images containing female pop artists such as Taylor Swift, Rita Ora,

Katy Perry and Cher Lloyd. The images have been made to look like posters as they have a

white border around the edge, so they link to the text. The fact they are all pop artists link

to the genre of the magazine which is a convention of front covers. Also, they are all young

female artists, this would attract the TA as they would look up to these celebrities and

would want to be like them, therefore, the idea that inside the magazine contains posters of

their idols would increase sales. Each of the artists appears looking directly into the camera,

which is an example of direct address another common convention of music magazines. This

makes the reader feel they are being looked at directly luring them in. They appear happy

and smiling which is typical for pop music magazines to feature these types of images as it

goes well with the happy and young feel allowing it to suit the style and genre of the

magazine.

Lastly, we are presented with the barcode in the bottom right corner. It is a convention for

the barcode to normally feature here as it is the least important thing on the front cover,

therefore, it is placed here as it is where the human eye goes to last. The idea is so that the

reader and audience who are looking to buy a music magazine are so excited and lured in by

all the magazine has to offer, the last thing presented to them should be the price. This

means they have already read everything on the front cover and would be excited to read

more. This is why the barcode is placed here.