Textual Analysis Front Covers

This magazine i am analysing is called NME, it is a indie, rock magazine. It is a British magazine that is published and released every week. The language used on this front cover, and throughout the magazine, is very informal and the layout on the front cover is very compact. There is a big headline that reads 'LILY ALLEN TAKES ON THE WORLD' this is done in bigger bolder fonts that the other headline and plugs on the page. The colour of this main headline is black and white. A white font on a black background, this helps the headline stand out even more because of the contrast of colours. Red and yellow are also used on the front cover, again these colours are bright, and eye catching which encourages the audience to buy the magazine because they are able to see clearly what is going on in the magazine and who they are talking about. Representation of colours are also used, red, black and white, represent the genre of rock because they are stereotypically related to rock. These 3 colours help give the magazine a more dramatic edge to the stories, and help it stand out.
The audience of this magazine is:
Male = 69%
Female = 31%
Average age = 24
Working full time = 52%
Working part time = 7%
Students = 29%
abc1 = 65%
http://www.ipcmedia.com/mediainfo/nme.pdf

These statistics show that both men and women buy the magazine, however the percentages how that men are more likely to buy it. Lily Allen is also used to attract males, but can also take interest of females, who like her music, which shows that the magazine has no particular target gender. The average age of the people who by the magazine is 24, again this shows us a target audience of quite younger people.
The title of the magazine has been abbreviated to NME from new musical express. By doing this it gives the magazine a much shorter, catcher and noticeable name for the magazine. It also allows the audience to remember the magazine name, because it is short. This magazine features different types of music genres, however focuses on a rock and indie genre more than others. On the front cover, the picture of Lily Allen represents the rock genre by the costume and lighting used.Her hair is darker and the costume used is red which is also a stereotypical colour for the rock genre. The lighting used makes Lily's face much lighter than it would be, which makes the dark makeup around her eyes stand out allot more than it would of done if the lighting wasn't so bright, again this gives the magazine a much more rock image, even though the songs Lily Allen sings are not the rock genre. It helps establish to the audience what type of magazine this is, and what is featured inside it.



This second magazine i am analysing is Rolling Stone. This magazine features all different music genres. It originates from America, and normally features American artists, and actors/actress's, politics and popular culture and is published every 2 weeks. The magazine colours, are much more suttle than the ones used on the NME cover, They include a grey/blue coloured background and, the colours for the headlines are either, red, black, white and a light blue. It is also less crowed with headlines than NME. The main picture is of Angelina Jolie, she is an actress from America. By using actors featured in the magazine it appeals to much larger audience, because if a customer wasn't much into music, but liked films, this magazine could appeal to them as well. The magazine has an advantage by doing this.
The main picture is covering part of the masthead, this gives the impression that the magazine is so well known it doesn't need to show all of the masthead, it establishes how popular the magazine is. The picture also establishes what gender this magazine is aimed for, by using an attractive female, male are more likely to buy the magazine therefore, the magazines main audience depends on who and what is on the front of the magazine. For this particular magazine, men are more likely to buy it because it has an women on it, however if it featured an attractive male on the front, women would be more likely to buy. Therefore the audience of this magazine varies on the features of each magazine published every 2 weeks. This also gives the magazine an advantage of gender audiences and the a variety of storeys, and features they can include in the magazine, making the magazine alot more interesting and popular.
The headline 'The HOT list 99' is the most eye catching of all the headlines included on the front cover. All the words in this headline are all different colours, 'The' is coloured black and is rather small font, were as the word 'HOT' is the biggest in the headline and is bright red, this is a stereotypical colour for the word Hot, as many things that are hot, go red, for example, fire ect. Also the colour red, is linked to romance and sex, and in this case the context the word 'hot' is referring to is on how attractive the people are, featured in a list.
The main picture, of Angelina Jolie is placed in the centre of the page, with headlines placed around here, along the sides of the page. By doing this, Angelina dominates the whole page in contrast with the headlines, therefore the feature of her which is included in the magazine is much more important than other, and is the main story. Also the 'THE HOT LIST '99' headline could be referring to Angelina Jolie, and may indicate that she is featured in the list. We could suggest this by the way she is posing, in a seductive way, and is also wearing very little, therefore men would see her as 'hot'



Top of the pops is aimed at young teens aged 12 - 15 years old and has said to be the best top selling young teen gossip magazine.
The magazine includes a pop star interview and a picture on the front cover, gossip, fashion trends and beauty tips. It also includes a poster of a popular celebrity which is aimed so that readers will pin it to there walls. Top of the pops regularly use bright colours such as bold, pinks and yellows, colours which stand out. The colour pink is very frequently used on the front cover, which tells us about the gender of the audience the magazine is mainly aimed at young girls, we know this because the colour pink is a stereotypical colour which represents girls.
The use of bright, bold colours is also used so that the magazine is in contrast against other magazines, it draws the eyes of the audiences, attracting buyers. The poster included within the magazine acts as a entertaining, treat for the audience, this will also attract buyers. On the front of the magazine, the front cover establishes who the celebrity is this week by putting a main image of that celebrity directly in the middle of the front cover, which in this case is the newest winner of X Factor, Alexandra Burke and its main headline underneath the picture of Alexandra is 'HOW I BEAT MY BULLIES' This could be seen as giving advice to the audience by the use of a iconic celebrity. Also The X Factor was a very popular show, and the fact Alexandra won it means that she is popular, therefore buyers are more likely to buy the magazine.
As well as the main image, the front cover consists of other stories that are included in the magazine, informing of that other stuff is in the magazine which persuades buyers. They has also included The Jonas Brothers' and JLS (x factor finalist) Which are also very popular with the targeted audience, encouraging them more to buy the magazine. It Also includes a A-list looks to buy count down, which indicates fashion which is also very popular with the target audience.
Alexandra Burke image is covering part of the title 'Top of the pops' which also indicates, that the magazine is confident enough to do this, because the magazine is well known.