Existing pop magazines

Front cover examples

Front cover analysis

The conventions of a pop magazine tend to use mainly women celebrities to attract the audience as this genre is usually read by teenage girls. The cover images being women help to attract the girls because they will see people who they idolise and want to know more about them. The title is usually covered by the model so that it is ensured that the model is the first thing the audience look at. It is also ensured that the model is using direct address. This is done either when the model is smiling to make them look friendly or when they look serous to make them look interesting. Pop magazines tend to use tokenism when using a male because teenage girls using feel more comfortable, although, teenage girls would also be intrigued by a male idol on the cover. On the majority of pop magazines also have the anchorage text across the cover image which uses layering, this is mainly used for younger audiences because it shows the pop industry is busy which is what they like. Pop magazines for younger audiences use lighter colours to show they are friendly whereas pop magazines for more mature audiences use darker colours. This is also followed by sensual poses by the models and to create sex appeal.

Contents page examples

Contents page analysis

Contents pages of the pop genre still usually use only images of women, possibly for the same reason as the covers. Although, male celebrities are seen more on the contents pages than the covers, this is because the audience may not be attracted at first sight at males as much as females, but they will be interested in reading about them. A lot of contents pages use the Z rule to make sure the audience see the main points of the contents page first. For example, in my first contents page on the previous slide this method is used. This is so that you can clearly see the title, the actual contents of the magazine and then the pictures, to give an overview of who it will include. In the majority of magazines the pictures will not dominate, this is to get the attention in the right place. The pictures do not always have any importance but will always be present.

Double page spread examples

Double page spread analysis

The conventions of double page spreads can be very diverse. Pop magazines use speech bubbles a lot to express how the celebrities want to perceived. It is usually light colours although there are sometimes dark colours used so that it is different and makes the audience want to read it. There is either one main picture of the celebrity the article is talking about, or lots of little pictures which can relate to more in depth sections of the article. Also, some double page spreads have the writing on one side and the main image on the other, showing the importance of the celebrity. Although, if an article is like this then the writing is usually smaller, this portrays to the audience that the magazine feel prouder because they have the celebrity and now about their article. Double page spreads also rely on the 3 colour pallet rule, this is because if there are anymore colours then it would probably take the attention away from the article.