Contents Textual Analysis

This magazine contents page is from the magazine Marie Claire which is an international magazine published monthly aimed at women. Marie Claire covers health, beauty and fashion. The contents page is split up into two different parts. The features section which has articles that appears in only that magazine. The other section is regular features which appear in every issue’s such as a problem page or fashion does and don’ts. Some magazine contents are split into sections to make it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for. This magazine contents page is split into four different sections; ‘On The Cover’, ‘Beauty News’, ‘Fashion Features’ and ‘Style Files’. The colours used on the contents page are mainly white (as the background) red titles and black text. Even the picture used has a white building in the background and the model is wearing a black long shirt and a white and black jacket. The lighting in the photo is used to create shadows from the building and the woman. The person in the photo on the contents page is a woman who appears to be Italian and it also looks like by the design and style of the building that this photo was also taken in Italy. The clothes the model is wearing in the picture is a long black skirt held up with a black belt and a big silver buckle. She is also wearing a denim shirt with a white and black cardigan. All the text is on the left hand side of the contents page which is the most important side of the contents page. The image is the only image on the page and is set across the right hand side of the contents page. The shot distance of the model is a full body image. The camera angle is the same height as the model, who is looking straight at us. The light in the image appears to be natural. It looks almost like the sun has risen and it is now coming up to mid-day.

With the contents laid out with all the text on the left hand side and the picture on the right hand side this shows the normal layout of a magazine. This is because on magazine front covers the important part of the magazine is the left third and this is why on the contents page the text is all in the left third of the image. The model is posing, leaning on a post in the picture the way she is holding herself shows that she is classy and modelling is her job and she takes it very seriously. This is shown by her facial expression, it says that she is serious about this article and isn't just messing around. Her facial expression also shows us that she is flaunting herself because she knows she is good looking and that is the reason she got the job. The contents page is going to be aimed at the same audience as the front cover of the magazine, older teens to middle aged women. The magazine has an overall classy look and this is shown here in the contents page displaying the articles out in an order, any aged people can look quickly and find what they are looking for. The colours used are most probably the same colours on the front of the magazine. This is so that the colour theme of the magazine is continued through-out the whole magazine. Overall the magazine is what the editors intended for target audience, of which are aged from 20 upwards. The brand identity of the magazine is continued through-out the magazine, for example the masthead is a recognisable icon, in a font that is used on every magazine that is published but in different colours. On a shelf in a shop the magazine masthead is the most visible to consumers, because it is in the top third of the magazine where it can be seen the easiest.  

Magazine Textual Analysis

This is a front cover of Company magazine latest issue, which is for November 2014. The magazine uses three to four main colours. The colour black is the main colour used for all of the text on the front cover. However there are a few other colours used such as a dull yellow colour used as boxes around the main headings. There is also a pale baby blue colour used are around the main title ‘pretty little liars’. It looks like a teenager’s magazine with lots of different things going on the front cover such as the many images of different styles of coats. The magazine uses a variety of different types of fonts, three in total. Lucy is wearing very basic clothes the shorts are black and the top is nude both neutral colours whereas the coat she is wearing has a variety of different colours. Lucy’s makeup is also neutral with basic black eyeliner and bronze eye shadow.

The colour scheme appeals to a target audience that are older teens. The colours used portray a classy overall look meaning that the magazine is aimed at more of an older generation more so older high school students and college students. This particular article is interviewing Lucy who is an actress in a TV series based in America called Pretty Little Liars. This TV show is also aimed at older high school students and college students as well. All the different colours are all neutral and basic colours as well that all goes together and have a warm appeal to them. The typography is a hand written style which again appeals to the target audience. The masthead “COMPANY” is the brand identity and appears in the same font but in different colours every addition. The font of the masthead is the same font every time because customers recognise the font and associate it with the magazine. By recognising the masthead the customers recognise the brand identity. The main image is a medium shot of Lucy where you can see from the bottom of her thighs upwards. The shot of her is subjective which means that the Lucy is making eye contact with the reader. Lucy is wearing very plain, basic but neutral clothes that go with the basic colour scheme of the magazine. The main headline appears to be “the aw13 coat edit” this is most likely to be the main article in the magazine. Putting photos on the front of the magazine of new season coats with entice the customer to buy the magazine and read about the new fashion for the fall. Normally the magazine will have the person on the front cover, with their name in big bold letters to catch the reader’s attention. However on this front cover Lucy’s name and the TV series she plays a part in, is rather small and also on the right hand side, where as it would normally be on the left hand side. It could make the feature article less important than the left side feature articles. Compared to the other cover lines. However the picture itself of her is enough to draw in the reader because they know that there will be an article about Lucy in the magazine. Overall the magazine is very feminine colours all round, such as the hot pink masthead and the pale pink background as well as the pastel coloured puffs. Everything is targeted towards older teen girls.

Magazine Textual Analysis

Instyle magazine is a woman’s fashion magazine which is published monthly in the United States. This magazine front cover uses the colours pink for its main colour, black for the majority of the writing on the front, white and burgundy for the rest of the text on the front. Green is also used as the background colour in the puff; this is then also tied in with the green jewelled bracelet. The magazine uses the same two fonts on the front cover. Unlike the other magazine this magazine vastly uses the colour white as a main colour. The magazine masthead stays the same font and colour on almost every issue of the magazine. However the background boxes of the masthead changes colour every issue to set off a colour theme.  The magazine is classy and formal as well. The colour pink is a feminine colour and is used a lot on products because the colour appeals to girls. Although it uses the colour pink a lot, the magazine is aimed at older teens and perhaps people in their early 20s. The image on the front cover is of Gwen Stefani which is also the only image on the front cover. Gwen Stefani is an American pop singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. What I can see of her, she is wearing a pink strapless dress, which also matches the colour of her lipstick and six different colour bangles. One of which matches her dress and another one matches the puff just below the masthead. The dress she is wearing also shows off her class and that she has grown up from being a young and single girl, to becoming a wife and mum to three children. This appeals to the target audience because her fans and consumers of this magazine in general can relate to her as they have also grown up listing to her music and have now grown up themselves.

The magazine also features other articles shown on the cover in bigger text then Gwen Stefani’s name. This is because with just a big picture of her on the front cover the picture alone will draw in consumers to read the magazine. The cover line about Gwen Stefani says ‘on fame, family & fashion’ this is one of the most recent interviews she has done, where she is now producing her own clothing line and looking after he family. By her talking about her clothing line she is promoting her business, as well as showing that it is possible for mums to work and look after their family at the same time. This can help relate to the target audience because some readers of this magazine maybe mums or people who are trying to balance jobs, relationships and life and by Gwen Stefani opening up and showing how she balances it all it could make readers want to aspire to be like her. The masthead ‘Instyle’ appears on every cover, in the same font and the majority of the time in the colour white. This represents the magazine and the company it is owned by which it Time Inc. this is its brand identity. Consumers will see the masthead and associate it with the brand identity. The main image is of Gwen Stefani lying down and only the top half of her visible this is called a top half image.  This is an image of her from chest upwards. The main cover line is ‘Best online shopping’ they have chosen to do an article about this because shopping online is becoming more popular and by them doing an article about a few websites you will like it interests the consumer and makes them want to read the article. Overall the editors have designed the magazine so that it appeals to the target audience aged from teenagers upwards. This magazine is designed with a band identity that the masthead is always the same font but just in a different colour for each magazine it is continued through-out the magazine to develop and maintain the brand identity. 

The Magazine Industry

Every year roughly 8,000 magazines titles are published in Britain. They can be categorised into seven different sectors. They are; Consumer, Business/Trade, Customer Magazines, Staff Magazines, Newspaper Supplements, Part Works and Academic Journals. 1.4 billion magazines are sold each year. This has decreased as in 1970 2.1 billion magazines were sold. There are 3,212 consumer magazines in the UK and they reach 87% of the total adult population. It is predicted that UK consumers will spend £2.5 billion on magazines this year. In 2008 advertising company’s spent £745 million on advertising in magazines.

The picture on the left is the top ten selling magazines in the UK. The top two magazines are TV Choice and What’s on TV and they are both in the category of TV Listings. As well as number four which is the Radio Times that also is a TV listing. However number three and from number six downwards all the magazines are either Woman’s weeklies or Women’s monthlies. This goes to show that the majority of the top selling magazines are Woman’s magazines. The only magazine that is different from the rest is Slimming World Magazine at number five which is in the category of Health & parenting.

A lot of magazines in the magazine industry are moving to using apps and allowing consumers to download the issue instead of buying it as a paper version. This is why there is a decline of paper sales and an increase in paper sales. This just goes to show that the magazine industry are moving into different areas of the market and are keeping up with the development of technology

Magazine Textual Analysis

This is a magazine cover taken from a country magazine that comes out weekly. The magazine cover uses the colours gold’s and yellows as well as bright green. This colours are mostly all associated with autumn the seasons moving from autumn to winter. The green is used for a box around Luke Bryan's name to tie in with the grass. The magazine uses a variety of different types of fonts. One for the magazine masthead which doesn't change and is the same for every issue. Another font for Luke’s name in bold and two other different types of fonts for the cover line and other cover headings. The magazine it’s self is a very formal adult’s magazine and based on people who listen and like country music. The main image is of Luke Bryan a famous country singer in a park with his two sons. Luke and his eldest son are both wearing blue checked shirts and blue denim jeans. This is the more typical clothes people who sing country music wear. There is also another picture on the front cover of another country singer holding an award. This is labelled with the heading ‘Behind the scenes at the CMA Awards.’

The colour theme appeals to a lot of a variety of people who listen to country music. With the colours being tied in with the new season, (autumn) they are colours most people would expect around at this time. The magazine is aimed at people who listen to country music and have an interest in country music. This article mainly features an interview from Luke Bryan who is a well-known American country singer who is now also bringing out a clothing range in America with the clothing company Cabela’s Inc. Luke is producing a clothing line that will appeal to his fans and possibly others who like to wear his clothing or clothes similar and therefore may start listening to his music because if this. The masthead ‘Country Weekly’ appears in the same font but sometimes different colours because it is a brand identity. When potential buyers see the masthead they can associate it with the brand identity. The main image is of Luke Bryan and his two sons which is a full body image. The shot of them is subjective as both Luke and his eldest son are both looking at the camera. Luke and his sons are wearing very simple clothes which go with the autumn colour theme. The cover line on the front reads ‘The rising star opens up about meeting his wife, what it means to be a good dad and the biggest year of his life’ just from this cover line we know the interview with him is mainly going to be about him and his family life and only a bit about his successful year with his music. It will be more of a chatty friend informal interview then a serious formal one, about his career and only his career. With the other picture on the cover with a cover line about the Country Music Awards readers know that there will be other articles in the issue talking about music. So for the more serious people into music there are articles about music and the awards people have got for their work. Overall the magazine has a friendly appealing look to it which the audience can relate too. This magazine was designed with the meaning behind it that readers would be able find out more about Luke's and his personal life and what he does when he isn't singing and performing. This magazine is aimed at the people who listen and like country music as well as Luke's fans.

Preliminary Task; Contents Page