Magazine analysis research

 

Two magazines about real life stories

Take A Break Magazine

Front Cover

• The masthead of the magazine uses white text on a read background with these two colours complementing each other. The colours typically draw in a female audience rather than a male audience.
• The main front cover image uses direct address from the female’s eyes as it looks as if the female is looking directly at the consumer. The layout shows that all the stories are fitted around this women’s face to suggest that she is the centre image and attracting the potential buyer
• These other stories on the left-hand side of the magazine could also be relatable to the audience which could entice them to buy the magazine.
•  The main cover line on the front cover of the magazines stands out with the large text size and the bold red and black writing on a yellow background suggesting the thought of the use of the colour palette. Key words like ‘shot’ and ‘unborn’ ‘baby’ are in different colour text to the ret of the main cover line to attract the consumer with words that could play on the emotions of the reader.
• The main front cover image uses direct address from the female’s eyes as it looks as if the female is looking directly at the consumer. The layout shows that all the stories are fitted around this women’s face to suggest that she is the centre image and attracting the potential buyer.
• The lighting shone on the females face as if to suggests the power she upholds.  

Contents

• Within the contents page the big and bold  writing stands out and contrasts against the background. This gives the reader another story that might appeal to them.

• They have big questions that are talked about every day by the media to welcome and allow the reader of the magazine to voice their opinion. This suggests the connection that the magazine is trying to build with the consumer.

• They also include little sections written by 'professional' voicing their opinion to allow the consumer to see all sides of the story.

Heat Magazine

• The use of clothing and influencers suggests the audience demographic that they’re are aiming their product towards.

• The use of famous celebrities within the front cover of the magazine (for example:  Gemma Collins and Katie Price suggests the type of audience that they’re trying t interact with. These famous faces connect with the consumer and draws them in to buy the magazine and reads more about what is the latest gossip around them.
• The advert suggests their audience demographic as it appeals toward women. The small message in italic white writing n the pink background reads ‘for every body’ suggesting the intertextuality of not just the product diversity that they are advertising, but the magazine diversity shows the range of women that they are directing this to.
• The layout of the magazine is quite hectic and not orderly set out as different stories are covering certain parts of other stories. This suggests intersexuality that the stories that they are reporting on are hectic, busy and are almost like breaking news as such.
• The use of colour palette of big and bold white letting on this magazine suggests the main story that they are pushing across towards the readers.

Contents

• The use of famous celebrities on the contents page such as Justin Bieber and Mylie Cyrus suggests the type of audience that they are trying t interact with. They use certain types of photos to correspond with the story that the are writing to suggest the celebrities’ emotions and feelings on the matter.

• The use of the main strapline in the content space in big and bold white and yellow writing stands out on a partial image in the background as it gives the reader an insight on what the text below will be about.

One magazine from any genre

The phrase ‘the king’s gambit’ suggests the intertextuality with the queen gambit (which was a highly talked about show at the time of making this magazine). This suggests that LeBron James (the athlete picoted here) is the controller and starts with the opening moves.

The use of a famous athlete/ celebrity of LeBron James suggests the audience demographic and to draw readers and consumers in.

The use of the bold purple masthead stands out on a bright orange background suggesting its purpose to catch the reader attention.

Contents

The contents page consists of chapters or sections where you can read about other stories within the sporting world. These images below give the reader a rough outline of what could be involved within the newspaper

Audience research

 

·        Who is my typical reader?

As this graph shows, people who already read real-life story magazines are predominantly around thew ages of 16-25 and are female. This suggests that they are the target demographic that want to keep up with all of the daily news and latest gossip on celebrities. In a real-life magazine, readers look for latest updates on their favourite celebrities lives and topics that they can chat to their friends about. Tis content produced by real-life magazines allows them t engage with eth audience. This then allows them to produce offers and abilities to win money or trips somewhere which allows them to further engage with their audience demographic.

Produce an audience/reader profile

Gender – Predominantly Female

Age – 16-25

Education – College/Uni Student

Occupation – Any

Nationality – Predominantly British

In their spare time my target audience enjoys socialising with friends about the new hot topics going on around the world. This involves both national news and celebrity news. As they still may be in education, they will most likely have little money and therefore like to know what fame and celebrity life is like with their favourite celebrity personalities and what they do on their day-to-day livelihood. They like to chat about the latest fashion wear, new events coming up etc due to the popularisation and advertisement of these in the media. 

 

Research into the industry, form and genre

 

Research into the industry, form, and genre

Industry

Who are Bauer?

Bauer Media Group are a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations They also have print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. Bauer has a workforce of approximately 11,000 in 17 countries suggesting that they are a conglomerate. Bauer own lots of big names within media, some magazines that they own are Heat, TV Choice and Grazia. They also own radio stations Kiss and Magic and a television venture with Channel 4, this ranks then as one of the most low-profile media owners in Britain.

 

Form

What is the purpose of cross-media production in magazines?

Cross-Media is something that includes the distribution of content (for examples music, text, pictures, video etc). One often used combination is magazines, mobile devices, and Internet. Magazines in particular uses cross-media production to spread their product out in different ways in order to attract an audience. Big magazine brand like Teen Vogue have websites to promotes and share stories on there as well as real copies. This is to give the brand identity more of an open pathway into exploring different was that cross-media production and synergy, which is the promotion and sale of a product (and all its versions throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate, can help their brand push their product forward using modern-day technology.

Genre

What is a real-life magazine?

A Real-Life story magazine is a story that is a description of imaginary people and events, which is written or told in a story format in order to engage with the reader. Examples of real-life stories that magazines like Bauer have are such as: weight loss, hacks and life skills etc. This allows these types of real-life story magazines to engage with their audience demographic and essentially tell them a story that they would be interested in. This allows the magazine to attract and gain a new audience to sell their products to.

General Research

 

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General Research

How are technical and visual codes used to construct meaning within magazines?

Magazines have a number of key conventions that identify them as magazines. Some codes and conventions within magazines are:

·        The Masthead - This is usually at the top of the page and is the name of the magazine.  This indicates the instant recognisability to the audience as a brand image.

·        The Tag line – This is usually a catchy phrase that represents the brand identity. This is used to attract and grab the audience’s attention in order to produce sales.

·        The Date line – Thus is usually the line for the date of the magazine to indicate when it has been produced.

·        The Main image – This is usually connected to the feature article and appeals to the audience. Again, . This is used to attract and grab the audience’s attention in order to connect with them.

·        The main image is a key signifier of the magazine’s brand identity.  The nature of the image will generally depend on the genre and target audience.  It may be an illustration, or it could be a photographic image.

·        The Main cover line - This is usually the main story in which it is usually in the largest font size and possibly in a different colour to stand out. The use of different sizes and colours is to stand out from the rest of the page to attract the audience.

·        The Cover lines – These are usually quite short and catchy phrases referencing content inside the magazine. This then attracts the reader helping persuade them to buy it.  Their main function is to create an audience interest which is why it is generally placed around the main image to grab the audience’s eye.

·        The Composition and Layout – This is usually the way in which all the elements on the cover are organised; how text, images and shapes are positioned on the page. An example of this would be the rue of thirds. This is when composing the page, with the central image usually in the middle third of the page.  This ensures that it takes up the main part of the page and is the most eye-catching feature.

·        The Typography – This is usually the style and size of font used indicates its relevance. Different font styles can make different interpretations that readers make allowing them to construct their own opinion.

·        The Barcode – This is usually the placement of the barcode used to purchase the product.

·        The Logo – Logo This is usually a recognisable image that runs across every magazine. This logo gives the brand a common and well-known name for itself.

·        Price line – This is the placement of the price.

How do magazines attract an audience?

Magazines attract audiences in many of ways.  One-way magazines do is through relating the stories to the consumer/reader. For example, a magazine like Teen Vogue, their audience demographic includes people aged 18-24 and genderless. This gives them a story to target towards 18–24-year-olds who would be interested in. They also describe themselves as a 'woke brand' and socially aware, this also allows them to relate to their audience demographic. This suggests that relating the stories to the consumers or readers attracts audiences to buy magazines.

Another way magazines attract audiences is through strong and powerful codes and conventions. This can be done through using unusual and compelling photographs is a sure thing to attract readers to the story. This can also e done through font texts and sizes to get the audience’s attention. For example, Teen Vogue use a specific text size and font for the masthead in every magazine suggesting the well-known, global brand. This suggests using strong and powerful codes and conventions attracts audiences to buy magazines.

Another way magazines attract audiences is through globally well-known figures. Magazines get celebrities or famous events in the main image of their front cover to grab and attract the audience’s attention in order for the reader to buy it. An example of this is Teen Vogue, as they get celebrities like Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice and Katy Perry. This suggests that the popular use of globally known, public figures attract audiences to buy magazines.

How do magazines represent social groups?

Social groups are represented in the media, but especially magazines, based on categories of class, age, gender and ethnicity. These are represented through stereotypes within magazines. Stereotypes are one-sided accentuations of a set of characteristics that indicate of a group. Usually within magazines you get lots of gender stereotypes, for example, men and women different characteristics based on their biological sex. For example, men are portrayed as cool and calm and women as emotional. However, in magazines like Teen Vogue who are for the new and younger generation represent women as powerful, strong and independent. This suggests that due to the different audience demographic, views and representations change.

How the industry context impacts a production of a magazine?

Industry context impacts a production of a magazine massively, especially their sales. Magazine sales have been in steady decline since the arrival of the internet. As print editions must compete with online only magazines, magazines face competition from blogging platforms, which provide free content. However, most popular magazines have responded to these changes by publishing their own online editions, which contain some free content and interactive features. Some examples of these interactive features include:

•        Quizzes and questionnaires
•         Comments sections where the reader can interact with the content
•         Videos and podcasts
•         Links to buy the products featured and advertised

Test Post

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