Magazine Analysis and Terminology

(Unit 51) LO4: Be able to design and produce a page layout to meet a brief.

Magazine Analysis and Terminology

Mini Activity

Language of Magazines:

1. Design / layout e.g. graphics, use of colour, images placed in a particular place etc.
2. Typography or Text: size, font, style, amount, alignment
3. Language
4. Persuasive techniques (advertising language)
5. Mode of address e.g. formal/informal; direct address

	Meaning	Examples
•          Alliteration:	This is the repetition of a certain sound in the first syllables of a chain of words or phrases.	This has largely developed through poetry. ’ Carries cat clawed her couch, creating chaos.’
•          Assonance	This is the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences.	‘It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!’
•          Rhyme	This is the repetition of similar sounds within two or more words. This is often used in poetry and songs.	‘I saw a cat, which wore a big hat.’
•          Euphemism	This is a pleasant name for something that is unpleasant.	‘Passed away is a pleasant way of saying someone has died.’
•          Hyperbole AKA Hype	This is the use of exaggeration to create emphasis or effect.	‘I waited in line for years.’
•          Repetition	This is something that has been repeated several times of an action, performance, production or presentation.	‘We listened to the gun fire beyond the walls. We listened to the walls being hit by shrapnel, ricochets, and blind fire; at least it's what I thought it could have been. We listened to the creaking the windows made when they opened and shut due to the wind from the outside.’
•          Rhetorical Questions	This is a figure of speech in the form of a question in which you don’t expect a reply.	‘If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice?’
•          Metaphors	This is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally related to suggest a similarity.	'The goalkeeper was as solid as a rock.’

Mode of Address

•          Formal

•          Informal: Use of slang and Colloquial language, dialects etc.

Direct: using statements, commands or questions

	Meaning	Examples
Statements	A message that is stated or declared  (a kind of expression in language)	A personal statement could be an example of this as to give you an idea on how to structure and describe yourself.
•          Command	This is to be in charge, have authority. (to be ordered)	‘Go to your room and do as your told!’

Using the examples below, identify the range of language and mode of address that has been used on each of these magazine covers. Some covers will have more than one example. You can find these covers on the shared drive in the folder titles ‘Photography and Page Layout and Design’.

Marie Claire
Glamour
Reveal
Yummy Mummy
Time
Bliss
Teen Vogue
Shape

Activity Research Task Go on Bauer Media – click on brands Find the target audience/audience profile for 2 x women’s magazines, 2 x men’s, 2 x special interests Find: age, gender, social class/economic group, ethnicity and  interests Identify the taglines and connotations of them Using Google Images- find magazine covers for 1 x women’s magazine, 1 x men’s and identify genre conventions and any issues that do not fit the conventions i.e. an older woman on the front of a teen fashion magazine.

Heat Magazine

Heat magazine was launched in 2000 and is one of the must have celebrity weeky.

 

The gender of readers who would read this magazine are females as it is a celebrity gossip genre from ages 16 – 35, the social class would be ABC1 which is from higher managerial, profession to intermediate managerial and supervisory or junior managerial. The typical Heat readers are generally in their mid-twenties with a career that is on the up. They enjoy going to the cinema, DVD-renters, internet-users, music-lovers and TV-addicts. They are very smart and productive shoppers especially when it comes to beauty and fashion products.

 

More! Magazine

More! magazine is packed with fashion and high-street bargains which attract the audiences as well as celebrity gossip and real-life stories.

The readers of this magazine are young woman ages 18 – 24 who want more from life. The readers of this magazine are either studying at university or college or maybe even in their early stages of her career but are more interested in finding the man of her dreams. The reader of this magazine is either single or looking for a relationship or has a boyfriend and wants to know how to keep him. She loves hitting the shops and keeping up with the latest fashion and finding the latest high street bargains and going out on a Saturday night and having fun.

ZOO Magazine

ZOO magazine delivers a gripping package of girls, football, bloke news and funny stuff. Its aim is to entertain the readers by making them laugh and keeping them informed about the important things in their lives.

The readers of this magazine are young, single males who see himself as a bit of a ladies man aged 16 – 24. He isn’t worried about the future and is all about living for next party and the next girl. He is a young man that is relatively creative by thought of credit crunches and falling house prices.

Empire Magazine

Empire magazine is one of the world’s biggest movie magazines. Which it describes the biggest and most exciting new movies around and in depth coverage on all aspects of home entertainment.

The readers of this magazine are 76% males who are in the ABC1 social class category. He is a smartly dressed and sophisticated male, who is opinion leading consumers who are always head over heels and ahead of the curve.

Digital Photo Magazine

Digital Photo magazine teaches you how to take and digitally enhance your images.

The readers of this magazine are mostly in the ABC1 social class category who are 87% male readers and are mainly in full time work.

Garden Answers Magazine

Garden Answers magazine is written by real gardeners to be able to share and give the best tips for a beautifully looking garden of your own.

The readers of this magazine are dedicated gardeners aged 40 – 65 years old and are of 75% female readers.

Activity Chose a magazine to analyse and answer the following questions. MAGAZINE ANALYSIS In this task we will deconstruct magazine front covers to see how they have been constructed to appeal to their target audience. Name of Magazine: More! What are the connotations of the masthead? Does it have a double meaning? The masthead doesn’t have a double meaning to it, as it is only shown in black for the title of the magazine to stand out. Describe the Masthead’s style, colour, shape and font. The masthead is in black font colour, the shape of its bold but is rather small for the title if the magazine but is still visible to see. Does it have a Tagline? What does it suggest about the magazine? N/A Describe the layout? Where the cover star in relation to the Masthead is, is it partially obscured or fully visible? The layout of the magazine is that it has a lot of font on the cover in bold colours that stand out such as black, pink and white. The fonts are at a size which the magazine and stories are able to stand out to the audiences. The cover star only covers a little of the title of the magazine so you are still able to see what the name of the magazine is. Describe the Cover Star? Costume, body language, ethnicity, make-up etc. The cover star is of the singer Adele in which there is a title below her that says ‘Adele’ I’m madly in love’. It is a mid-shot of her on the magazine and she is wearing black clothing with her wearing bright red lipstick and is natural looking on the make-up, the body language shows her looking directly into the camera with a huge smile on her face, which shows that she is happy. List the Cover lines? What do they suggest to the audience? Discuss colour, size and content. ‘The new high st drop!’, ‘The five new beauty trends you can try tonight’, Real –life special – ‘we had sex, got marries & had a baby on TV’ ‘Rochelle’s WOW wedding! – The dress, The Cake, The VIP guests’. All of the cover lines on the magazine are of the same colours, black, white and pink. The use of the colours make the stories of the magazine stand out to the readers and attract them to buy the magazine. These titles suggest to the audience to buy the latest high street fashion clothing at lower prices and for them to keep up with the latest gossip and information about celebrities. Does it have any freebies, badges, splashes or incentives? N/A Who do think are the target audience and why? Age, gender, ethnicity, economic status etc. The target audience of the magazine would be males of a young age from 18 – 25. I think this because younger generations like to keep up to date with the latest trends information on their favourite celebrities. The social class C1C2DE as they are of those of lower middle class to those of the lower levels of subsistence.