Fonts

From looking at the mastheads from other pop music magazines such as "top of the pops" and "smash hits" i decided I wanted something simple and easy to read but also that would appeal to my target audience.


The first font i looked at was "Boris Black Bloxx" which i liked, it met my criteria of being simple and easy to read. However i wanted something a little bit more gentle, and the edges of some letters look quite harsh in this font and i didn't think this would particularly fit the pop music genre or appeal to girls aged 11-15.


The second font i looked at was "soolidium". I like this font because it is simple, easy to read and also looks quite flashy and cool. I wasn't sure if this would appeal to young girls but i can change the colour of the font to pink and add a glitter effect to make it appear more glamorous and therefore make it more appealing to my target audience. I don't think i will use this font for my mast head as i think it looks a bit too sophisticated to have as a masthead for a pop magazine but i may use it for the main flashes on my magazine front cover.


The third font i looked at was "BP replay" which i think is one my favourites. It is simple and easy to read. It also resembles other pop magazines choice of font yet is not the same as them. I think if i change the font colour to pink and maybe put some effects on it it will appeal to young girls and fit in with the genre of pop music.

This font i will be using for the title of my Double page spread. I think it looks flash and similar to the top of the pops font which is assosciated with pop music. It is also easy to read which i think is important.

The font i will be using in my double page spread for the main bulk of text will be something simple and easy to read. I didn't want to use times new roman though is this is overused and boring. I decided to use "Arial Rounded MT Bold" as this was simple and easily readable but not boring.

This font i wanted to use for the main flashes on my magazine cover. It looks stylish and the hearts that dot the i's i believe would appeal to the audience for my magazine. By changing the font colour to pink i could increase the appeal of this particular font to my target audience. Also it is easy to read as a font.

This font i looked at to make up part of my mast head. I wanted to have a contrast in the fonts i chose for the words "pop" and "mania". This font i will use for the "mania" part of my mast head. It looks kind of futuristic and computer like which i think will make it stand out when placed next to the font "val".


This font will be used for the other half of my mast head, the first "pop" part. I think this font suits the word pop and does look very like a font that would be used in "smash hits" or the "top of the pops magazine". I think having the contrast in the fonts val and namco in my masthead will draw potential consumers attention to the magazine.

This is a mock up of the title i did using the fonts Val for the "pop" part and Mac Type for the "mania" part and then i underlined it using paint.

Flat Plans

Cover
The flat plan of my cover pretty much conforms to all the general rules of pop music magazines. I looked at "Smash hits" and the "top of the pops magazine" and based my magazine around them. I made my mast head simple and easy to read as i think this is important to catch my target audiences eye. The main flash is short and stands out.
Contents
My contents page is similar to others of the genre but is a bit more simple. I wanted to make sure there were enough pages in the contents to make it seem real, if my contents only had ten pages it wouldn't be a very good magazine. I wanted to put lots of pictures on my contents page as this is typical of pop magazines that i have looked at.
Double page spread 1
Double page spread 2
My double Page spread is mainly dominated by images and the story is written at the bottom of the page. This is how other magazines that i looked at were layed out and they were always dominated by images. I tried to write in a pop styled font for the "Exclusive interview with Sabrina" writing on my page. I tried to do bubble writing as it is easy to read and yet is a bit more exciting than boring normal writing.

Double page spread analysis

The articles are written in a very basic form, the words used are mostly short and the style seems casual and informal. Phrases such as "hot and fabulous" , "giving me a wedgie" and "is that your hand on my bum" are all used which would appeal to younger children/teenagers and especially to girls. The humour used is very immature and simple.
There are a total of nine pictures in this double page spread. They dominate the majority of the double page spread and a lot more space is given to pictures than to words.

There are speech bubbles on nearly every picture making a joke. In the articles themselves the names of celebrities talked about are put in bold and a different colour to the rest of the text. Alliteration is used in the words written in the centre of the first page, "Dolls Drama".

Contents analysis

The contents are split into five categories, Celeb, Real Life, Style, Fun , You and Plus. There are several images on the contents page with page numbers attached. There is also a list of the people involved in the production of the magazine, editors writers etc. The images are mainly of people to draw the reader in and make them want to know what is on that page that is related to that person.

Cover analysis two

The smash hits title immediately captures the consumers attention with the words "smash" and "hits" as these are quite loud dramatic words.

The font almost looks pop like, simple and easily readable.

The colour in the title is yellow and pink. The colour scheme is pink, yellow, blue, black and white. However the background of the image is of the American flag to emphasise the main flash of "Busted in the USA". The colour scheme used would appeal to girls of a young age and I believe this is the target audience.

The language is quite informal. They use the clever phrase "McMental" to emphasise that the story is about Mcfly. Some of the main sells also indirectly address the reader such as "steal Jennifer's style".

The image is of the band Busted. They are a very popular who appeals especially to young girls. This fits in with their target audience of young girls.

The main sells are all celebrity related.

There is a barcode and a date of the issue.

Cover analysis one

The title of the magazine is top of the pops. I think they have chosen this title because of the various associations it brings, the obvious one being with the television programme of the same name. This lets the audience know what the magazine is about, popular music, straight away and gives them an immediate idea of the magazine from just the title. The main flash and main sells are all written in bold fairly common fonts and are all easy to read.

The title is written in the same style as the television programme which again sparks the assosciation between the programme and the magazine.

The title is written in pink and is glittery which would appeal to the readership , mainly girls aged 11-15, and would also give an impression of glamour. The colour scheme is mainly purple pink and yellow which are all quite feminine colours which woudl again appeal to the young female readership. There is also black and white text which is used to contrast against the different backgrounds and catch the buyers attention.

There is a number (56) written on the front cover in large bold letters, this draws the attention of the buyer and makes them want to know more. It also uses personal language to adress the reader "you're a star". It also uses language and phrases to draw the reader in and make them interested "love secrets exposed!"

The image on the front is very bright and all the people in it look happy and attractive. They are all smiling and looking at the camera. It is a posed shot with two boys and two girls from high school musical. These stars are very well known all over the world.

It has a main flash which directly addresses the readers "you're a star!" which would capture the attention of potential buyers.

It has a barcode and a date that it was released on the cover.