Magazine Analysis

  

I chose Elle as my non real-life story magazine to analyse as I feel that it appeals to the age group that I aim to reach with my real-life story magazine (16-25). I like the bright colours on the cover and the seasonal focus of the magazine. The bold headline "SUMMER" across the whole of the bottom of the cover draws the reader's eye and instantly informs them of what to expect inside. The colour palate of this cover is very youthful and would appeal to an audience of younger women, as well as the representation of the model Daphne Groeneveld on the cover who is styled in a bright swimsuit and sunglasses, further linking into the summer theme of the issue.  

The cover lines are used to make the reader feel that they need to buy the magazine: "The app that everyone is (secretly) using" and "the hair of the moment"  create the impression to the reader that through purchasing the magazine they will be in the know about the latest trends and events. This mode of address emotionally engages the reader without them knowing as it creates a sense of being part of an exclusive group. 

 

 

 The layout of Elle's contents page is unconventional in its use of images and text. As it is a fashion and beauty magazine, it can use just images to promote the contents on some of its pages. The text on the contents page outlines the biggest articles in the magazine as well as the details of the cover and the monthly editors letter. I am inspired by the contemporary style and simplicity of this contents page, but I don't know how well I will be able to incorporate this into the real-life stories genre. It uses little hyperbole and shock stories or strategies such as competitions to lure in readers. This is because it is a more expensive magazine at £4.80 so they don't rely as much on keeping such a high reader base as real-life story magazines, as well as the fact that fashion and beauty is a more niche subject, so readers are more likely to come back again and again as they have a genuine interest in the subject. 

 

  

 

 

Take A Break is a typical real-life story magazine, it has eye catching headlines on the front cover, with dramatic and exaggerated language in order to emotionally engage its audience. The colour choices are of bright, primary colours, which helps the magazine to stand out against others on the stand and the fonts ate bold, with use of capitalisation and different colours in the main cover lines. Take A Break also uses prizes and competitions to help draw in readers, advertising in the top right hand corner a large cash prize.  

 

 

The magazines masthead is less traditional, in the top left hand corner of the cover instead of across the whole of the top of the page. This is quite typical of the genre and helps to differentiate it from other types of magazine. Another typical feature of real-life story magazines shown here is the use of multiple images on the cover. I think that the use of so many colours, cover lines and images can look somewhat messy and would be unlikely to appeal to the 16-25 audience. I think that for my own magazine I would try to create a slightly more minimal cover.  

 

 

 

 

 The contents page is equally as busy, featuring several puffs, images and product placements. The contents of the magazine predominantly features real-life stories, as well as health, home, travel and beauty related content. This variety helps the magazine to engage a wider range of readers, as well as appealing to their core reader base, this is because it centres around the reader themselves and their wellbeing, as reiterated in the puff in the centre of the page that reads "the best selling women's weekly magazine that's all about you and your life". This make the reader feel valued and more likely to come back to purchase the next weeks issue. This emotional engagement with its readers is the publishers way of ensuring that it has a strong core audience and therefore a reliable source of income. 

 

 

 

 
 

Like Take a Break, Closer magazine is a Bauer Media publication. It features celebrity and real-life stories  as well as lifestyle content. It appeals to a slightly younger reader (25-45 according to bauermedia.co.uk) and is styled to reflect that. The colour choice is predominantly pink, which reflects a stereotypical representation of what appeals to women, as well as its choice of language throughout the cover lines, which take a 'gossipy' tone. The cover lines lead the reader to buy the magazine to read on. The cover features multiple paparazzi images showing celebrities that appeal to Closer's target reader demographic which are both above and below the masthead. 

 

 

 

 
 

The combination of celebrity and real-life content helps Closer to appeal to a younger demographic, similar to Cosmopolitan who feature celebrity, real-life, beauty and fashion content and have an average reader age of between 18 and 34, a hard demographic to reach. I would intend to feature this type of content along with real-life stories in my magazine to help it appeal to my target age demographic. I like the style of this contents page, as it is a lot easier to read than that of Take a Break. It promotes the social media and website of Closer magazine in a large section at the bottom of the page, which I noticed it doesn't in Take a Break, this highlights the difference in the demographics that each magazine targets, with Closer having a much more tech savvy reader base. I would aim to feature this kind of cross-media promotion in my own magazine because it is important to create a diversified range of media products in order to keep a younger audience engaged.