Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly publication published by BBC Magazines costing £3.99 per issue. From Wikipedia I found that 'it was originally marketed as the missing link between Smash Hits and NME, but its format was gradually changed, with less music content and a demographic shift to young girls'.
From the ABC website I found this information about its circulation:
From the ABC website I found this information about its circulation:
From this I can see that it is a popular magazine that gets many readers, this could be because it doesn't face much competition with other magazines which are of the same genre as there aren't many (Smash Hits Magazine, for example does not publish anymore).
The title of the magazine is called 'Top of the Pops' it is named after the popular TV show and is produced by the same company. From the title, the genre can easily be distinguished as the word 'pop' gives it away. The magazine will include information on celebrities who are music artists in the genre of pop who are very successful and have their songs at the top of the charts. This implies that only the top artists will be included as these are the only ones people will want to read about. The masthead is written in a sans serif font with the more important words in block capitals 'TOP' and 'POPS' which makes them stand out. The swirly 'S' is very informal and looks quite childish, making it appealing to young children rather than adults. The stars that surround the written masthead are also childish, they are trashy and crazy which suits the target market of teens as they don't want elegant and neat looking layouts/designs. Usually the masthead would be the largest piece of information on the page, however in this case the main cover line is larger which makes that more noticeable.
The main image is of the band 'One Direction' who are known worldwide, they are very popular and are constantly in the charts which makes them fit in well with this magazine. They take up most of the space and are dominating the cover making them the main subject. The image of them is almost but not quite a full length shot, this enables us to see their outfit even though most of it is covered by cover lines. From what I can see all the members are wearing casual clothes that are white, grey and black which are plain and doll colours. This gives them a sophisticated look and the colours that they are wearing goes with the season as winter is associated with dark colours, summer is associated with bright colours, spring with pastel and autumn with greens and browns. Their direction of gaze is all facing the camera giving the reader eye contact making them look interested and making it more personal than if they were looking away. Their facial expressions are calm and chilled making them look neutral but approachable and friendly at the same time. Their body language with them all being joined together makes them look like a gang however this is not to say that they are dangerous or intimidating, the friendly 'bromance' vibe is shown by their friendly shoulder touching.
There are also other images on the cover; these consist of celebrities and clothes. The celebrities are used an endorsement to make more people buy the magazine. These images appear on the cover to try and get as wider target audience as possible because if someone is browsing and they see that there is a poster of Girls Aloud (their favourite band) then they have a higher chance of buying the magazine. Also if there is an article that someone's favourite celebrity is featured in then it will also encourage them to buy the magazine.
Other content that is promoted by the cover lines include other celebrity gossip (their endorsement lets them offer information about themselves that the public want to know) 'embarrassing star pics revealed', 'real life' stories and 'party style special' the fashion aspect fits in well as it is Christmas time and people will be attending Christmas parties. The pictures of some of the merchandise that are featured on the cover gives possible readers a sneak peek of what's inside to see if it takes their fancy before committing to buying the magazine.
There are a range of fonts that have been used, if there wasn't a large enough variation then the cover would look boring and similar. However there has to be a balance as there shouldn't be too many fonts used as that will make it look disordered and cheap. I will keep this is in mind when designing my cover and aim not to use over 6 different fonts. On this cover there has been a range of both simplistic (which makes the magazine look sophisticated and classy) and more messy fonts (which makes the magazine look informal and trashy). There is a mixture of both sans serif and serif fonts used which lets it have a balance between the casual and elegant effect.
The 'M' from 'Merry' is written in serif font which gives out a sense of class and expense to it giving the effect that it is an upmarket magazine.
As well as a range of fonts despite there being no use of italics there is a use of bold. The words that are written in bold are written like that to draw attention to it as it is an important aspect of the magazine.
The text is also written in different sizes so more important information can be shown more clearly by putting it in a larger font than the rest i.e. the main cover line 'Merry KISS-MAS!' is written in the largest font on the cover and the use of capital letters makes it stand out even more to make it more eye catching.
The magazine consists of 69 pages in total which for a monthly magazine and the price this is a fair amount of pages. As well as all the articles that people actually want to read there are also 9 pages of advertisements included. Some of these adverts enable the reader to see if the magazine is meant for them or not as there are certain adverts that are only relevant to particular people. The Tampax Pearl, Tampax Compak, Always ultra, So...? perfume and Lacoste perfume for women adverts tell us that the magazine is for women as these adverts are irrevalent to men and there are no adverts of a similar context that would be suitable for men i.e. aftershave. The model on the JD advert is female, suggesting that they are trying to pull in female readers even though JD do also sell male clothes.Other adverts that are included are unisex; Sims PC game, advertising next issue and ringtones/wallpapers.
The features in this particular issue are all based around interviews, celebrities and shopping. As a music magazine it is surprising to see that there isn't a page dedicated to music, an example of this would be a new music page. The features are as follows: - Celebs exposed (2 separate pages)
- Gossip 2 go (5 pages worth)
- Celeb Secrets
- OOPS!
- Austin Mahone interview
- Harry Styles interview
- Liam Payne interview
- Steal Miley's Style
- Competitions
- Love Quiz
- Zayn Malik interview
- We <3 Shopping (11 pages worth)
- Competitions
- New Stuff
- Aidan Davis interview
- All About You (2 more separate pages)
- Real Life
- Niall Horan interview
- 7 pages worth of posters
The 12 double page spread articles are as follows:
- Harry Styles exclusive interview
- Celeb secrets: Louis Smith
- Liam Payne exclusive interview
- Steal Miley's Style
- Louis Tomlinson exclusive interview
- Love Quiz
- Zayn Malik exclusive interview
- Competitions
- Aidan Davis exclusive interview
- All About You
- Real Life
- Niall Horan exclusive interview
Advertorials: This particular advertorial looks very much like an article in the magazine however it is clearly labelled twice.
- Sims 3 advertorial is also labelled at the top be an 'advertisement feature'.
- Always 'fake' advice letter is labelled at the top to be a 'advertisement feature'.
House style: the titles of the articles; the unique box and font that is used are shown throughout the magazine making it associated with this particular magazine.
- As there are 5 interviews (one from each member of the band) the font and style used is the same making it associated with the band's interviews.
- Stars are a decorative element.
These house style designs are fun and casual which is what the target audience want to see. The informal idea of the zig zag style cut out boxes are chaotic rather than boring solid hard lines. The use of stars (which are childish) are used regularly throughout the magazine .
The main image is of the band 'One Direction' who are known worldwide, they are very popular and are constantly in the charts which makes them fit in well with this magazine. They take up most of the space and are dominating the cover making them the main subject. The image of them is almost but not quite a full length shot, this enables us to see their outfit even though most of it is covered by cover lines. From what I can see all the members are wearing casual clothes that are white, grey and black which are plain and doll colours. This gives them a sophisticated look and the colours that they are wearing goes with the season as winter is associated with dark colours, summer is associated with bright colours, spring with pastel and autumn with greens and browns. Their direction of gaze is all facing the camera giving the reader eye contact making them look interested and making it more personal than if they were looking away. Their facial expressions are calm and chilled making them look neutral but approachable and friendly at the same time. Their body language with them all being joined together makes them look like a gang however this is not to say that they are dangerous or intimidating, the friendly 'bromance' vibe is shown by their friendly shoulder touching.
There are also other images on the cover; these consist of celebrities and clothes. The celebrities are used an endorsement to make more people buy the magazine. These images appear on the cover to try and get as wider target audience as possible because if someone is browsing and they see that there is a poster of Girls Aloud (their favourite band) then they have a higher chance of buying the magazine. Also if there is an article that someone's favourite celebrity is featured in then it will also encourage them to buy the magazine.
There are a range of fonts that have been used, if there wasn't a large enough variation then the cover would look boring and similar. However there has to be a balance as there shouldn't be too many fonts used as that will make it look disordered and cheap. I will keep this is in mind when designing my cover and aim not to use over 6 different fonts. On this cover there has been a range of both simplistic (which makes the magazine look sophisticated and classy) and more messy fonts (which makes the magazine look informal and trashy). There is a mixture of both sans serif and serif fonts used which lets it have a balance between the casual and elegant effect.
The 'M' from 'Merry' is written in serif font which gives out a sense of class and expense to it giving the effect that it is an upmarket magazine.
As well as a range of fonts despite there being no use of italics there is a use of bold. The words that are written in bold are written like that to draw attention to it as it is an important aspect of the magazine.
The text is also written in different sizes so more important information can be shown more clearly by putting it in a larger font than the rest i.e. the main cover line 'Merry KISS-MAS!' is written in the largest font on the cover and the use of capital letters makes it stand out even more to make it more eye catching.
The magazine consists of 69 pages in total which for a monthly magazine and the price this is a fair amount of pages. As well as all the articles that people actually want to read there are also 9 pages of advertisements included. Some of these adverts enable the reader to see if the magazine is meant for them or not as there are certain adverts that are only relevant to particular people. The Tampax Pearl, Tampax Compak, Always ultra, So...? perfume and Lacoste perfume for women adverts tell us that the magazine is for women as these adverts are irrevalent to men and there are no adverts of a similar context that would be suitable for men i.e. aftershave. The model on the JD advert is female, suggesting that they are trying to pull in female readers even though JD do also sell male clothes.Other adverts that are included are unisex; Sims PC game, advertising next issue and ringtones/wallpapers.
The features in this particular issue are all based around interviews, celebrities and shopping. As a music magazine it is surprising to see that there isn't a page dedicated to music, an example of this would be a new music page. The features are as follows: - Celebs exposed (2 separate pages)
- Gossip 2 go (5 pages worth)
- Celeb Secrets
- OOPS!
- Austin Mahone interview
- Harry Styles interview
- Liam Payne interview
- Steal Miley's Style
- Competitions
- Love Quiz
- Zayn Malik interview
- We <3 Shopping (11 pages worth)
- Competitions
- New Stuff
- Aidan Davis interview
- All About You (2 more separate pages)
- Real Life
- Niall Horan interview
- 7 pages worth of posters
The 12 double page spread articles are as follows:
- Harry Styles exclusive interview
- Celeb secrets: Louis Smith
- Liam Payne exclusive interview
- Steal Miley's Style
- Louis Tomlinson exclusive interview
- Love Quiz
- Zayn Malik exclusive interview
- Competitions
- Aidan Davis exclusive interview
- All About You
- Real Life
- Niall Horan exclusive interview
Advertorials: This particular advertorial looks very much like an article in the magazine however it is clearly labelled twice.
- Sims 3 advertorial is also labelled at the top be an 'advertisement feature'.
- Always 'fake' advice letter is labelled at the top to be a 'advertisement feature'.
House style: the titles of the articles; the unique box and font that is used are shown throughout the magazine making it associated with this particular magazine.
- As there are 5 interviews (one from each member of the band) the font and style used is the same making it associated with the band's interviews.
- Stars are a decorative element.
These house style designs are fun and casual which is what the target audience want to see. The informal idea of the zig zag style cut out boxes are chaotic rather than boring solid hard lines. The use of stars (which are childish) are used regularly throughout the magazine .
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