Textual Analysis- EXAMPLE2

Here is another example of a typical music magazine.

MASTHEAD ...
The title of this magazine is 'Smash hits!', but is without a slogan. Magazines don't neccessarily have to have a logo, but many do. This one doesn't, but uses a big, bold, eye-catching title. It has been placed at the top of the page, like in every existing magazine. Because it is in two different shades of pink it seperates the words and makes it easier to identify what the title is saying. Also because of the colour, we can immediatly see who it is aimed at; females. It is presented in a pale pink and a contrasting hot pink, outlined in a thick white line. This highlights the title, makes it stand out. In this case, the producer has used a lot of pinks, which establishes the audience, also because it uses yellow to outline images on the cover we can see how it is aiming at it's female audience. The masthead is partly covered by an image, but because of how popular the magazine it, people can instantly recognise what magazine it is simply by looking at it, because of it's uniform layout.

HEADLINES ...
The headlines on this cover are all in the same colour; white- one of it's uniform colours. The white stands out amongst the pink background which makes it easy to read. Because the headline fonts and colours match everything else on the page, it makes it look effective, and professionally produced. There is a main story that has been purposely made bigger and has been presented in a more outstanding and dramatic way. This has been done so that the audience is aware of what the main story is.

MAIN IMAGE ...
The main image, usually, is projected as a big image in the centre of the page that dominates the layout of the magazine cover. In this case, which is unusual, the main image is a lot smaller then in most magazines, it is obvious that it is supposed to be the main image, but it has strangley been placed in the top right corner. This is why 'Smash hits!' is popular, because it has it's original aspects. Magazines always use an image of an artist they know their intended audience is going to like and admire, in this issue, Preston from Big Brother has been used. The producer of this magazine knows that using a famous male as the main image is going to attract females, and therefore has used this artist.

LOGO ...
For this magazine, the title is the logo itself, and is therefore projected largely at the very top of the page. Existing magazines tend to do this too, making it easy for people aiming to purchase it to identify the magazine. This is effective.

DATE ....
The date is always put on the cover of the magazine. This is to be sure that the purchaser knows how relevant it is and they can see that the information within the magazine is recent. On this magazine, the date is written on it's side, next to the bar code. This shows that the producer has chosen not to use it as a main feature and has therefore made it small, plain and simple.

DETAILS ...
On most magazines, details of the institution, website, address etc. are placed at the bottom of the page, but in this case, there are no signs of these details. This tells me that because such a successful magazine has chosen not to use this, it is not essential that i use this.

COLOUR SCHEME ...
The colour scheme is what makes the magazine attractive to it's intended audience. On the cover of this magazine, a lot of girly colours have been used such as pink, yellow and white. This makes it obvious that it is aiming at females. Some magazines such as this one, use a different colour scheme for different issues, which means i do not have to use a set uniform colour.