The denotation of Top Of The Pops is a weekly magazine published by Immediate Media Com-pany. It includes information about pop music; ‘gossip’ about pop artists and other celebrities; fash-ion and beauty advice and quizzes and other activities. This magazine used to relate to the televi-sion show Top Of The Pops, but this show was cancelled in 2006 and the magazine now stands alone.

The target audience for this magazine is young or preteen, middle class girls who are interested in pop music and pop artists.

The masthead is very large and bold and is written in white and a very bright pink. The pink will help to attract the target audience as stereotypically young girls like the colour and so straight away hit is very obviously who the magazine is aimed towards. The fact that the masthead is in capitals makes it seem a lot more important and helps to grab the audience’s attention. There are lines of stars above and below the masthead, which also attracts the target audience as stars and hearts have connotations of ‘girliness’.

The main coverline is about the same size as the masthead, which makes it very eye-catching and shows that it is the main feature in the magazine. The font used looks as though it is handwrit-ten, which will seem inviting to the reader as it makes it seem more personal. It also has connota-tions with school, which will help to attract the target audience of young girls. Sone of the coverline is written in the pink used for the masthead, and there are yellow strokes around the text. The yel-low will also help to attract the target audience as it holds connotations of sunshine and happiness, and is often associated with young girls.

The other coverlines on the front cover are all different. One coverline about a pop band called The Vamps is placed over an image of some of the members of this band. Some of the other cov-erlines are layer out like a checklist, showing what is included in the magazine. This again relates to the theme of school, which would help to attract the target audience. The variety of techniques used on this cover make all of the different coverlines stand out, as they all look very different. They all relate to pop artists or other celebrities that girls of the target age range will be interested in.

The main image is a picture of all of the members of One Direction, an extremely well known boy band who sing pop music. This image relates to the main coverline, which emphasises the point that this is the main feature in the magazine. As this image takes up around half of the page, it will immediately draw the eye of the reader, and so this will appeal to the target audience as One Di-rection fits into the genre that this magazine focuses on. They are all looking directly at the camera which makes it seem more welcoming to the reader.

The other images placed onto the front cover are all also artists and celebrities that young girls will typically be interested in. This is effective as the target audience will be attracted to this and want to read more about their favourite celebrities.

The header is effective as it shows what kind of things the magazine features. For example, the feature ‘boys’ will attract the target audience as stereotypically young girls are very interested in fa-mous boys.

Puffs are used a lot to make certain information and coverlines stand out. Two of the coverlines are again bright pink, which will attract the target audience.

The date and issue number are included on this page as it makes it easier for the audience to read and helps them to know hoe recent the information is.

The price is located in a very small font at the bottom of the page, as the magazine is very expen-sive and so the price might make people decide not to buy it.

The barcode is located at the bottom of the page as this is a legal requirement.

The colour scheme for this front cover is very stereotypically ‘girly’. It includes a lot of bright colours such as pink, yellow and blue. All of these colours connote happiness and childlikeness. This emphasises how young the target age range is as it makes the magazine appear to be very innocent.

The fonts used for the cover of this magazine are mainly sans serif, which makes the text look less sophisticated, which again emphasises the target age range of young girls. A lot of the font also appears to be handwritten which makes the text seem more personal which would welcome the reader.

The rule of thirds has been used on this page as the coverlines seem to be split into three col-umns. Important features such as the the masthead and the main coverline are also in the left col-umn which is important when your magazine is going to be placed on a shelf, as only one side of the magazine may be visible.

The mode of address used is very informal. Colloquial language such as ‘cringes’, ‘OMG’ and ‘this lot’ make the magazine seem very friendly. This will also help to attract the target audience as it mimics childlike language.

The overall impression is very busy and unorganised. This implies that there is a lot of content and that the magazine is worth the price.

Header

Masthead

Main coverline

Other coverlines

Main image

Other coverlines

Puff

Selection of images

Date/issue no.Price

Barcode