Analysing Magazines - Mizz

Mizz magazine is a magazine published in the UK, and is aimed at teenage and pre-teens (usually to those between the ages of 11 and 14). Mizz incorporates pages of fashion, displaying clothing trends, using models ranging from 12 to 16 years old. It encourages its readers to write in about events in their life, varying from serious to comic issues. It also contains information about celebrities in a gossip form and includes stories from readers which have been sent in. The magazine also includes information on how to deal with teenage issues related to friends, relationships and growing up. It has a range of competitions and quizzes and posters. 

The magazine comes out once a fortnight and often comes with freebies, and it's current retail price is £2.10.

The connotation on the heading of mizz is that it is like miss, so its aimed at younger target audience. 

The magazine has a website which you can visit to interactively complete quizzes and competitions. This is an advantage as they can also email into the magazine regarding stories they want entered into the magazine. 

The model used on this magazine is a younger model so this appeals more to the younger generation who read this. It also gives them a role model to look up to. On the front cover of the magazine there is freebies advertised, "free bracelet." There is also two real life stories and headings underneath to tell you a bit about what the stories included but not much so it makes you want to buy the magazine to read more. There is also a bit about Mcfly, a boy band that attracts young teenagers, so this is included on the magazine to get girls to buy it, so they can find out what is happening. There is also a little bit on "Celeb Style" so the girls who buy the magazine can get a look like a celebrity. 

The magazine cover is busy and using bright colours and pictures all over the cover, which draws attentions to the girls aged 11-14 as there is a lot to read and take in. 

The magazine is in competition with other magazines such as sugar, shout and cosmo girl and they all stand out in similar ways with a main teenage model on the front and stories which are the main focuses in the magazine around the edge. 

In the magazine there is all adverts about make up, clothes, films newly released and  shops opening etc, which is aimed at the target audience for the magazine. 

Analysing Magazines - Sugar

Sugar is a well known magazine for teenage girls which tells them about boys, celebs, fashion and problems. It has a lot of real-life stories and similar matters. It includes an advice column that answers questions sent in by readers, typically dealing with relationships, body image and health issues. 
It runs a nationwide model competition every year giving a lucky girl the chance to win a modelling contract. 

It is particularly popular in teen girls between the ages of 13-17 because it provides up to date knowledge on most aspects of teenage life. 

The design of the magazine is sophisticated for the age of the audience with its layout and photoshoots. 

The magazine has a website which you can visit interactively to complete quizzes and competitions. This is an advantage as they can also email into the magazine regarding stories they want entered into the magazine. The model used on this magazine is younger model starred in a film that most people have watched, so it gives them a role model to look up to and appeals to them. 
The magazine cover has bright colours used with bold headlines to attract the audience of 13-17 year olds to buy the magazine and read it. It has fashion headlines and pictures on the front to draw your attention to and to make you read it to follow the fashion and there is also a quiz headline in bold to make you want to complete it. 

The magazine is in competition with other magazines such as mizz, shout, and cosmo girl as they all have similar layouts and stories, so there is a high competition with each other. 

Analysing Magazines - Cosmo Girl

Cosmogirl was an American magazine based in New York City. The teenage spin-off of Cosmopolitan, it targeted teenage girls and features fashion and celebrities. It was published ten times a year and reached approximately eight million readers before folding.

Inside each issue of CosmoGirl, there was an interview and photo shoot with a current celebrity, a beauty section featuring hair, skin, and makeup tips and trends, a fashion section highlighting various spreads of trends and clothes, and the Stars section which included articles on celebrities other than those featured on the cover. A monthly freebie calendar allowed readers to win various prizes by typing in a code to enter for a chance to win a prize on the magazine's website.

Cosmo Girl is a magazine for the 11-15 age range audience. Its a spin off from the magazine cosmopolitan, as that is more focused at the age range of 20-40 year olds and Cosmo Girl is something for the younger age range. This is also where the heading of cosmo girl came from, instead of cosmo-politan they instead changed it to cosmo-girl.

The magazine also lets you interact with them online. You can go on to their site (http://www.cosmogirl.com) and complete competitions and play online games which link up with the magazine.

Inside the magazine it has adverts for shoe shops, clothes shops, make up, new films out that are fitting in with their age range. This is evidence for the magazine to be more focused on the younger teenager generation as this is the sorts of things they like to read and see in a magazine.

On the front cover there is headings that stand out to try and draw your attention to the magazine. "Real Life Drama" is in a bold and big font to try and grab your focus onto the magazine, then underneath that it then tells you a few headlines of the stories they have on the magazine to try an make you want to read more into them. Another one of the headlines is about "The Miniskirt Workout," which makes younger teenages want to read to see how they can improve that and then below that they have a "plus" to say there is more than just the miniskirt workout in the magazine. As the younger generation are just starting to get interested in boys they have at the bottom of the front cover about "4 Dates Guys Love" drawing the younger girls interest into the magazine to read about what boys would love, so they can impress them. About 3/4 of the way down the front cover they have a bold and big "fresh!" across the page, making you look at that heading and what it is about, as it then tells you just beneath that it is about "85 ideas for a hot new you this spring," which girls will all love as they want the latest fashion and to be with the new clothes and ideas.

This kind of front cover attracts the younger generation as there is a lot going on and a lot for them to read. The model used on the front cover is a younger model than one used in a magazine such as cosmopolitan so it is more focused and aimed at the younger generation. It gives the younger teenager girls someone to look up to and admire as she is closer to their age.

This magazine has a lot of competiton with other magazines such as Sugar, Mizz and Shout. All these magazines are aimed at the similar age range audience and all have similar stories, quizzes, adverts and competitons to put in the magazine. I think Cosmo Girl stands out quiite a bit more than the others as you see cosmopolitan on the shelf near it when you buy the magazine and this is a bonus as people think they are more mature buying it as it relates quite well to the older generation magazine.

Analysing Magazines - Hello!

This magazine I have chosen is called "Hello!" The magazine Hello! was first published in 1988 and is a spin off from the Spanish magazine "Hola!" created by a Spanish Publisher called "Eduardo Sanchez Junco." The connotation of the of magazine title is that the magazine is implying "hello," to make you want to pick it up and read it. The title also gives the idea of hello to all the famous celebrities and their gossip. Its written in a bold white font on a red backing made it a signified logo and able to stand out on shop shelves.

Hello! is published by a company called "Polestar Sheffield" who also publish the magazine Now! and Women's Own. It also publishes different types of media such as newspaper supplements, travel, retail and financial. Hello! is published weekly at a cost of £2.00. This is quite a good price for a magazine with the latest gossip and news. Other magazines such as cosmopolitan cost more than Hello! so i think this is an average price for the magazine. The magazine also has a website, www.hellomagazine.com, so you can look only at the latest information and look interactively.

I believe the magazine is aimed at people from 25-50, I believe this because the magazine is mainly focused on weddings, new born babies, makeover of celebrities and the younger generation isn't normally interested in those areas. I also believe this as the adverts in the magazine are about aging creams, wrinkle creams, hair products to "cover those grey hairs"and the clothes adverts are more sophisticated and for the older generation. The models used in the magazine are usually plus size models with underwear or moisturizer next to them so the target audience aren't put off with the skinny models next to them. The models are also older and not as young as models that would be used in magazine such as heat or look.

The reader can interact with the magazine by emailing their views to the magazine, and they can also interact online by filling in questionnaire on the internet from the magazines website.

On the front cover of the magazine there is one main focus on the wedding of soap star Scott Maslen and Estelle Rubio. The main focus is on this story with most of the Eastenders cast surrounding them at there wedding. All the clothing looks expensive and very formal for the wedding, with all smiling faces to show it was a happy event. There are another two pictures on the bottom of the magazine cover smaller than the main picture, one of Victoria Beckham about her new makeover and then one of Prince William and his girlfriend Kate at a friends wedding. The pictures tells you that the target audience is aged between 25-50 year olds who are more sophisticated and would pick it up and read it on their way to work or at home after work. The colours used on the magazine are bold to stand out and the writing about the wedding the name of the character from Eastenders, Scott Maslen, is in a bigger bolder font as it will stand out and draw peoples attention towards it as people know him from the TV soap.

The magazine does look very similar to OK! and I think this is because as they are close rivals they are competing against each other they have more competition if they do look similar. It also gives them a target as they have to beat eachother, but then I also believe if that they do look that similar people will think they are very alike magazines and either pick up both or just one, which could be good for one magazine but then not for the other.

The magazines presentation looks quite sophisticated and expensive, and doesn't look like heat or more which do look cheaper. The font and writing colour is all quite similar to blend in the magazine and make it look more expensive and not cheap looking. I notice that the magazine is always similarly laid out with the heading at the top, the main focus in the middle with writing down the side and then two or three side stories at the bottom or top corner of the magazine.

The magazine always seems to show rich, posh and well known celebrities in the magazine to target the correct audience that read this magazine.

I think Hello! is a popular magazine as it is a well known magazine and has being going for a long time. People know this magazine is reliable as it directly speaks to the celebrities in interviews and not twisted like other magazines.

Southend Boys Magazine

This is a magazine cover of the Southend High School For Boys Grammar school. The magazine has the school colouring as the background and has the schools name across the centre of the magazine in a white bold font also in capitals making it stand out on the page.

The first image on the picture is a girl playing a flute which suggests that the school is keen in music and one of their talents. The picture is of a girl playing the instrument which shows that girls are also welcome to the school.

The three pictures represents the school in three different ways. The image in the middle shows two boys in a science lab with equipment around them. The connotation of this picture is that the school is very academic as well as musical.  The boys in the picture are also wearing protective goggles suggesting its also a safe environment. One the far left in that picture the boy looks happy and enthusiastic, showing that whilst he is doing work he is also enjoying himself.

The final picture is of a boy playing a board game, giving you the impression that they have a games club at school and it's not all academic as it also has activities and clubs that students can join.

I think this magazine is aimed at future students, students and parents. It is aimed at students to tell them what is going on around the school, what music clubs and clubs they can join and general school information. For future students as they can then see what the school environment is like and for parents as they can see if they want to send their child there or if they have a pupil there then they can see what is going on around the school.

This magazine also has competition from other schools as well, as if they parents have pupils in another school and they have a more informed and better magazine than Southend Boys, they may be more inclined to move their children to that school as they may think it may be more informative to parents and more supporting. This means that Southend Boys will have to make a magazine that is more focused to all parents and students with information that both of them need.