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.