Analysis of Top of The Pops magazine front cover

Colours

The colours used on the front cover are bright, bold and girly. Bright pink, baby pink and whites all connote childishness, innocence, pureness and happiness. Because the target audience is young girls and these are the connotations that come with "young girls"

Fonts

Sans Serif font is used as the main font. This also has a more childlike appearance and is more simple, and modern.  This appeals to the target audience because they are not interested in fancy writing and this font makes the magazine have a sense of fun and shows it is not serious.

Another font used on the cover of this magazine is a handwritten type font. This is quite immature and childlike, and gives the impression that it was just scribbled on as a comment, and make the magazine look like a diary, which also something associated with the target audience of this magazine

The masthead

The masthead is the same on every issue. This allows readers to recognise it instantly even if some of the words/letters are covered up. The colour of the masthead sometimes changes but the barcode and BBC logo are situated in the same place on every issue.

Pictures

Main picture on this magazine is Cheryl Cole, who is a successful female singer who is very popular with young girls and pre teens at the moment. This appeals to the target audience because Cheryl Cole is someone they are interested in so they would buy the magazine to read about them. The main picture has been placed in the centre of the cover. However as Cheryl Cole is one of the biggest people in pop at the minute her name is not mentioned on the front cover this is because it is obvious who she is to the people who will be buying and reading the magazine.

There are 6 photos on the cover of this magazine; all of the people in the images are pop stars or actors. This appeals to the target audience because if they see a picture of someone they are interested in they will buy the magazine. Also the age range that this magazine is aimed at are more likely to look at pictures rather than the words at a first glance so if there are more pictures it is more likely they will buy the magazine. The people in the photos are either posing, the photos have been taken from a photo shoot or are paparazzi photos. The ways that the people are represented in the photos are happy, clean, innocent and fun.

Language

The language used in this magazine is simple, informal and quite colloquial. For example there is slang words used on this front cover. "Omg" and "pics". This appeals to the audience because it is language they would use and so therefore they can relate to it and understand it. If the language was too complicated and boring they wouldn't buy and read the magazine. Also on the front cover second person pronouns are used such as "you" this makes it seem as if the magazine is speaking about one individual (the person buying the magazine) and makes it much more personal. The word exclusive is also used. This means that this interview or pictures are only in this magazine so the readers won't be able to read or see them anywhere else so they must buy the magazine to see them.