Deconstructed double page spread

By looking at the double page spread of the Jonas Brothers, i was able to come up with ways to construct my own. The bright but basic colours used in this article is eye catching and meets the conventions of the magazine, As the spread is mainly pictures, a younger audience would be more interesting in reading the text. The text being an interview makes it immediatly more interesting, as it's a different style of writing. With the basic and light hearted language, it makes it easy to understand and enjoyable to read. The formality of the tone and register is appropriate for the genre and target audience and fits in with the context.

Deconstruction of front page

Here I have anotated a front cover of Top Of The Pops magazine. I have picked apart the graphological features, and how the conotations give off happiness, safety and sensitivity to the audience.

My survey and results

To find out what my target audience looks for in a magazine, i made up a survey and gave it to 10 9-15 year old girls. I asked 5 questions, and the results of the most exclusive questions are below.

My results:

1) Whats your favourite type of music?
Rock= 20%
Pop= 30%
Country= 30%
Hip-hop/R'n'B=10%
Indie=10%
The genre of my magazine will be Country Pop.

4) How much would you spend on a magazine at most?
50p-£1=0%
£1-£1.20=10%
£1.20-£1.50=10%
£1.50-£1.70=30%
£1.70-£2=50%
£2+=0%
To make my magazine a reasonably price that people would be happy to pay, it will cost £1.80

5) What name attracts you the most?
PopStars!=10%
PopSmash!=0%
SmashPop!=60%
PopNotes!=30%
The name of my magazine will be SmashPop!

The research has helped me shape my work by deciding my final decisions. By getting other people opinions, it's helped me generalise what people are looking for in a magazine, and how to get the best out of my product for a reasonable price.

The cult of Celebrities

Taylor Swift is an American country-pop singer-songwriter and actress. She has been described as "one of the most pragmatic adults more in touch with her inner life than most adults". Her debut single was released in 2006 which went platinum several times. In November 2008 Swift released her second album which topped the billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks.

For my magazine cover i will be creating a young celeb singer in the style of Taylor Swift that will be photographed on my front cover in an elegant and appealing way. I am using Taylor as an inspiration as she is looked up to as a celeb by younger people, and is defiantly a good role model. I feel if Taylor was on the front of a magazine, young people would be interested in the magazine and want to buy it.

Looking at other celebs with the similar genre to Taylor Swift, I have looked at their fashion, expression/body language and how they look in photo's in order to get an idea for my front cover shot.


Miley Cyrus

Miley is always well presented and respectful. Her fashion is fairly simple, although her Hannah Montana look is a lot more eccentric with glitter and gewls. Miley has a good reputation and is idolised by many young girls.


The Saturdays


The Saturdays are an all girl pop band that also have a good reputation and are recognised as good role models to the public. They are always photographed elegantly and appeal to a wide range of people.


Demi Lovato


Demi Lovato is also a pop singer that is well known for her good reputation and good looking appearance. Her fashion is always appropriate, and her body language and facial expressions are always positive. This could be seen as a connotation for Pop music, its happy, positive and has a good reputation.

By looking closely at how the 3 examples are photographed and presented above, I will be using the following features for my model artist and photo shot:

• Natural/simple make-up
• Simple hair style
• Feminine clothes that aren't in any way revealing or provocative
• A gentle pose e.g. sitting down, standing up or just lying down
• A background that doesn't take the eye off the model artist
• Simple colours that aren't too bright

I have been inspired by looking at Top of The Pops magazine which is targeted at a young audience aged 9-14 year old girls. I will be basing my magazine on the same target audience, purpose and context to create a new and interesting magazine. I will be using the typical conventions of a magazine to create the front cover, and codes of the colour schemes and facial expressions of my model to go with the ideology of young people. The colour scheme of the Top of The Pops magazine suggests its for a young audience as they use clashing primary colours. The bubbly fonts suggest a welcoming and comforting feel which are both youthful and vibrant making it inviting for the reader. The central image being positive and happy along with all the other celebs pictures smiling, gives off a gentle impression appealing to the young audience. I have chosen print as i feel more confident and challenged in this area. Features that i will be on my cover will be:

• A central image of a young and popular celeb
• A logo that would be repeated on each issue
• Mast head title
• Eye catching colours and shapes. Various fonts to show variety
• Bar code, price, date and issue number
• Features/interviews that would appeal to my target audience
• Simple, humerus and 'text type' language
• Connoted colours and fonts; primary colours and bubbly fonts for my target audience. This makes the magazine more appealing and younger looking.

I will be applying all these to my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

The magazine's special features make it unique to other magazines with the same target audience by advertising specials and extras for a cheap affordable price. Young celebs are popular for this type of magazines front covers which i will be re-creating, and including exclusive interviews and pictures. The competition on magazines is high so i will be doing questionnaire's to find out what more young people want in the magazines they read.