Top of the pops contents analysis's

The contents page from the old edition of “top of the pops”  is set out very simply and has specific laid out sections to help the reader easily find their way through the magazine.  The bright pink colours links to the front cover demonstrating their house style. The page numbers are scattered around the contents page in large bold writing, again showing the simplicity of the format. The abbreviation of the word “magazine” to “mag” as the title of the contents page really links to the age range of the target audience being around 12-18. This is the age most children will be getting a phone/social media and using text talk, to will be very familiar language to them. A thing I like about this contents page is that there is a photograph of the front page, which page number annotations around it informing you what page to find all the images and information from the front page within the magazine. I think this is very useful as I find it many magazine you are very drawn in and interested by the things seen on the front cover, but are often hard to find within the magazine; this makes it a lot easier to find the stories you are interested in, again appropriate for the target audience as teenagers are stereotypically impatient and easily bored. I love the layout of this contents page and the way they are set out into different columns; “we love boys”, “celebs & gossip” ect. These features will definitely influence my contents page, as well as the pink colour scheme used for the font and different features within the page.

The newer addition of “top of the pops” is set out in a similar way but with a different colour scheme. Rather than pink they have used purple which is less over-the-top and could be seen as more mature (personally I prefer the pink and think it appeals more to the target audience). The page numbers which are plotted around the page aren’t as bold or bright but still do the job in making it easier for the reader to find the exact story/page they are wanting to go to. In the top right section of the page there is a writers not which is very personal and welcoming to the readers. The note starts with “Hey Girls” which again is personal and will appeal to the target audience as this is the type of informal way they interact with each other, or like to be interacted with in the way. Again it has the picture of the front cover telling you where everything is found within the magazine which I think is an excellent idea to keep the readers drawn in. The “Inside your mag” title is written inside a speech bubble linking to the fact that everything is fairly chatty in this magazine and informal. It has a purple background linking to the house style and is overall nice to look at which again appeals to the target audience as teenage girls are very interested in their appearance therefore the layout of this magazine will have an influence on how engrossed they are to the magazine. From this contents page I’m going to make the idea of having an informal and personal writers note- most likely on the contents page.

This contents page is very similar to the previous one. The purple house style has been brought through.  Like in the other contents pages there are a lot of photos of people/things that are to be featured within the magazine. This makes the magazine very visual which I find will appeal to the target audience a lot. Since the target audience ages range is 12-18 they are going to be in school, so that means that they will be having to do a lot of reading within school (which will probably not seem very enjoyable to them) so they won’t be very interested in reading much outside of school. Having lots of pictures means that not too much reading will be involved and will be able to drawn into the magazine through the pictures, rather than having to read lots and zoning out mid-way through. This is something I’m going to take into consideration when creating my magazine, making sure that the focus isn’t writing it is images. Also, all of the images are fairly bright, and contain either a mid shot/close up to see the faces of the people (usually to see how attractive they are), or a longshot to see their clothing. I think this is a good idea for my magazine as the target audience are at the age where they are bothered about their appearance and clothing, and will be easily influenced/inspired by a magazine.