Media Studies Summer Work: Magazine Analysis. By William Hart-Ramsey

Layout The cover story is the main image on the cover The main image is layered on top of the magazine name (Sci-Fi Now) Above the magazine name is a description of the magazine Dotted around the main image are all of the different articles featured in the magazine, called callouts. Just below the magazine name is the magazines web address Barcode, price and issue number at the bottom of the magazine At the very top it tells you what programs are featured in the magazine At the bottom it tells you more of the magazine features, with a picture for each, also callouts. Magazine title tells you a bit about what the magazine is about Caption is placed on top of the main image, in the middle of the page

Use of images There is one main image on the front cover of the characters Chuck and Sarah which relates to the cover story of ‘Why everybody loves Chuck’. The fact that both Chuck and Sarah both seem to be staring you in the eye could perhaps catch buyers eyes. There are also four other images at the bottom of the page to show what other things are featured in the magazine which may intrigue people to look at or buy the magazine in question.

Use of text The magazine features little text on the front cover, and the pieces of text it does uses are short, sharp sentences for example “more blood and more sex”. This sentence is short but also intriguing because people are interested in sex, its what sells, so this will perhaps make them buy the magazine. It uses words like ‘ultimate’ and ‘best’ to make the magazine sound good.

Colour and font choices This particular magazine specimen is quite interesting; the cover story is about a television program called ‘Chuck’. The theme of the font and colours are based around the ‘Chuck’ opening credits shown here As you can see, a lot of the text on the front cover uses the font from the ‘Chuck’ opening credits. The colour scheme is black and white which also relates to the programs opening credits. Also (if you haven't already noticed), the dot on the ‘i’ in the ‘Sci-Fi Now’ title is the little stick man running across the screen in the ‘Chuck’ opening credits. Other than all of that, the magazine title is in its signature font and all of the writing not in the ‘Chuck’ font is in a plain, easy to read font.

How the cover successfully attracts the target audience Firstly, I think the main thing that attracts the target audience to this particular magazine is the attractive blonde female on the left. The target audience of this magazine is generally geeks who like science fiction who have absolutely no clue when it comes to women. This is why I think the front cover will attract your average geek. I think another thing that will attract someone to this magazine is the high contrast of the colours red, white and black. This makes it stand out from the crowd. The magazine appeals to both young and older generations because it has articles on things like Doctor Who and Harry Potter for young people and also articles on retro sci-fi like E.T and lost in space for perhaps older people.