Analysis of magazine cover and contents page By

Jessica Nelson

Front cover

Contents page

1.) What works: I think what works about my magazine is that to start off with my magazine masthead has been shortened to just T.C. I did this because, when it is sitting in a shop you will only be able to see the top left of my mag and by shortening the masthead and putting it in the top left when people see just that they know that it is Teenage City. Moreover in the T I wrote Teenage and in the C I wrote City, so that is still the masthead of my magazine.

Another thing I think that works is that I have stayed with the same colour layout throughout the front cover and contents page. I think this works as it makes the magazine look a lot more organised and neat and also professional. Also as red is a bold colour it makes my magazine stand out more.

2.) What doesn’t work?: What I think does not work is that some of the lead lines on the front cover are a bit hard to read as they are red and the jacket is also red.

Another thing that I don’t think works is the graffiti in the background as it doesn't really go well with my colour scheme and also I think makes the front cover look full and closed in.

3.) What was difficult?: I had a bit of a problem with the masthead and one of the model’s heads. I had this problem as I wanted to get the logo into the top left corner which was where one of my models head was. To overcome this I ended up selecting her head and then copying it and putting that layer over the layer of the masthead so that her head was in front of the masthead but you could still see what the masthead said.

4.) What was easy?: I found the finding of the masthead for my magazine easy as I knew that I wanted the text to be quite weighty and bold so that it would stand out to the reader. Furthermore, I also knew that I wanted the writing to be in sans-serif as sans-serif is a lot easier to read.

Another thing that I found easy was that I already knew what kind of magazine I wanted mine to be so picking what articles and features and lead lines I wanted was quite easy.

5.) What have you learnt?: I have learnt more about the layout of a magazine and why they are laid out that way. I have also now learned how to use photo shop a lot more accurately and I now understand it a lot better than I did before. Furthermore, I know the names of certain things on the magazine. In addition to that I now understand what makes a good magazine and what doesn’t.

6.) What would you change?: If I had a lot of money I would change perhaps the background of the graffiti and leave it all one colour. I would do this because, I think it makes the front cover look a bit heavy and crowded, and I think that if it was white it would open up the cover more, and would perhaps make the magazine look more professional.

Another thing that I would change would either be what the models in the photo are wearing or I would change the lead lines colour on the front page as some of the sentences are hard to read.

Are there any magazines you can compare it to?:Yes there is I think I can compare my magazine and its content to magazines such as Bliss and Mizz. I think this because they are all aimed at teenage girls. However, as mine includes some more mature topics such as how to get a job etc. it makes mine more appropriate for a college mag.