Friday 13 June 2014

1)The magazine is a lifestyle genre due to the masthead that reads 'Easy Living'. The female as the main image is Kylie Minogue, a middle aged, famous singer. This can give the reader something to aspire to. She has a direct gaze which instantly makes the connection between the reader and the main image personal, especially if the reader themselves are middle aged and looking for someone to aspire to. The Cover lines give off a direct mode of address, for example "What your friends really think of you", making the reader want to know more about that specific content, just due to the fact "YOU" was written in the coverline, again having that personal effect of the reader.

 2) On the basis of the layout of the magazine, it has properties of being balanced by position, due to the larger weight of the coverline on the bottom right, closer to the centre point, yet the other coverlines are at more of a distance. However it also has properties of being balanced by eye direction, because Kylie Minogue's eye direction is towards the right slightly, meaning the first place the reader will look will be to the right, at the cover line in bold, black serif font.
This then moves on to typography, the majority of cover lines are in a serif font, and the coverlines that are in san serif are on a chatty and advice type of basis, for example "Skin you'll be raring to bare"

3) One of the representation issues are in the coverline about delicious recipe's and outdoor entertainment, immediately giving off the stereo type that all middle aged women love to find new recipe's and love outdoor entertainment. The boring middle aged woman stereotype is often used in lifestyle magazine, however they do also show a more peaceful side to the middle aged, for example, Kylie Minogue is wearing a white t-shirt, the connotation for this is that white is a peaceful and purifying colour. The pink coloured masthead also is stating the fgact that it's a girls faourite colour, therefore meaning the lifestyle magzine's target audience is the female gender

Thursday 17 April 2014

The main image on the cover of Red magazine is of hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow.On the front cover Gwyneth is showing a direct gaze towards the audience/reader; her facial expression is very warm and welcoming. It is a medium shot on her body. She is wearing a silver, pristine dress with a deep blue cardigan on her shoulders; this suggests that the focus is meant to be on the clothes that Gwyneth is wearing, this is partly because the genre of the magazine is based around fashion.
The cover lines have the conventions of a lifestyle magazine because there are a mix of everyday life essentials, such as food, fashion, shopping, beauty, homes, travel and health.

On the basis of her body language, she seems to be very laid back,The lighting behind her is very bright and seems to be outdoors. The bright white white can represent a purity of her presence. The font used for the main cover line is san serif; it says "CELEBRATE"this is a persuasive cover line aimed at the reader to make it personal, telling them what to do. There is a balance in colour on the front cover, within the border on the right side there is one word in red font for each of the three cover lines, on the left sided border there are two cover lines with one word of red font in each, but the masthead is also on the left hand border, and is red, this balances out the colour on the front cover. All of the cover lines contain this red font in order to gain the readers immediate attention as there are a lot of words on the page. Being in the left sided borders leaves space for the main image, making Gwyneth the centre of the direct gaze. Small use of serif font. The mode of address is friendly and chatty, for example, the phrase "wow" was used and a cover line also said "don't freak out".

A representational issue would be that there main image of Gwyneth Paltrow is not sexually explicit or represent her in negative way that so ever. In fact it has flipped the whole stereotype on it's head. The fact the Gwyneth is a middle aged woman, also reverses the stereotype of having very young models on the front covers of magazines. The cover lines also represent middle aged women in a certain way, one of which reads "wow decorating" which sounds almost very patronizing and sarcastic, as not all women are into decorating. Another cover line reads "Beautiful Wrapping", again implying that the reader should be inclined to find wrapping somewhat amusing and "Beautiful". The cover line "Vicky Pryce on speeding points, prison & what got her through" suggests an aspect of gossip, this is because the information given isn't necessarily important, because it has nothing to do with the reader them self, but it pulls in the reader in as they think they're being let in  on a secret. Due to the mount of cover lines revolving around fashion, it subliminally suggests that the reader has a lack of fashion in the first place, making the reader think that reading the fashion section is a necessity.

Thursday 20 March 2014



LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE REPRESENTATION.

This lifestyle magazine is targeted at a middle and upper class audience, due to it's history of using world famous models as it's main image, and the content of the cover lines. The typography of the masthead is a large, minimalist style of font, which applies to an upper class audience. Another element of class would be the fact that Vogue never expose/represent their main image models in a sexually seductive way whatsoever, giving it an element of sophistication and adult maturity.
The magazine is targeted at females in particular, as the main image is meant to be an inspirational musician, and most of the cover lines are based around female necessities and habits, such as "THE ENGLISH WOMAN NOW" the words "fashion" and "wife" also appear on the cover too.
On the basis of ethnicity, I don't think that there is any racial divider within the Vogue production, as black women have been presented as a main image for Vogue before such as this edition:

The age of the readers suitable for Vogue would range from 18 and above; it does not contain content of an explicit nature in any way, but some of the advertisements and style, fashion and name references are too advanced and expensive for most young readers to purchase or even understand.
As for religion, there seems to be no reference to it at all.


Thursday 13 March 2014

H/W
I have chosen my own lifestyle magazine to analyse.
The cosmopolitan is aimed at women.
The masthead is in bold yellow Arial text.
The Main image is of a model in gym wear, this gives the reader something to aspire to, the model is meant to be an inspiration to become fit. However, I have noticed that the Cosmopolitan hardly ever use a black female model as their main image.
The cover lines vary from large font sizes to smaller font sizes. The colour of the text tends to be white and yellow, keeping it colour co-ordinated.
Advertisements are in the left sided column.
The cover lines usually contain the latest gossip, which can attract a female audience.