Textual analysis of NME magazine

The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it became the best-selling British music magazine. During the period 1972 to 1976 it was particularly associated with Gonzo journalism, then became closely associated with Punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill.

The cover of this copy of NME magazine has a picture of Arctic Monkeys on the front, the picture is photographed in black and white this makes the picture different from all of the colourful writing and also makes the headlines, advertisements and masthead stand out. The photograph on the magazine cover isn’t a paparazzi shot unlike heat magazine it looks like it’s been taken by a photographer to fit in with the theme. There are a lot of puffs on the front of NME magazine advertising inside contents, these puffs have pictures next to them which attract the buyer because they don’t have to read the writing to no who the story is about or who the interview is with.

Unlike Vogue magazine NME magazine has a relevant picture to the main story of the issue. In the Vogue magazine below Kate Moss is pictured on the front however it doesn’t advertise a story or an interview on Kate Moss and it doesn’t say her name on the cover whereas the main story or interview in the issue of NME magazine is about the Arctic Monkeys, picturing them on the front of the magazine is going to attract Arctic Monkeys fans this way they will buy the magazine.

Textual Analysis of Heat magazine

Heat is a British entertainment magazine first launched in February 1999 published by Bauer Consumer Media. As of 2004 it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in other women's magazines. It also features movie and music reviews, TV listings and major celebrity interviews.

This issue of Heat advertises the main story on the cover and the picture of the person involved in the story, the picture used on this cover is a paparazzi shot, not a picture from a professional photo shoot however the front cover of an issue of Vogue normally has a picture of a famous supermodel on it and has been taken by a professional photographer in a photo shoot the model on the front cover isn’t always relevant to a story inside of the magazine however in Heat or a gossip magazine it normally is to attract readers.

Heat magazine has a very ‘busy’ front cover with lots of advertisements and inside stories in different colours and sizes whereas Vogue magazine sticks to one or too colours making it look more classy rather than loud. The different colours and sizes of the texts grabs your attention. Heat magazine use words such as ‘scandal’ and ‘doctors chilling prediction’ which makes the story sound exciting and interesting and makes people want to read more.

Heat magazine writes about ‘typical gossip’ for example ‘Gav spends night with Charlottes friend’ it’s a typical gossip story about relationships and the stories in Heat and other gossip magazine are often made up and just wrote to attract readers and sell more copies. A gossip magazine such as Heat only has a few interviews in each copy, this is because its cheaper for them to make up their own stories rather than pay someone else for the truth or an interview.

Textual Analysis of Vogue magazine

In this blog entry I am going to look at what key concepts magazines aimed at 16-19 year olds use. Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in eighteen countries by Conde Nast Publications. Each month, Vogue publishes a magazine addressing topics of fashion, life and design.

Kate Moss is pictured on the front cover of this issue of Vogue, this tells the reader that the magazine is about fashion from looking at it. The magazine cover doesn’t have the full title written across the magazine, this is because the masthead of the magazine is so famous they don’t need to put the full name.

The inside contents of the magazine advertise ‘Girl Style’ this is advertising the audience and ‘the international collections special’ shows that the magazine is published in more than one country.

Vogue has Kate Moss on the front cover of the magazine, photographing a supermodel on the front cover of a magazine attracts people, fans of the model, people who want to be like the model and people interested in her fashion. The model isn’t named on the magazine and there isn’t a story about her advertised.

The difference between Vogue magazine and a weekly magazine such as star is the celebrities on the front of star are normally relevant to the story in the magazine and are often just pictured by press however Vogue magazine use top models to put on the front cover of there magazine and their own photographers photograph and edit the pictures to how they want them. This shows that Vogue is a magazine of more quality and costs more money to produce whereas weekly magazines buy pictures off other people and often make up their own stories.

Secondary Magazine

In this blog entry I will look at how the key concepts are used in Secondary teachers magazine. “Teachers magazine is for the teaching professional. It aims to be balanced, inspiring and useful, with practical solutions and the inside track on Government education policy” The main topic of the issue I’m going to look at is 'Do boys and girls learn differently?

This magazine uses an unusual layout as the front cover. The 2 page layout is effective as it fits in well with the main story and attracts people because it looks different. The two children on the front cover are deliberately wearing identical uniforms this is done to involve the pictures with the main story and to show the two children could go to the same school wear the same uniform be taught by the same teacher but still learn differently. The two sides to the cover have the same advertisements and same layout making the picture the main focus.

The cover of the magazine advertises its audience which shows that it’s a specialist magazine and not a lot of people know about it, if the front cover didn’t say its main audience then it could attract school children or parents also.

The children are dressed in school uniforms on the picture to make it fit in with the story, if they were dressed in everyday clothes then it would have no connection with the main story of the magazine.

The magazine cover addresses the reader ’do boys and girls learn differently and can your teaching redress the balance’ this attracts the reader because it makes them involved with the magazine.