Top of the Pops - "Hot Bods" double page spread analysis

The title of the article is “Hot Bods” and in the centre of the letter “O”, in the word bods, there is a stick drawing of a male figure, this automatically tells the reader that the article is to do with male bodies. The caption beneath the title says “Hurray! Here’s 11 hunks (and one old man) who’ve dared to bare, just for you!” The first three words are alliteration which gives the caption more rhythm which introduces a bouncy happy tone to the feature. The text is addressing the reader directly and involves the reader “just for you”. There is a bubble next to the title with “100% sizzling!” printed inside it. This is a technique used to grab the reader’s attention as the bubble is bold and stands out from the rest of the text and is used to excite the reader. The language used is very childish and cheesy, “hunk”, which I believe makes the audience feel more grown up as the words are not sophisticated like adult formal language but not generally words that they would use in everyday conversation which makes them feel more mature and significant.


The double page spread is mainly all images of attractive men with their tops off with barely any text. This makes the article a more visual feature as the female readers are required to look at the men as there is little text on the page. As the target audience is for females between the ages of 11 and 15, this is the age group which females start to find males attractive and this feature encourages this.
The colour scheme for this article is red, yellow and white. These colours are not particularly feminine but contrast with each other and stand out. These colours can represent the heat and fire and this links in with the title, “Hot Bods”, as the colour scheme is red and yellow which are hot colours.
Every image is surrounded by a border of yellow which helps separate each image which makes it clearer and easier for the reader to follow. It also sections the image which makes it more organised. Every picture has a caption surrounded by a bubble and speech bubble. The speech bubble contains a humorous made up phrase which the celebrity supposedly says; “Wahhhh! My lovely locks!”. The red bubble informs the reader who the celebrity is and what they are famous for and adds a statement to link it in with the speech bubble, “If there’s one thing Corrie cutie RYAN THOMAS will not tolerate, it’s freak waves messing with his ‘do’!” The celebrities names are written in bold in yellow to stand out in contrast to the rest of the text. The language used is very chatty and informal and is talking directly to the reader which makes them feel more involved.

Top of the Pops double page spread analysis – “I’m so in love with Lou!”

On the left hand side of the double page spread we see a large image of Leona Lewis standing on a merry go round, this immediately tells the audience who the article is about. The publisher has done this because we read from left to right so Leona is the first thing we see. Leona is looking directly at the strapline, “I’m so in love with Lou”, which automatically makes the reader follow Leona’s eyes to see what she is focusing on. The lead, which sits next to the strapline says, “Lucky LEONA LEWIS reveals why she’s head-over-heels for the man of her dreams…” sucks the reader is as it doesn’t tell the audience who “the man of her dreams” is so that they want to read on and find out. The publisher has also used a pun, “in love with Lou”, it sounds like in love with you, which it is supposed to be but Lou has replaced you as it is the name of Leona’s boyfriend. By not telling the reader exactly who the X Factor winner’s boyfriend is, the audience may get the impression that she is “in love” with the X Factor judge Louis Walsh as they both spent a lot of time together on the show, the X Factor.


The layout is very neatly structured and it uses a lot of pink and white, which is also what the colour of Leona’s dress. The questions are well organised in columns and there are secondary images at the bottom of the page which is visual gossip of Leona and her boyfriend Lou. The images are set up like a cartoon strip and young people are into comics so will get on well with and prefer this layout.
The large quotes which are taken from the answers that Leona has given the interviewer have been spaced out around the double page spread to catch the reader’s eye and to lure them in. This works because they are bold and stand out in contrast to the smaller writing on the pages and gives you a snippet of information which then the reader wants to find more about. The questioned asked are printed in different shades of pink. The lighter shade seems to be the more trivial questions which Leona gives shorter answers to and the darker shade of pink questions are the more personal questions.
It is a very chatty and informal interview, which is language that is easier for the children to understand and comprehend. Lots of bold writing and exclamation marks are used, “THE REAL DEAL” which is a form of exaggeration and grabs the reader’s attention. The buy line is in the middle of the two double page spreads and is very small and this gives the impression that Leona is talking directly to her fans and not through an interviewer. This is because the buy line is the only source of the writer so this tricks the reader into thinking that Leona is talking directly to them.
The pink theme links in with love and the creamy white colour on Leona’s dress symbolises purity. Even though Top of the Pops is a music magazine, the interviewer hasn’t discussed Leona’s music with her. Compared to rock magazines, such as Kerrang, there seems to be a much heavier emphasis on image for pop artists whereas rock artists want their music to be the main focus.

Kerrang double page spread analysis – Oli Sykes interview

On the left page, the whole side is printed with just a picture of Oli Sykes, whom is the lead singer of the famous rock band Bring Me The Horizon. In the image we see that he has a full body suit of tattoos, as he is standing topless, and we see him holding a wet sponge with ink leaking off of it. Looking at his torso, the reader can see a patch from his chest missing some tattoo. This is an ironic image as the tattoos have been washed away, but in actual fact tattoos are permanent. He is washing off his tattoos which can represent something like the washing away of sins. The tattoos themselves give him his identity as a rock individual and make him appear to be brutal and perhaps wild and aggressive. They seem to be very sadistic and fierce images such as of skulls, eagles, cobwebs and fire which could represent his personality and give Oli character. These tattoos also could have other meanings to them and be very important to him. They could represent specific turning points in his life or his emotions. They could also be there to cover up his insecurities and to represent that there is more to him that meets the eye and that people shouldn’t judge him due to his appearance. His face is hiding behind the sponge which again may represent that he is insecure and lacking confidence. His hair seeps over his face and covers his entire forehead just leaving the eyes in view. All these features give Oli something to hide behind, and perhaps in the interview the readers are allowed to find out why he feels the need to “hide” and cover himself up. The way in which Oli is looking at the reader is very endearing. He appears to be looking, with direct address to the audience, using “puppy dog eyes” which makes the reader sympathise with Oli. He almost looks timid and scared which contrasts with the assertiveness of his tattoos and the quote to the right hand side of his head, “I MAKE PEOPLE’S BLOOD BOIL. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY”. This quote may make the reader think why someone looking so innocent would infuriate people.









The tattoos seem to be the only use of colour through out the the article. The colour scheme used for the background and texts is grey, black and white, which are all monotonous colours but bring out the life in Oli’s tattoos. The colours are also classic Rock colours as they are dark and fit in with the genre of Rock.
There is no title to this interview; the article just goes straight in to the questions after a long introduction to the feature. This technique was chosen to make the audience read the start of feature first in order to lure them instead of them just seeing the title and deciding that they weren’t going to read the article. Thus gives them the chance to find out more about the feature ahead and what they can fain from it. The questions and quotes are written in caps lock and are of a bigger size in comparison to the answers. This is so that say if the reader was in a rush or was looking for something in particular, then they could find it easier as it would stand out in comparison to the other text as they could skim read through the questions. The quotes are very large which makes them eye catching which encourages the reader to read them.
The pages are very well organized and have a very neat structure. The questions and answers are printed in columns so the reader can look down the page instead of going from side to side which is also a good use of space as it takes up less room in order to put more things on the page.
In the top right corner of the right hand page we see a black spot, which almost looks like a smudge of ink with writing inside of it. It is presented this way to give it that edgy feel. In the bubble there is an offer for a discount at the popular online clothing store, iheartdropdead. The editor has placed this freebie here as it doesn’t link in with the text so stands out from the page. This way the audience are more likely to look at it.

Hannah Montana magazine – double page spread analysis “2 Friends 1 Style”

The headline of the article is “2 Friends 1 style”, this mechanically informs the reader that the feature is about fashion. It is printed in big swirly writing, which makes it feminine and is framed in white. White represents purity, goodness, cleanliness and innocence and is usually associated with angels who are angelic and righteous which young girls aspire to be like. The font is a light shade of blue which contrasts with the purple background to make more of an impact as it stands out and adds variety. The colour blue is a masculine colour but it makes a good dissimilarity compared to the pink and purple background because it tones down the feminine feel of the magazine so it is not too girly.




The standfirst is directly under the headline of the article and is printed in simple dark purple font and is highlighted by a cloudy transparent box so that the reader can still see the background but the writing is still made clear. Purple is a luxurious colour and represents wealth, this ties in with the theme of the article as it is about purchasing clothes and accessories to look like Lola and Hannah, and you have to have money (wealth) to do so.
The reader keeps interested in the feature because there is little writing, and when there is some, it is surrounded by colourful patterns and printed in bright bold fonts, such as “Tip” which is enclosed by a pink cloud which is eye catching. It has a very simple layout, with mainly pictures which keeps the reader interested because it gives them lots to look at which makes the article very visually attractive. The writing is very informal and the sentences are very short and no complicated words are used, “Earrings are a great way to add colour and interest”. This language is very simplistic which enables the reader to take in and make sense of what is being said to them.
The main image is of two girls holding hands and smiling to make it look as if they are best friends and enjoying each other’s company. Their gestures are open and welcoming which makes them appear friendly as they are not closing themselves in with protective and defensive body language. This is showing the reader how they should be acting. The girls are wearing non revealing clothing and are covered up, which is acceptable because they want to be setting good examples for the young influential audience. They look up to Hannah Montana as their role model and will imitate what she wears and how she acts in order to have something in common with her. If Hannah Montana or something that represents her were to do something unacceptable such as wear revealing clothing or to swear then she would loose publicity or get bad press as people look up to her and aspire to be like her and no parent wants their child to grow up with a bad attitude/appearance.