Essay

Essay

Bliss Magazine

The colour scheme of this cover is Light pink, Baby blue and White. Not only do these colours complement each other effectively, but they also create a young, cute and trendy feel. In correspondence to the page’s colour scheme the cover girl (Cher Lloyd) is wearing a school uniform-looking outfit that is white and light blue in colour which matches the colour scheme. The subject, (Cher) is holding her bow-tie either side and tilting her lips as she poses, this shows innocent yet rebellious attitude. The cuteness is also complimented with the blue and pink hair clips in her long brown hair.

The cover includes text such as “Cher shares her secrets”; this is a good example of alliteration. It creates a flowing sense about the magazine when the reader is reading it, the words seem to just link together. There is also types of text such as “why I had a boob job at 16”. This kind of text is used on the cover as a tie-in; upon reading this, the reader would be instantly led into reader more about the story. A bonus on the magazine cover is the section that advertises the latest summer styles items.

More! Magazine

This magazine over has a colour scheme of Yellow, White and Black. These colours really work well together as they are complimentary. The main magazine cover is coloured white, the background is yellow, and the colour black is mainly used to highlight images and text. The cover girl of this magazine (Frankie, form The Saturdays) is wearing a glittery silver dress which corresponds to the white colours on the cover. She is posing in an appealing way; she is tilted with one hand on her neck, and one hand on her cheek. This suggests that the magazine is aimed at teenage girls and not younger girls.

The contents of the cover include a section that shows some of the “Hot Holiday Buys”; this section highlights the fashion and retail side of the magazine. I believe that this section has been included, because it corresponds with the colour scheme. The section features summer clothing and accessories and these clearly relate to the summery style colour scheme.

Shout Magazine

This issue of “shout” magazine has a magazine cover that doesn’t look too fancy. It has a more mature look to it. There isn’t really a strict colour scheme for this cover and yet the colours still work well together. The magazine title is featured in white and other text is featured in Black, Blue, White, Pink and Yellow. The cover girl of this magazine is simply looking at the reader with a big smile; the image isn’t too elaborate, it just looks like a red carpet shot. There is only one advert on the cover which is “Win a Gold iPod” but there are some tie-in pieces of text. On example would be “Are You Safe On-Line”, this question would definitely have the reader wanting to know more, because that question could be relating to quite a number of things.

Teen Vogue Magazine

This magazine is slightly different to the others, because it features a male on the cover. This subject is considered to be a heartthrob for young teenage girls. Including him on the cover of this magazine is would make more readers want to buy the magazine. The subject is pictured with a straight face with his right hand hooked on his scarf and his jacket is half worn, with only his arms through it. He is posing for the camera. The scarf is included in the photograph, because it is an October issue which is in the winter season.

The magazine is similar to “Shout” in the sense that it is more mature. It includes subheadings such as “Why more teens are going under the knife” these statements talk about the issues that surround teenage life and they bring an interest to the magazine. The colour scheme of this cover isn’t too strict but it isn’t too free either. It includes colours such as Yellow, Red, White and Beige. These colours don’t vary too much and they work well together.

 Cosmo Girl Magazine

This issue of Cosmo girl features Vanessa Hudgens on the cover. She is pictured side-on looking very cheerful whilst her right hand is on her straw hat. Her black hair and white sleeveless top compliment the colour scheme very well. It has quite a strict colour scheme of White, Black and Red. Some pieces of text are included to simply entice the reader. “My mom married my High School classmate” is an example of this. This statement is quite shocking and would real in the reader to want to read more about the story. “387 Hottest Back to School Looks” highlights the teenage audience that the magazine is being aimed at.

In my opinion, I believe that what seem to be the conventions of this genre of magazine are things such as Famous cover models, Enticing text, Complementary colour schemes and Appealing Adverts. All these features included in a teenage girl magazine make very good combinations, and they are the key to popular and bestselling magazines.

Magazines definitely play a big part in the lives of the teens that read them. They affect the readers in one way or another. Sometimes the effects are good and beneficial; however other times there are certain social ramifications that follow the representations that they offer.

Fashion- Most teen magazines include sections where they talk about the latest fashion. They either talk about what looks good or what doesn’t. For some teens this can be a good thing because they keep up with the latest fashion, but for some other girls this can be a bad thing because they would be looked down upon because they don’t wear what is said to be the latest fashion.

Boyfriends- Teen magazine tend to talk about relationships a lot. They talk about which celebs are dating who and that it is somewhat essential to have a boyfriend. Some teens may want and have boyfriends, but others may not. They may have religious issues against dating, the may be homosexual or they might not just want a boyfriend.

Body Size- This is a very big issue that relates to teenage girls. When they get to that age, they become so much more concerned about the way they look; they want to please others more and more. Most teen magazines feature people that are looked upon as the perfect size; these people may are a certain size that is considered to be as the perfect size. This idea is moulded into the minds of young teenage girls, and they try to look like the women featured in the magazines. Some teens go to the extreme of missing essential meals, simply to lose the weight that they feel isn’t needed.

I think that magazines aimed at teenagers are too stereotypical; they portray women in certain ways that make young teens want to be like those images of women that they create. Personally I would like to see more diverse photographs of women in the magazines, showing that all body shapes and sizes are acceptable. Also I would like to see the pressure on teens wearing the latest fashion items removed.