Analysing Magazines

Some useful prompts to think about when analysing magazines.

Consider the title of the magazine: Why is it called that?What are the significant words?What connotations do they have?
The publisher of the magazine: Who publishes the magazine? What other magazines (if any) does it publish? What other media interests (if any) does it have?
How much does the magazine cost? How often is it published?
What is its circulation/readership?Does the magazine have a website?

The target audience for the magazine: What type of reader is it targeting?
How do you know this (i.e. types of articles and advertisements)?
How does the reader ‘interact’ with the magazine?
The cover of the magazine: Analyse the images on the cover; the types of facial expressions, body language, clothing, etc used.
What do they tell us about the target audience for the magazine? What else appears on the cover?
Why are particular typefaces, types of graphics, colours, etc used? Why are particular items in the magazine featured? Does the cover look similar to other magazines? If so, why? If not, how does it look different?
The ‘style’ of presentation of the magazine:What do you notice about the magazine’s presentation? Does it look cheap or expensive? How does it compare with other similar magazines? How does it use colour, print style, artwork, etc, to convey an overall effect?

The ‘mode of address’ of the magazine: How does it address its reader? How and when are readers allowed to address the magazine?What types of articles/features does it contain? What subjects are covered?
The advertisements that appear in the magazine: What are the main types of products being advertised? What is their price range? Who are they aimed at? Why are these products featured particularly? How do the models featured in the advertisements relate to the target audience?

Representations in the magazine: How are men and women represented? (look at both the images and the text) re there conflicting representations? If so, why is this? How do these representations relate to readership? Is there a limited range of representations for men and women? If so, what are they and why?
What groups do not appear in the pages of the magazine? Why?
Are celebrities featured in the magazine? If so, what kinds of celebrities? Why have they been chosen? The competition for the magazine: What other titles are in competition with it?What are their circulation/readership figures? How much do they cost? What are the similarities/differences?
and finally...
What do you think are the reasons for its popularity (or otherwise)? What does the magazine offer its readers? What ‘values’ or ideologies are implicit in the magazine?