Textual analysis of other student magazines

For my first textual analysis i decided to do it on this issue of 'First Car', it has many great features on its front cover. Firstly, you can see the strapline at the top of the magazine showing what is included in the magazine in this case its 'competitions, games, gadgets etc, the typical features you would find in this kind of magazine. Secondly, you can see the masthead close to the top of the magazine its in bold white lettering and is set in quite an urban fashion with a simple font that works quite well because it fits in with the theme this magazine has. Another feature the front cover has is the banner just below the centre of the magazine this is important to the magazine because it links to the image thats on the cover, its showing an interview with stars of a popular television show so its in bold writing dominating the magazines cover, it could also be said to be a caption in some way. Near the bottom of the magazine you can see the cover lines which sum up many of the features that will appear in the magazine, it uses the space on the cover well and the pictures make the cover more interesting to the reader. Near to the bold name of the magazine you can see a set of lures these are used to show the features in the magazine and by using only a little part of the feature this will persuade the reader to purchase the magazine, hense why there named lures.

This magazine is 'hc', which to me is not as well layed out as the first magazine it also doesn't use graphics as well as the other one either but it does have some good features. It has a masthead like all magazines should have but the font used is not as interested as the 'first car' magazine in my first textual analysis, its quite plain and has a solid colour behind it which isn't as interesting as the layout of the first magazine. The magazine also does not have many features being shown on the cover it has a banner at the bottom of the cover showing some features inside the magazine but other than that there is a feature about education which has some interesting animated pictures but overall the magazine does not use the techniques the first magazine had.

For my last textual analysis i chose this magazine named 'Smart talent', this magazine uses its features much better than the magazine before it, it has a picture which is used in the background to make the cover more interesting but i have noticed that her head seems to cover the masthead i've seen this done on many other front covers in newsagents and i find it to be a little annoying because i can then not read the entire masthead but others find it to be a great effect, which it is but it can sometimes make the magazine look unprofessional. It uses text in a unique way with the 'smart' in the title being verticle, it shows features at the side of the magazine which can be used as a lure it also has a website at the bottom which can make the magazine more reliable.



Contents Pages

• This is a contents page from another student magazine, its actually from the 'hc' magazine i did an analysis on earlier.
• It uses colour and graphics to great effect making this page much more interesting and professional.
• Its well layed out and has an introduction to the magazine under the heading 'welcome to the magazine', this is something i may do in my own magazine because it seems quite professional and a great feature to have.
• Theres three columes, that show all the features clearly.
• It also has a picture of the actual magazine cover at the bottom of the contents page, this seems like a great idea to do, i may do this in my magazine.

• This contents page is layed out differently to the other it uses simple colours and illustrations.
• It isn't as well layed out as the contents page before it because it doesn't use as many columes for the magazine, it still works but it could have had many more colours and features.
• It has a picture of one of the authors which is quite a nice touch to the magazine, i may use this in my magazine.
• It also has a large article just about the editor this is quite a good feature is well,  it makes the magazine seem like it has had alot of work put into it.