Representations with in teen girl magazines

All of these magazines have many things in common with one another, so are they very similar. As not only are their target audience the same and are primarily teenage girls but also all there stories are similar and link to things you would suggest what girls generally talk about; such as boys, fashion/looks and love. They are the typical subjects that girls supposedly talk about. They portray their targeted audience in many ways displayed on the front covers of their publications. one way they use to attracted the young feminine audience is by using bold feminine colours such as pink and purple as they are colours you associate with girls. As apposed to magazines for more mature ladies, magazines for teen girls use much brighter and bold tones,mainly the colour  pink as you accociate pink with girls.

 Each of these covers that i have chosen use a recurring image used as their main image on the front cover: usually a young, attractive and women who is a celebrity who is current and in the public's interest. They do this to tempt the reader to buy the magazine as young teenage girls who read this may aspire to be like these celebrities, therefore tempting them to buy the magazine as they think that they will find out tips and secretes to look like these women and become attractive. Also present on all five of these covers are images of clothes or captions about style fashion or appearance. The colours of the clothes are bold, bright and girly like the colours used on the magazines and link to the current fashion and target audience. On most of the covers, a price is usually linked with the clothes shown and uses words to make these seem good value such as "only" and "under". These words also connect with the target audience as it is thought that girls are always looking for good deals or a bargains.                     

Also they put in images of celebrities and their fashion and clothes and show cheaper alternative for the readers and also show where you can buy them so readers can go and buy them to wear and look like these celebrities that they aspire to look like.However these magazines may end up have a negative effect on its readers as there are no real message to influence them being more comfortable and happy with themselves. such as on this issue of 'ELLE' magazine it says "GET SHINIER HAIR, SMOOTHER SKIN, A SEXIER BODY" this is an example of a caption of how to look/improve your appearance. But in none of these magazines does it say how to be happy and comfortable with your own body. This is displayed by using attractive however not "natural" women as they have lots of make-up one so called perfect skin and perfect bodies which are usually edited and airbrushed so teens think that they should look like that however its not so easy for girls to make themselves look like that, however they still think they can achieve that.

There are no images with in the magazines which represent the natural women of society that are referred to as more "real" or that are slightly bigger in size. furthermore magazines like this can end up leading its readers in to developing disorders such as anorexia and bulimia and making them conscious of there own bodies. Another negative effect of these types of magazines and there stories is that many of the stories inside are mostly made up and rumors  encouraging its readers that this information is fact, however even though we doubt it. Its like the effects model theory we are sort of being brain washed and we are passive and we accept the media and info we read we read. By doing this it tells the  young readers, that it is okay to twist the truth and also believe everything they read in the media. Furthermore, it introduces stories of unfaithfulness in relationships, sexual ways of dressing/revealing outfits that young girls may want to copy, as these celebrities are accepted and loved in the public's eye and they feel as if they should do the and look the same to be accepted in society. This is a problem as young girls should know how to mature steadily and not before they have grown into their bodies correctly. so teenage girls feel they need to edit and modify there body image to feel normal and be accepted in society.



Magazine Design Terminology

additive color:
Color produced by combining red, green, and blue light in varying intensities. Computer monitors use additive color, while the printing process uses subtractive color. This causes inconsistency between what a designer sees on the monitor and what comes off the printing press.

airbrush (verb):
To retouch photographic images with dye sprayed from a small, high-pressure gun (also known as an airbrush, noun). Similar retouching can be performed digitally with the use of image-manipulation software.

art production:
A term used to describe the process of preparing images, copy and/or layouts for print production. This task typically involves image enhancement, kerning of type, making sure files conform to the printer's requirements, etc.

banner:
The name of a publication as it is displayed on the cover. Also known as the Logo.

bar code:
A series of vertical lines that identify the magazine, the magazine's publisher, and the magazine's price.

blow up (verb):
To enlarge an image, either photographically or digitally. 

bold:
A set of type or font that is heavier (thicker or darker) than the text type of the same typeface. Short for boldface.

camera-ready:
Artwork that is ready to be photographed in preparation for platemaking. While almost obsolete, this term is also used to describe digital advertising files that are properly formated and ready to drop into a layout.

classified ad:
An advertisement that uses only text, as opposed to a display ad, which also incorporates graphics.

design:
The task of arranging art, text and other graphic elements on a page. See also "layout."

display ad:
An advertisement that uses graphics, as opposed to a classified ad, which uses only text.

edit:
To modify and correct a manuscript to conform to the publisher's standards.

exclusive:
Sole distribution or publishing rights given to or sold to only one distributor or publisher in a particular geographic area. Also a news or feature article published by a publication before any of its competitors.

font:
A complete typeface design in any or all point sizes.

genre:
A category of a certain type of writing, such as horror, romance, mystery, science fiction, and so forth.

glossy:
A photograph, image, or other printed material with a shiny surface, as opposed to matte, which is a dull surface.

header:
A headline or title that appears at the top of a page

image editing:
The process of changing and manipulating photographs and other graphics, usually performed electronically using software applications such as Adobe Photoshop.

italic:
A style of type in which the letterforms slant toward the right, used for emphasis and titles of books, magazines, and so forth.

JPEG:
Joint Photographic Experts Group, a sophisticated lossy compression technique for reducing the amount of data needed to describe a full-color, bitmap image.

kern:
To adjust the space between letters so that it appears optically proportioned.

landscape:
An image or page that is horizontally oriented, as opposed to portrait, which is vertically oriented.

layout (noun):
The compilation of text and graphics on a page.

logotype:
A graphic treatment of text, or a combination of text and graphics, that identifies a company or a product. Also the text portion of a logo.

manuscript:
The raw copy for a book or magazine article (either handwritten or computer-generated) before it is edited and typeset.
media:
The means by which information is distributed such as print, broadcast, CD-ROM, World Wide Web, and so forth.

news release:
An announcement of a new book or a new product sent to a news organization for publication.

overlay:
A transparent covering, sometimes made of tissue, that is placed over a page layout for marking instructions for printing or corrections.
pixel:
Picture element. The smallest unit of a bitmapped image as displayed on a computer monitor.

portrait:
An image or page that is vertically oriented, as opposed to landscape, which is horizontally oriented.
print run:
The total number of copies of a publication to be printed, also called a press run.

QuickTime:
A video compression standard developed by Apple Computer, frequently used for video clips on the World Wide Web.

reprint:
To print a article or portion of a magazine using the original materials.
scaling:
The process of determining the amount an image should be reduced or enlarged to fit a specified area

sharpen:
To heighten the contrast between the dark and light tones of an image.

tagline:
An identifying line of text that appears at the top or bottom of a printed page that shows the file name, page number, date, and/or time.

template:
A preformatted document that is protected from overwriting and can be used repeatedly to create new documents.

upload:
To send a file to another computer, as opposed to download, which means to retrieve a file from another computer.

varnish:
A thin, clear coating applied to a printed piece for protection or special effect

work and tumble:
To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn the sheet over from gripper edge to back using the same side guide and plate to print the second side

X-acto knife:
A cutting device used for making precise cuts in typeset copy, page layouts, or other artwork for the purpose of pasting it onto artboards.

yellow:
One of the subtractive primaries (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) used in four-color process inks

Magazine Analysis 1

For years the term 'men's magazine' referred to one of two things: pornography or sport. But in recent years a new breed of men's magazine has entered the public eyes. Readers today appear to be very much more focused on their self-appearance, and the magazines have found new topics which have effect on the marketplace. Such as Loaded, FHM, Maxim, Men’s Health, Men's Fitness and GQ. The modern men's magazine is about sports and cars as well as sex, fashion, women, and anything else which their editors feel might be even mildly interesting to the audience.

GQ Mission Is To Turn Ambitious Young Guys into Successful Young Gentlemen. The target audience is generally around men aged 21-35. They have attempted to do this by using one of the sexiest actresses in the industry. They have done this as they think this is a good mage to attract the men in their target audience. They mostly focus on middle class/working men as there is a bigger amount of people with in that class and there is many things that will attract them. You clearly see the magazine is targeted towards straight men, as there are images of half naked woman on the cover of most of their magazines. 

We can clearly see who the target audience is, by practically just looking at the picture used for the front cover as well as what is written on the cover  such as "33 Pages on How to Dress, Date, Act (and E-mail) Like a 21st Century Gentleman", clearly stating who the target audience is. The articles featured on the cover are pretty masculine such as " James Bond" who is very masculine and a action type man, also men might inspire to be like him. Also "The meanest chef in the kitchen" is considered to be masculine as men want to be able to cook good meals to impress the woman.

The colours of the featured articles also suggest that it is for a male audience as they have use simple black, grey and white which are suggested to be sophisticated very formal, elegant, and prestigious colours such as (black tie, black Mercedes grey suits etc.) white is considered to be the colour of perfection and white can represent a successful beginning.

The company of the magazine has decided to put on their cover a picture of a good looking well known actress in a bikini "Megan Fox" which is a great image and visually stimulating to capture the attention of a man's mind as well as the main stories advertised on the cover which are interesting and seem good to read.

The image of Megan Fox is the main focus right in the middle and is practically the first thing you look at so it has to be stimulating to the eye, which it is as  she is showing a lot of cleavage and pulling a seductive facial pose, so is sexually attracting the men. So it would have already appealed to the audience which they are targeting.

The taglines of the stories on the front cover give us an insight of what is going to be in the magazine so we know whether it will be interesting or not.

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