INTRODUCTION TO MAGAZINES

The word ‘magazine’ comes from the French

word ‘magasin’, which means ‘storehouse’. This
is an appropriate word as magazines tend to be
storehouses of information about a particular
subject or area of interest.

The first magazine was ‘The Gentleman’s

Magazine of London’ and was started in 1731.
Magazines are very different to
newspapers
They are:

•Thicker, printed in colour on glossy paper,

•Published less frequently than most newspapers,

•Not about the last day’s events – they may

contain feature material about ‘newsworthy’
people or events, but they do not usually ‘break’
news stories.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s there was a dramatic rise
in the number of magazine titles, between 1986 and
1996 there was:
•A 68% increase in business magazines
•A 38% increase in consumer magazines.
There are now over 7,500 magazines published in the
UK including:
•Over 5,250 business and professional titles, including
Farmers’ Weekly, Taxation Weekly and The Teacher,
•Over 2,500 consumer magazines, including TV Quick,
J17, Sugar, Simply Knitting, Cross Stitch Crazy and
What Car?.
 MAGAZINE TOPICS

There are magazines covering a huge range of topics

and the range is widening all the time. For instance
just twenty years ago there were no lifestyle
magazines specifically directed at men, yet now there
are many – Loaded, GQ, FHM, Zoo.

The magazine market has seen a high degree of

audience fragmentation. The publishing costs are low
so very small readerships can be catered for at a
profit. For instance fishing was originally covered by
just one general magazine – now there are a huge
variety; including Gamefishing, Trout & Salmon, Fly
Fishing & Fly Tying, Total Carp.
You can now buy a magazine related to virtually any hobby
you can think of; everything from Cross Stitching Weekly
to Teddy Bear Collector Monthly.
How many magazine topics can you think of?
CELEBRITY
DIY

Magazine
topics

GARDENING
Matching Sort Cards – Magazines and Advertising
Read through the information on the sheets and match potential
advertisers to magazines. Pay close attention to magazines’
readership.
Magazines  Advertisers
 Good  Direct Line
Housekeeping  Lucozade
 Men’s Health  Vodafone
 Cosmo Girl  TK Maxx
 Company  Highland Spring
 TV Quick  Exclamation
 Zoo  Rizla
 Linda McCartney
Vegatarian Meals
 Veet
The front cover of a magazine is very important – it
establishes its identity and differentiates it from
others on sale. These two magazines have very
different styles of front cover; one is glamorous and
glossy, the other is practical and factual.

Cosmo Girl is a lifestyle ‘consumer’ magazine;

Earthmovers is a practical ‘business’ magazine.
You are going to study the front covers of
various magazines and decide how they suit
their target audience. The important things to
look at are:
Title,
size/style/colour/font

Models, age/image

‘Sell-lines’ – captions
that summarise
contents

Design/layout of images
Magazine Front Cover
Analysis
You must now analyse the
front cover of your own
music magazine. To the
right are the most basic of
prompts; this standard is
expected as a minimum. By
using the sheet of magazine
glossary terms you should
be able to analyse to a
much deeper level
consistent with the A-Level
requirements.
BASIC FRONT COVER ANALYSIS
Title:
Price:
Frequency: (weekly/monthly)
Cover:
•What does the title suggest?
(Font/position/size/name?
•What does the picture suggest?
•What information is given about the
magazine’s contents? How is this
information given?
•What do you think is the target
audience?
•How does the cover appeal to the target
audience?