Smash Hits magazine analysis.

Smash hits! is a pop music magazine that is aimed at young teenagers and was published fortnightly. But is no longer being produced which begs the question as to why it isn’t being produced anymore.

By looking at the design of this magazine it is easy to distinguish that is a pop magazine. The page itself is very ‘busy’ with the way it have so many things e.g. the main image and multiple cover lines and competitions. The background is white with a pink strip on the left hand side for the cover lines; the use of pink is one you would associate for younger people. Along the bottom you have a yellow strip for more cover lines. The colour theme from which you can gather is pink, yellow, green and blue. With the usual white and black.

The title ‘smash hits!’ is divided into one word being green, and the other white. Both have a black border around the lettering to create an affect; the font itself is bold and quite large to have the impact of people knowing that’s the title. It is followed by the main headline, which isn’t very easy to tell due to the amount that is on the page it. ‘Avril v Pink’ is the text of the main headline and by using a large, bold font with black text with a yellow and blue border for each word highlights it, and since this is the only piece of text where this style is used also guides its importance on the page. The main headline also has a cover line ‘Who’ll win the battle of the rock chicks?’ this is slightly smaller and the text is white, it also has underneath the page number in which this article is featured. The main image is linked to the main headline as most magazines do, it has a picture of Pink and Avril Lavigne who are pop artists, with their songs being ‘rocky’, both artists are imitating punching something or even someone, by having their fists pointing to the camera, this you could presume that their imitating a battle, and henceforth linking with the main headline. Due to the amount on the page the cover lines overlap most of this photograph, as it’s actually a page length photo.

The rest of the cover is taken up by the cover lines, promotion of free gifts and a competition. The first cover line if starting on the left hand side after the main headline, you have a very small photo of the Sugababes, a girl band who sing pop songs, and a cover line about an interview with them about ghosts and supernatural things, the cover line itself is a square with a black background the Sugababes in red, the main part of the cover line in pink, and the secondary part in yellow, overlapping a cauldron to help the aim of their interview.

Moving down is where the magazine features the free gifts with their magazine, so presumably this magazine would be in plastic wrapping to hold the free gifts, either that of the free gifts themselves are in plastic and cello taped to the magazine, but this can cause some of the cover being ripped. The word ‘Free’ is large, bold and yellow, contrasting with the background of that part of the cover. Then in bullet points which are stars have a white yellow white pattern in text colour. The text for the free gifts information is slightly smaller than the ‘Free’ It also features a photo of one of the free gifts. In a personal view I find that unnecessary as you’ll be able to see what the free gift(s) are.

Moving to the bottom centre of the cover you have a cover line that is highlighted more than the others, but being a in a circular text bubble, with the theme green background, and a white border around it. The largest words being ‘Aaargh cringe!’ draw attention to what could be being mentioned. The feature is a pop band called ‘Blazin’ Squad’ who too produced pop music, and the feature is the band reflecting on their most embarrassing memories. To help with the cover line the magazine has featured two photos of various members of the band which overlap and not framed into the circular text bubble.

Then on the right hand side, there are two further cover lines. The first one is about celebrities ‘misbehaving’ it comes in 3 sections with the theme colours of pink yellow and blue. The second cover line begins with a quote, the writing is small but not small enough to be unnoticed or unreadable, the text is pink which contrasts with the background to draw the reader in, then underneath in white you have ‘Britney’ in block capital, then in even smaller font explaining that an interview is featured inside. At the very bottom on the page, you have a blue triangular box with a discount offer; this is good for advertising and promotion. Even though it’s small the use of colour is used well to make it noticeable.

On an overall basis I believe this is a very vibrant and ‘pulling-in’ magazine but I believe that it features too much, which makes the page look crowded and almost confusing, it gives the effect where you don’t know where to start due to similar text sizes so you don’t automatically distinguish what’s the main headline or not.

Audience profile.

For this magazine I’d say the audience would be female, aging around 10-14/15 at the most. They would be in secondary school education and keen when it comes to socialising and music, to them the music they would listen to be important in the views of others, at that age you can be penalised for just the way you have your hair, so following the stereotypes in music taste would be important from personal experience. The typical activities for the audience would be ‘girly sports’ such as hockey and netball, and hobbies would be of course listening to music, using social networking sites such as MSN and Facebook to talk to their friends their most prised possession would be things such as laptop/PC, iPod and stereo so carryout their hobbies and would spend any money they have on buying the latest singles from the shops or on music buying websites with the help of their parents/carers.

This magazine links with the typical audience really well with its images being of the latest (at time of publication) artists with new music out on the charts and the use of fun bright colours, focusing on pink which is a stereotypical colour for girls. The language especially is suitable and acknowledged by the age group with words such as ‘Aaargh’ and ‘Cringe’ to a typical adult they may not have an idea into what that word may be or means.