The masthead, Time Out London, is representative of the kind of magazine it is. The phrase ‘time out’ refers to taking a short break, normally from something stressful, so this magazine will be for light reading, possibly on work breaks. The use of London in the title shows that it is a regional magazine about the city of London.

The colour scheme of red, black and white are very high in contrast and give the cover a sharp, dark, somewhat sophisticated edge, which relates to the fact that this issue is a theatre special and theatre is considered somewhat upper class. The cover lines are in large simple fonts in contrasting colours, to draw the eye. They are of course linked to the main image of David Tennant, using lines such as ‘the time lord takes on hamlet’ as a play on his most well-known role as the star of Doctor Who, to attract readers who enjoy that TV series to the articles which are about his work in theatre. The other cover line, ‘458 free events…’ attracts the part of Time Out’s audience that reads the magazine purely for ideas on events in London and uses a high, oddly specific number to indicate there are hundreds of art, food and culture-related things to do in London.

It is however not the main draw of the magazine, as it doesn’t relate to the main image and is on the right hand side of the magazine (as the left hand side is used for the main features, due to the way some magazine stores use horizontal shelving systems and the magazines overlap).

The only section of the cover outside of the r/b/w colour scheme is the puff in the bottom-right, instead opting for a light grey-green (still, however, in contrast to the red used throughout). It proclaims there are free tickets and a guide to gigs for every reader, to draw the audience in with the promise of free info in an already free magazine.

City Magazine (about Sheffield, not London, which is normally referred to as ‘The City’)’s masthead is dark and striking, and partially covered up by the main image, creating a sense that this magazine is famous enough to have its title obscured.

The main image itself is of a revealing swimsuit-clad woman, attracting straight male customers into buying the magazine. She is also looking at the reader, despite wearing sunglasses, which is a direct mode of address and attracts people to it. It also ties in with the cover lines as it suggests holidays and beaches and this issue is a ‘travel special’. The colour scheme of this cover is red and yellow; quite hot and interesting colours, bringing to mind sunsets and heat and sand.

The font used for the travel special cover line is in a faux-eastern style, again helping it create an image of exoticism. The very bold and bright font on summer holiday again show that it is the theme of this issue.

The lack of barcode on the cover is interesting as barcodes are normally conventional for any kind of magazine, so this magazine might be distributed in an unusual way and therefore have a sense of exclusivity.

This contents page continues the colour scheme from the cover but in a more subtle way – the bright pink used throughout is now used for the page numbers, creating a more minimalistic look. The large bold contents title at the top clearly states what page the reader is on and is also visually similar to the cover's masthead, again keeping the house style consistent. The centred list of contents is unusual, and the different fonts used for each heading is quite quirky.

The font used for the fashion article is the same as the one saying travel edition on the front, which possibly provides a hint as to what kind of focus the article will be about – a more 'fun' font might equal a less serious article, and just like the cover, the description under the heading says that it does focus on summer/beachwear.

The positioning of images around the contents is honestly very erratic and doesn't draw the eye around the page very effectively, and it's difficult to know at first which picture is connected to which article as they are only connected by a dotted arrow. They aren't very cohesive either, using a combination of light and airy landscape shots and very dark photos of famous people and what looks like clipart of a barbeque connected to the joy of bbq article.

The section at the bottom of the page is the imprint and contains thecredits, address and copyright information of the people who made the magazine. Its placement on the contents page is conventional for any kind of magazine. The line of slashes separating the contents from the credits is part of the house style of the magazine, as it uses those or a line of chevrons to separate titles or mark the end of a page throughout each artlcle.

This is the magazine's article on music, as exemplified by the use of 'cityguide' at the top, giving it a formal title related to the title of the magazine itself. The colourscheme of the page is overwhelmingly blue, in relation to the images they've chosen- in the upper right, a band in blue water, and in the lower left, a woman with a blue headpiece. Blue is probably used to tie the artist image in with the page, and also to connote a return to peace/normal articles after the bright pink/orange travel features from this issue.The titles of the articles are playful and somewhat punny, the first being 'dazzle and delight' in relation to an artist called Cara Emerald. The article describes their style ('a sassy blend of big band jazz, swing and pop') and provides information about her playing locally (using the phrasing from the article title) and mentions a new album she has in simple, descriptive terms. The largest picture belongs to the band with the largest following, an American band reasonably popular in the early 00s (which is why the article focuses on them despite them not being 'local'). The article is wider than half the page and takes up a lot of space visually despite being only two short paragraphs. Despite not being regional, the article is there to inform readers that the band are playing a farewell tour of the UK and will be playing close by to readers of this magazine. The last section at the bottom of the page is separate from the articles about bands and albums and instead focuses on (seemingly obscure or at least not particularly popular or well-known) live music events at venues close to essex. It's surrounded by blue chevrons, part of the house style previously discussed. There is a vibrant blue circle with social media contact information, which draws the eye and allows the reader to keep up with news between issues.

This magazine is simply known as Essex Life which accurately conveys that the magazine is about life in the region of Essex. It also follows one of the publisher (Archant)’s naming schemes, which is generally the name of the region followed by life. This could be considered a sign of quality and brand trust, in that if you have a magazine called [region] life you know what to expect for it.

The cover of this magazine is of a boat by a body of water and uses a half-page style composition and a nice blue colour to create an aesthetically pleasant cover image, drawing people in and creating good advertising for the region itself. This is actually conventional for regional magazines (unlike the last two covers I analysed, which may have been focused on people due to their city-focused nature). This would appeal to people who live in the region and people who are just tourists for similar reasons as the image showcases a beautiful sight in the area and invites all kinds of people to read the magazine and find out what to do.

The font colours here are a slightly lurid yellow, a similar blue to the focal point of the cover, and white, so as to keep a good consistency throughout the cover. The font used for the main title is a simple yet bold serifed font which would appeal to a slightly older audience. The cover lines are simple and explain what is in the magazine and promote essex- the top 100 of clacton, the literary inspiration of the county etc. The lefthand side is dedicated to a figure who is most likely the main feature of the article due to the placement of his line and the use of a portrait.

The puffs on this cover are placed directly around the focus point of image so as not to obscure it. They're in various white/yellow/blue fonts, keeping with the colour scheme of the main image, and the mainarticles (joey bevan and the literary inspiration) are both done in a more sophisticated font to show they're more important. The language used in these puffs are lighthearted, using alliteration in 'southend stylist' and pop culture references with 'csi chelmsford' and general wordplay with using 'on your marks' in reference to the maldon triathlon. The bottom-left puff has a defined shape, unlike the others, which draws the eye to another contest, this time for bespoke highclass shoes, which would appeal to the upper class women audience of the magazine.

Conventionally, the top and bottom of the cover both have banners showing more of the content inside the magazine, with the top banner showing off the prize content as it would be one of the first things people read and the prospect of prizes draws people in.

This contents page for this issue of Essex Life is a double page spread, which is unusual for magazines, as the magazine is 180 pages long – quite large for a regional magazine- and they need the space to put all of the articles. The neat column-style organisation, the white background and the clean black serifed font all contribute to a neat, stylish effect. The use of a pale green for the page numbers and headings is interesting as it doesn’t really link in with any imagery shown so far, but is still evocative of pleasant countrysides and such, which appeals to the readership of this magazine by linking it to things they'd enjoy about Essex, like the countrysides.

The rest of the contents page is standard, with the features being priority at the left and the standard articles from each issue being sorted into categories. The page numbers are by the side of the article titles, and there are pictures with page numbers for important/attractive articles displayed at the top.

There is some advertising on the right side of the page, telling people to subscribe to Essex Life, and a note from a subscriber at the top of the right page to entice further.

This advert is for a range of furniture, found in Essex Life magazine. It’s a very striking advert and catches the eye, mostly due to about half of the page being solid bright orange, a very loud colour. Orange is a hot and vibrant colour and for sure an odd choice to use when advertising how comfortable and relaxing your leather chairs are.

Despite the eye being drawn to the orange, most of the page is actually taken up by the b/w photograph on the top half. It illustrates a woman lying, relaxed on a chair in the street, surrounded by people going about their daily lives. The woman is in colour, but the people are in a slightly sepia-looking black and white, showing that the chairs are so comfortable you can relax and ignore stresses anywhere, anytime. The chair’s bright orange colour ties in with the orange of the bottom half and stops it from looking too gaudy.

The text used alternates between large and white, and small and black, and at first glance only the white text is really readable, so those are the most important parts of the text. It says the name of the company, a slogan (‘imagine comfort’), and that there is a free leather upgrade available. ‘imagine comfort’ and ‘free leather upgrade’ are in a clean, lowercase font, easily readable from a distance.

This is all attractive to a reader of Essex Life as the style of this ad is clean and relaxing and the style of the magazine is similar, so the readership crosses over.

This article is a double-page interview with a fashion designer from the area about to showcase his designs at Buckingham Palace. Somewhat unusually, the first page of the article has no pictures whatsoever, making it a large block of text. However, the large title and small blurb offset this and stop the page from looking like a newspaper instead of a magazine. Also, since this is a doublepage spread, both pages are normally as a single page, so the use of large images on the side still balances it out. The article features standard hallmarks of interviews, including the past of the interviewee, what kind of place they met up at and what it says about the interviewee, how they act in person compared to their fame, and of course the interview content.

This advert is a very simple, striking advert. The page is very uncluttered aside from an image of what is being sold (lights), the name of the company and contact details. The dark colour of the background is in contrast with the rest of the magazine's colour scheme so far and would be surprising to any reader.

The simplicity combined with the sharp serifed font, lack of any forceful advertising and lack of pricing lends it a sophisticated, upperclass air (as most exclusive shops don't need to attract people with bargains, only people with a certain amount of money will want to buy). Readers may appreciate the direct approach this advert has taken to simply show you the product and may be enticed to follow up on the inviting way the advert shows its contact details.

The use of a soft blue glow on the title After Dark is most likely a nod to the fact that it sells lights and also a way of making the title stand out against the solid black background.