LANGUAGE AND FONT ANALYSIS

Rebecca Phillips

BRIEF In order to gain a greater understanding

of how to target and appeal to my target audience, I decided to look at the varied use of language and fonts in different magazine genres. I will look at the conventions of language and fonts in magazines and apply this to my magazine.

TOP OF THE POPS – FONTS

HeadlineVery large font size to draw in the reader’s attention quickly. The font is clear but almost appears like handwriting which a female would have which relates to the female target audience.

Article TextClear colours and non-cerif which makes the interview less formal and complex for the reader. The font size is usually size 12 making it clear enough for the reader to read.

Buzz WordsLarger font size, bold enough to stand out and read easily so it attracts the reader’s attention quickly.

Graphic FeaturesSame font as the headline. Larger font size than the article to highlight the importance of this pull quote.

TOP OF THE POPS - LANGUAGE

Article – Language like ‘Aw’ and ‘Cool’ make the interview very informal and conversation like so the reader can infer that the band are in fact talking directly to them rather than through a journalist. The language is not a very complex level which is perfect for the pre-teen audience of which the magazine targets. Even though the interview is with a boy band, the main subjects are only loosely around music production and more about their personal life, signifying that any pre-teen who wants to find out more about the artist can read the article without being confused by the technical language.

Buzz Words – Lots of buzz words are used around the article to make sure it grabs the reader’s attention so they read the article. Otherwise, the reader might find the article boring and move on from the magazine.

NME - FONTS

Stand First – San Cerif which is formal and sophisticated for the target audience of NME.

Article font – The article font size is smaller than for a teen magazine and the reader is prepared to reader long passages of text and their attention does not need to be constantly grabbed when reading the article.

Headline – Dominates the page to show how important the celebrity is. San Cerif fonts links the religious text to the word ‘Saint’. It is a bold font to quickly attract the reader’s attention.

Pull Quote- The font is not San Cerif to break overall formality as the reader knows that Dave Grohl is informal when he speaks and preforms. If all the texts were in formal fonts, this would alienate the reader’s inference and perception of Grohl.

NME - LANGUAGE

The overall language is of a high level with fits in with the target audience as they know that they have a level of good English skills.

The article language requires the reader to have some background music knowledge in order to fully understand the article’s message. However because NME readers usually buy the magazine regularly, this is not a problem.

MY MAGAZINE As my target audience is similar to that of NME

magazine, the language will be of the same level. I will :- Use a level of complex English because my target

audience’s age allows them to a have a great understanding of English. Furthermore I am targeting students so they will have a high degree of English.

Require the reader to have a small amount of background music knowledge because I will link to past events that have happened. However the reader will not need an in depth knowledge because the main theme of my magazine is new music.

Large amounts of texts as my target audience’s attention will not need to be constantly re-focused.