Textual Analysis of Look Magazine

Another magazine that I will analyse for inspiration when it comes to designing my music magazine is Look magazine. It was launched in February 2007 by IPC. IPC is global company and it produces many other popular magazines. Look magazine is designed for young women. It has around the same codes and conventions of most women’s magazines although Look is mainly about fashion and clothing instead of just celebrity gossip like Heat magazine.
By using the migraine model, I can easily establish the key concepts, codes and conventions of Look magazine. The median of Look is print in the form of a glossy magazine. The ideology of Look magazine is to give the impression that Look magazine is fashionable, sleek and sophisticated, perhaps maybe for a more mature audience than Heat magazine. The genre of Look is that it is a women’s magazine, mainly dedicated to fashion. The representation of Look is that it is a magazine that a young, fashionable woman would read unlike Heat which is most likely to be read more by a younger teenage audience.
The audience for Look magazine is wide and mainstream because it appeals to most women. I would say that Look magazine is aimed at young women who are interested in celebrities and fashion. I think that the audience for Look would consist of maybe more sophisticated women than Heat magazine’s audience. This is because Heat is all celebrity gossip and the language and phrases used are less formal than Look. The institution for Look magazine is IPC, they publish the weekly magazine but photos and compositions of the features of the magazine are created by companies like wireimage.com and xposurephotos.com.
The narrative of Look magazine is similar every week and the magazine is always mainly dedicated to high street fashions. The plot and structure of the magazine remains the same each week so it appeals to its target audience. The codes and conventions of Look magazine is that it gives a stylish outlook and image to the viewer of the magazine. This is incorporated into every issue of Look magazine to keep the codes and conventions fluent throughout the issues.

When analysing the front cover of Look magazine the denotations are that, the masthead is the main focal point and the first thing the viewer sees when looking at the cover because it is very big, in a bold clear font, splashed across the top of the cover and is a bright yellow colour. The masthead never changes throughout the issues of Look, although sometimes the colours do differ. For example the masthead above and on the covers on the Look magazines i have found are in pink. By doing this it allows Look’s readers to easily notice the magazine when purchasing it.
Above the masthead is the tagline, in a much smaller, less noticeable font that says, “Britain’s Best-Selling Fashion Weekly!” This gives the viewer a rough idea of what the magazine will be about, without them having to open the cover. Alongside the tagline there is the price in bold and the advertisement for Look.co.uk which is the magazine’s website. These features do not change throughout the issues of Look to keep the designs and denotations constant. The main image on the front cover is of a celebrity. This tells the viewer who the main interview will be with. The celebrities name is also in bold and the same colour as the masthead. The fonts differ in each cover line to make them stand out and help the reader differentiate them from one another. There is also some other information about the featured celebrity in some other cover lines, the font colour has changed on these from yellow to white, to make them separate from one another.
Across the top of the front cover there is another cover line that reads, “Exclusive” in block capitals in a bold and brightly coloured font. This grabs the viewer’s eye and makes them notice the other stories featured in that issue. The exclusive is normally also about celebrities and a small photo is shown of them. In the surrounding area of the main image is filled up with clothes and fashion being advertised with different items of high street clothing being shown.
Like Heat magazine, Look also uses different fonts, bold colours and lettering to attract consumer attention. Some of their denotations, connotations, codes and conventions are similar in some ways. The bar code is situated on the right hand side of the magazine but its position can differ throughout each issue.
The contents page of Look magazine takes up one page. Every issue has an Editor’s letter and in Look magazine it is about the season’s latest fashions to show what the magazine is about. The editor’s letter is situated down the left hand side of the page and has a photo of the editor, Ali Hall above it. The same fonts are used in the contents page from the front cover, to keep the style of the magazine consistent.
The contents page is divided into four sections to make it easier for the reader to find what they want to read. This could be an idea to consider when it comes to me having to design my contents page for my music magazine. The sections are, fashion and beauty, which is the biggest and main section to show the genre of the magazine. The other sections are celebrity, which consists of celebrity interviews. Real life, this section shows stories from normal people about their experiences and everyday life. The final section is every week; this section is made up of the regular articles that feature in every issue. These are normally problem pages and horoscopes.
There is also a main image on the contents page which is of a model wearing an item of clothing. This image is used to advertise an article in the magazine. There are some differences between the front cover and contents page. These are that the fonts used for the contents page are not as big and there are not as many bright colours featured in the contents page. This is because bright colours are needed on the front cover to attract consumer’s eyes and attention, but viewers do not usually see the contents page until after they have purchased the magazine. The stylish codes and conventions of Look are consistent into the contents page with its simplistic design and swirly fonts.
The double page spread I will analyse is about celebrity holidays. In the corner of the page in a bright pink box it says, “News Just In!” in bold lettering. The connotation of this is that it will grab the reader’s interest and attention so they feel tempted to read the article. The main text takes up the majority of the first page; it is in a big and bold font so the reader gets a rough idea of what the article will be about. A pun is used in the headline that associates with the featured celebrity. Many magazines do this so it could be an idea when I create my double page spread.
Underneath the headline there is a brief piece of text that is used to accompany the main headline to expand more on what is going on. This text is considerably smaller than the main headline but is still large enough to be noticed by the reader. The two headlines are then accompanied by a detailed explanation of what the article is about. This text is in a very small font but the starting letter of the text is very big compared to the text. This technique is used throughout every article in the magazine so the viewer can see where the text begins. The rest if the surrounding area of the double page spread is filled up with photos. These photos overlap each other and are made to look like snapshots. Each photo is accompanied by a caption in a brightly coloured font with an explanation of what is going on in the photo. This text is normally a play on words, a joke, simile, metaphor or pun. The language used in the article is friendly, chatty and informal. This is used to appeal to women and keep to the codes and conventions of the magazine.
In conclusion, from analysing Look magazine, I have noticed how the same ideologies, codes and conventions can be noticed throughout the whole magazine, from the front cover and through to the articles featured. This is to develop a ‘house style’ that all the articles, covers and issues can follows so the magazine is noticeable week by week. Above my analysis there is an example of a Look magazine cover.