Research into similar products- Listings magazine 3

''Soaplife''

The layout of the magazine is very cluttered and busy. This would appeal to the target audience of the average homeowner as it would stand out to them in a shop. It features a main article and a coverline which is then bordered by other soap teasers on the cover. The cover features a lot of smaller and larger coverlines which help to advertise the various soaps and the characters and also help to make the page busy and cluttered.

The route of the eye is conventional to most magazine covers. It starts on the masthead- as it is the first thing people need to recognise on the page. The masthead is kept the same for every issue which helps to create a brand identity and something that the reader instantly picks up on to identify the magazine. This magazine cover has a larger area at the top third of the page which is dedicated to teaser articles- pictures and coverlines. These all preview and advertise the soaps and the features in the issue of the magazine. The route of the eye then follows through to the main image and coverline. This conventionally the biggest storyline of the week and therefore what is featured most heavily on the cover. It then leads through to other article teasers that feature one or two characters along with an accompanying coverline. It then goes to the barcode and issue details which are important elements to the cover and the reader- therefore conventionally placed on the front cover of magazines.

This magazine cover features the soap 'EastEnders' four times and the other soaps just once. This seems unconventional to the other magazine covers I have looked at as they give an even feature of each of the soaps. This would make the magazine appeal more to viewers of 'EastEnders' as it is clearly the main soap on the cover. People who are more interested in 'EastEnders' are more likely to pick the magazine up.
In the terminal optical area is a final coverline and image. This is placed in the last area people look at before they turn the page to make it stick in their minds. It is once again another 'EastEnders' article which highlights its dominance in this particular magazine.
The images used are conventional to the usual magazine cover. They are all of mid-head shots of the characters featured. This mainly focuses on facial expressions, which then in turn helps to show the relationships between the characters shown. 'Soaplife' also uses an action shot from one of the soaps with an image of 'John' crashing his car in 'Corronation Street' is used to show an element of the show- this would also draw in attention as it shows the severity of the car crash.

The cover uses similar fonts through out. The font is clear and readable so if a reader glances at it in a shop they would take in the coverlines and be more tempted to pick it up. Using the same clear fonts also helps to create a recognisable house style to the audience. The cover uses bold, italics and capital letters to change the constant use of font. This also helps to highlight the more important stand out words of the page.
The 'Soaplife' cover uses bright primary colours to make it stand out. The use of bright red, yellows and pinks highlights the words and coverlines on the page. The yellow and pink combination on the coverlines fit well together and make it bright and noticeable. They pink of the coverlines and red of the masthead contrast with each other which makes it eye catching. The is a large dominance of the colour pink on the page which makes it more feminine and therefore probably has more appeal to the female audience.

The coverlines are highlighted through colour and also the larger text is used. 'LOVER!', 'CHEAT' 'CHRISTIAN DUMPED?!'and 'EXIT?' are all in larger text and bold letters. These features really stand out on the page and have large impact. If the reader was to glance at it in a shop they would definitely notice these words first because they are very short and snappy. This is another clear convention of a magazine cover.
This cover uses another technique to draw the readers interest. It uses leading questions on the cover which make the reader question the story lines, therefore wanting to read the magazine to find out what is going to happen. These are used in a smaller font so it does not try to get the reader to read these straight away. These elements are for when the reader has been drawn in by the short and snappy coverlines, they then read these to get more of an idea of what is in the magazine. Examples of these questions are; 'Eddie EXIT?', 'Comfort turns to passion?' and 'Toyboy Tommy?'.