Content analysis

The product I will be analysing will be Match football magazine as this has many similarities compared to my product. Firstly I will analyse the front cover of the magazine. 

The first thing that hits you when you see the cover is the central image which is of Phil foden. Match have done this because one of the main pages inside the magazine is a page dedicated to an interview from Phil foden before England head to the euros. Foden is the cover model as he will be a key player during the tournament and he is very popular among fans of England. This draws attention to the cover as a recognisable face is seen on the front therefore catching more eyes. Above the central image is the masthead which is the name of the magazine. The font used is quite basic as this is a magazine ideally for young boys aged between 9-14. The red stands out from the white background making it more eye catching to customers. The masthead is the largest piece of text on the cover as it is the title of the magazine so it needs to be recognisable and clearly visible. To the right of the central image is a tag line that encourages the audience to pick up the magazine and read inside. As previously mentioned, Foden is a popular player and people will be interested about an interview from him as he could be some young fans idol. Below the tag line is a cover line which highlights an important game during euros where England will take on Scotland. This will massively interest the audience as football has many rivalries but they don’t get much bigger than England vs Scotland. This will make fans feel excited for the game so they will buy the magazine to read the preview inside. There are many colours on the cover but the main 3 are Red, Blue and white which are the colours of the Union Jack which is the background image behind the central image. It is also important to keep a consistent colour scheme as it give Match an identity so in the future it will be easier for them to make sales. Also, the colour scheme works at they contrast against each other making certain elements of the front cover stand out. There is a header at the very top of the page which gives a slight preview of what’s inside the magazine therefore encouraging people to buy the full package. Similar to the header there is a footer but at the bottom of the page telling the audience what some pages include inside the magazine as well as the barcode. A barcode is included at the bottom of the page as it isn’t really relevant to the theme of the magazine but it is needed so people can buy the product.

I will now talk about the contents page.

Magazines have contents pages so that they can tell their audience what pages certain content is on. This usually follows the front cover but in the match magazine, it is followed by posters people can take out to put on their wall or keep around. There is a large title Bon the contents page using the same colour scheme as the forth cover however in reverse to add a little bit of variety. This contents page shows some images of what some of the pages inside the magazine will look like encouraging people to look on further. Typically the contents page doesn’t number the pages in order but since this is a magazine for a younger audience, they have ordered their pages so it is easier for them to understand. 

Finally, I will talk about the pages inside the magazine. 

The majority of the interior pages have a main heading telling you the title of the page so you know I what it will be about. Inside this magazine is a variety of colour schemes which will match the topic of the page. For example, page 10 is about the Copa America which is being held in Brazil. The colour scheme of this pager is Green, blue and yellow, the colours of the Brazilian flag. This is different to the front cover as that was about England and the ‘Battle of Britain’. All of the pages have a main image which relates to the theme of the page. For example, one of the pages is a question and answer with Belgium goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois. Since, he is the focus of the page, he is the main image as it is a page dedicated to him.