Soap Opera Magazine/Listings Magazine Titles

I have looked at existing magazine listings covers in order to see how colours, images. layout and font help to promote and advertise a soap opera. From looking briefly at these, I will be able to apply this when it comes to creating my own listings cover.

• Bright colours (orange, red, yellow, blue) - Clashing to stand out to the target audience.
• Big, bold lettering with heavy black outlines to emphasise major storylines
• In the top right hand corner there is a banner 'first for big soap news'. This draws the attention of the audience as it tells them they will be ;the first' to find out about the storylines and characters.
• Harsh and Eccentric words are emphasised such as 'die', 'engaged' and 'pregnant'.
• Headings are eye-catching with the use of a large font size and bright colours.



• 'Bigger & Better' and '38p' (price advertised twice) - grabs attention - boost sales because it is cheap.
• One main image (Max Branning) is used on the cover. He is outlined in white which contrasts with the black and blue colours and stands out.
• Bright, bold headings are used.
• Shows storylines from many different soaps to attract the majority of people.
• 'Who wants max dead?' questions the audience making them want to buy the magazine to find out more.

From this research I have found how magazines attract the target audience and concluded that the bright colours and bold lettering make the magazine stand out to viewers. When it comes to creating my magazine cover I will make sure that my magazine stands out and that all white space is filled as magazine covers are generally very full.
Magazines usually have a left third which inclues the title, price and date of issue. The left third is what people see on the shelf so I will make sure that my magazine includes all the relevant information in the left third.
I have found that magazines tend to have one main coverline and focus on one story and look at lots of different soap opera storylines. As our soap opera is new, the magazine could be a special edition dedicated to our soap and feautre many different storylines from our soap focusing on the introduction of the new characters.