Case Study Part 1: Front cover

Image:

The front cover of Hello Magazine is Princess Charlotte.

The daughter of Cambridges’, a major part of the British Royal family. The close up of baby Charlotte, allows the country to feel closer to the royal family. It is beneficial for the magazine as this issue applies to the whole country as oppose to a specific audience. Her facial expression is a slight smile which is welcoming and warm. Using a close up allows us to see her strong features and have a good look at the latest royal family member. You can see that she is a cute chubby baby girl, the audience is able to create comparisons and see resemblances between other family members and  baby George. The sweet floral dress topped over with a light pink/cream cardigan sets a very neutral tone to the front cover. 

The font colour (white) used around the cover also suggests this. The use of neutral tones and white for the font suggest innocence and purity which is exactly what little Charlotte is. Charlottes eye line is slightly to the side which doesn’t create the feeling of superiority, it makes Charlotte seem like an ordinary baby, this allows the uses and gratifications theory to apply to the audience as they are able to relate, children will be able to relate when seeing the picture as will parents of little children. They are also able to engage and escape their ordinary routing by flicking through the magazine. 

Title:

 The title of the magazine ‘’Hello’’, is a sister to the ‘’Hola!’’ magazine in Spain.

The aim was to create a light hearted magazine which focused on new marriages, relationships, babies and other self centered stories .Unlike other magazines, ‘’Hello!’’ focuses on the positive things about celebrities and does not aim to demoralise or make famous people look bad. The magazine focuses on Royals and compelling human interest stories. The respectful treatment of many celebrities allows the magazine to hold a positive relationship with many stars. This also follows through with the magazine title as it is a greeting, a friendly greeting. This sets an expectation for the magazine to readers and ‘’Hello!’’ lives up to the expectations.

Language:

The language used in the magazine is formal and sophisticated, the magazine uses ‘proper’ English to appeal to its audience as it includes articles of people within the higher social class. No abbreviations or shortened words are used. The language used is usually flattering such as ‘’picture perfect’’ and ‘’angelic’’ again works with the magazine title and aim as it comes across as friendly and generous.

Coverlines:

The coverlines on the front cover again solemnly focus on baby Charlotte, alerting the audience on the official photo album, photos with the ‘’adoring mum Kate’’ otherwise known as the Duchess of Cambridge. The front cover doesn’t include any information about other featured articles, this allows the audience to entirely focus on Royalty for the issue, this helps attract a wider range of readers and buyers for this particular issue of Hello magazine. As the magazine is aimed at the working/lower social classes it allows them to interact with those ‘above’ them.

Price:

The magazine sells at £2.00 , this is the average price for magazines.

This suggests that it appeals to those of the lower social classes as it is affordable. It also allows for the magazine to be favorited as other magazines such as Marie Claire sell at £3.99, this means that the readers will appreciate the consideration for the audience and their affordability.