HEAT MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

What is Heat magazine?

Heat magazine is a British entertainment magazine published weekly by Bauer Media Group. It is primarily aimed at young-middle aged women as it commonly features beauty advice, celebrity gossip, fashion trends, interviews, TV listings, movie and music reviews which stereotypically women are interested in. It is one of the UK's biggest selling magazines as it famous for its shocking, exclusive and sometimes controversial content publicized across the magazine's front cover or as a advert on television. Every issue looks similar in style as the standard codes and conventions are followed. Always on the front covers are the latest celebrity gossip such as scandals, relationships and general life which are boldly presented in a house style.

Front Cover

Commonly on celebrity gossip magazines, a wide variety of bright and neon colours are used. No initial colour schemes have been used, as random colours that usually clash against each other are chosen. The masthead, coloured in red connotes fire and warmth directly linked with the word itself. 'Heat' reveals to the reader the magazine contains the latest hottest and freshest celebrity information therefore the reader has to buy and read it quickly in order for it to be still hot. There isn't a particularly special main image on this page as there are several images of different sizes. This shows the diverse range of celebrities included from actresses to models appealing to a broad audience. The images are clearly paparazzi photographers as the celebrities are not posing and have been captured in random locations. The cover lines are simple and short statements that capture the reader's attention immediately in a bold sans-serif font. The tone of the magazine is very informal 'no slap is officially cool' as slang words are uses appealing to a young audience. The magazine's target audience is middle aged women as they are the most common type of people to be interested in this genre. The front cover features articles that can be found inside the product giving the customers clues and making them excited. A puff advertising '21 amazing new photos' is very effective as the text is layered of a pink bold circle over the images catching the reader's attention.

However gossip magazines like Heat, are known for being quite tacky and cheap due to the quality of the paper, inconsistent layouts, poor structure, bright colours and slang words. The lack of professionalism and class the magazine posses  means the product appeals to a C1 (lower middle class) and C2 (skilled working class)  social class decreasing the price of the magazine. The images featured are layered over the masthead decreasing the importance of the convention and avoiding the Z theory.

Contents Page

This contents page includes and follows the standard conventions of a contents page. At the bottom of the page Heat's different platforms are advertised such as website, TV and radio stations. By doing this Heat are helping themselves as they are advertising different aspects of the company which will in turn create revenue. The bright colour scheme has continued from the front cover such as the bright yellow main coverline to the bright yellow text box. The menu bar in the left third lists the articles in chronological order which are divided into subheadings such as 'on the cover' which is a direct link between the pages. By doing this it will aid the reader in them finding the article want to read.

On this particular contents page there is also a mini article. This can take away the purpose of the page which is to inform the reader what the product contains. Personally, I think the article is rather random and that it has just been squeezed onto the page distracting the reader's attention away from the menu bar. However because of this article, it does mean the page contains 50% images and 50% text which is an important convention to consider. On the other hand more images from the articles could of have been included.

Double Page Spread

This is a very good example of a typical double page spread found in a celebrity gossip magazine. The masthead which is a house style, is in a very bold sans-serif font where the names featured in the text are in a different colour. By the masthead being typed in capital letters it attracts the eye and emphasizes the statement. The colour scheme of dark purple and black connotes gloom and frustration linked with the facial expression Katie Price is expressing in the main image. All the images on this page are unprofessional as they are paparazzi photographs not initially designed to be on this page. However they all suit what the article is about, especially the main image which looks as if it is her reaction to the article. The article has been effectively spread over two pages where some standard conventions such as pull quotes, image captions and a drop cap have been used.

The mise en scene of the page looks very cluttered and disorganized as the masthead and images have been positioned wonky. This makes the page look unprofessional as it looks as if it has been designed by a unskilled person . Therefore, the spread does not look like a piece artwork, like it should.