five music magazine covers that I have anilysised

Music magazine covers

      1)   Mix mag

Layout

The model is in the center of the cover. He is looking down to the side and seems to be thinking about something very hard. There are three cover lines in the left third and they are a much smaller text size than the title and some of the other pieces of text on the page. As the only thing in the main image that is in focus is the model, they used black boxes so that the text is readable. There are more cover lines on the right side of the magazine too and the bar code and price are in the right bottom corner. The data line and the web site are by the bar code too. The main cover line is in the middle of the page and reads ‘sub focus’ this is most likely referring to an article in the magazine. The selling line ‘The world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine’ is just above the masthead, and spreads the width of the page. Although the text size of it is small. The masthead spreads the width of the page as well and who the ‘i’ is presented is the main feature of it that helps you recognize it at a glance. But I believe that it should have in front of the model not left behind it.

Colour

The symbolic masthead is in white (as always), and the iconic main image consists of peachy yellows, and black. For the cover lines, they used these three colours to give everything a relation with everything ales. This helps the cover lines look like they belong, and stops them from looking out of place. The boxes that they used so that the text (mainly the cover lines) is readable also use the same three colours. The white of the magazine represents a blank canvas that you can make the most of, and change to what you see fit. But some people will say that it is a saint like colour and that it shows innocence. The magazine would have used this colour to show their innocence, showing that are not like other magazines and are readable for all. And they could have used it to inspire the younger side of their audience so that they make the most of their lives and possible get themselves into the life of music. It mainly uses dark and simple colours.

People

The model that they have used is male, and he looks in his early 20’s. It’s an iconic image, as it is a photo. The person that they use shows what type of music that is in the magazine, as it will fit with the style of the singer on the front. It also helps them sell if the singer is the reader’s favorite. In their covers they use young and upcoming DJ and if the audience knows him then it helps them sell a lot better.

Target Audience

Using the price and the male model, I have decided that the magazine would be for 16 – 24, 72% male and 28% female. It has a flow of three colours that work well together. They are the one that are into all the clubbing. It for the types of people that like to get the drop on the latest of fashion and the cool new tunes that are out. They have the money to spend and 80% don’t read another magazine. It’s a regular so their audience is always up to date with the latest.

Clothing

From you can see in the shot, he is dressed in black. This can go for most genres of music, and is a laid back style. This could mean that the magazine doesn’t just talk about one genre, it talks about them all.

Locations/backgrounds

Behind the model are two other people that are blurred to show that they are moving. This could that the music that the magazine feature’s is for everyone to hear, it could also mean that the artists of the music that they featured have had it rough, but still made it through.

Text/wording

They have used some symbolic signs as there is writing on the page. The text is written informally; this tries to make you feel like you know the magazine well and tries to encourage you to read it. They go on about new clubs but make sure that they more no before it gets cold. They have most of their party stories on the cover to attract the attention of the target audience as this is the one of the main things that they will be interested in. 

Indexical or other symbolic signs

There is only one iconic image and that is the main image, as it is a photo. But it is also an indexical image as you can see that there are two other people in the shot but as they are blurred it is not that clear that that is what they are. That is the only indexical sign. There are lots of symbolic signs as most of the page is covered by text. This is because they are trying to advertise what’s in the magazine so that it will sell better.

Shot type

It’s a medium shot. They used this type of shot as it makes the model the main focus but it also gives them some room to put all of the cover lines. And it also stops the cover looking over crowed when all of the cover lines their as the face of the model is clearly visible.

Framing

The image central, the cover line go down both sides of the image. The masthead goes across the top of the image, with the models head in front of it. It doesn’t have most of the cover lines in the left third like most magazines, but it does have the face in the middle third as it is still the main focus.

Overall style

The magazine works well as a hole, because the colours work and they have used the space on the page well. The masthead work well to as it standout against everything ales but it is also held back a bit so that it is not so ‘in your face’. I don’t think that communicates the genre very well in some ways but at the same time in other ways it does. It doesn’t because the model doesn’t look like he is dancing or having fun which is the two main things that you do when you go clubbing which is what the magazine is meant to be about. But it does, because of what the cover lines are talking about and because of who the model is.

 

2) Rolling Stone

He has a look of surprise and wonder. His body language is relaxed and links with his facial expression. It’s a close up camera shot of the man’s face. The hood of his orange hoody covers the model’s hair. All the cover lines are in the left third as this could be the part of the magazine that you will be able to see if it was in a shop stand. The masthead is at the top of the page and it is the length of the page. The model’s face has no text on it, as this is the main focus of the main image. And in the model’s eyes you can see the shadow of a person and a spot light. There is some space under his face on the right hand side of the cover.

                                                                             

In the top right corner they have used a boxing device and boxed “campaign 08 MATT TAIBBI FOLLOWS THE MONEY” which could be the model credit but I’m not sure.

The colour scheme is sliver, white, orange and black. The bright orange of the hoody is related to the style of most teenagers and young adults. The black and white of the cover lines is related to the black and white of the masthead. The white is also used as the background colour. And the sliver of the masthead is just there to make it stand out from the rest of the text. The masthead also has the biggest font size as it is the first thing that you would see if there were other magazines piled on top of it. The font size of the cover lines changes depending on the importance of it e.g. on the top one, the name of who wrote it is a bigger font size than the title of the article.

The model and the masthead draw attention and the left third tell the reader if there is anything that they might be interested in.

The model helps the magazine to appeal to young adults of both genders. The cover lines might appeal to the more desperate side of the audience as one of them says “NEW BLUES” and blues makes us think of cold, dark colours and the sad songs.

The cover’s main promise is “To Hell and Back With ROBERT DOWNEY Jr.”

The price is £3.50 and this suggests that its target audience is for teenagers and young adults that have a full-time or a well paid part-time jobs.

3) Q

 

They have used the same style of background (white and red) for the cover and they have taken the black of their cloths for some of the cover lines too. The main image is of the band that makes Q magazine. They are well known so this is all that they need to help them sell their magazine.

The masthead is in the top left third, this makes it easily visible when the magazine is in the rack of a shop.

The main cover line is in the centre of the page, and it has a bigger font size then the other cover lines but the font size is not bigger than the masthead.

There are only three other cover lines, but they all stand out from the colours of the backgrounds that they have been placed on.

I found that the cover line at the bottom of the page stood out the most. It draws attention to itself by what it says more than the colours that it is; this is because the readers would buy the magazine unless they like the band, which is Metallica. And the 20 loudest albums are most likely going to be the same style if not by them, themselves, as the rest of the magazine is. So if the reader likes their genre of music then they will buy the magazine.

The boxed writing at the bottom right of the cover, talks about a large number of album reviews which they use to show the magazines dominance.

4) NME


 
 5) Kerrang

The main image is focusing on the woman, not on the boys of the band, this is shown as the boys are all wearing black and are in the background of the shot, but the girl is in the centre of the foreground; she is make to stand out are she is wearing bright colours and make up. This causes layers in the shot which in turn creates interest in the cover.

The lay out leads us to believe that this is a rocky, metal magazine. This effect is made by the way that they have used star boxes with the cover lines and the photo also add to it. The pictures also show that there is more to the content than just what the cover lines say.

Its target audience is mainly made up of teenagers, which is shown by its overall lay out and the modern style. Its bright colours will also grab the attention and the imagination of the teenagers.

The main image is used to reflect the band being fun. The woman at the front of the image is shown as the main attention as she is overshadowing the other members.

The font of the masthead looks like broken glass. This was done to make the reader think that the music from the band, and other music that is found within the magazine, is loud enough to break glass. This might appeal to the more bad tempered side of the audience.

This is shown again with the main cover line, as they slanted the writing to show more of a rocky, metal feel.

I believe that their selling point is the band name that have made. Like some others, they have a website, a radio station, tours and more.