Analysis of magazines

COLOUR SCHEME: All the colours are bold and bright, there aren’t many pastel colours used. These bright colours have been used to attract the audiences attention, for example the red masthead ‘DJ’ contrasted with the black outline and the yellow text within the masthead makes the text stand out and grab the readers eye.

SKYLINE: The skyline heading, right at the top instantly catches the readers attention, the magazine uses this to their advantage by advertising a free mix, therefore making the person feel more inclined to buy it.

Almost all of the font is in capitals, this adds to the magazines overall look being bold and loud. The quirky font on ‘mid-summer mischief’ adds a slight edge to the cover as all of the other font is quite basic and straightforward.

MAIN IMAGE: The image they have used is quite light hearted and comical, they haven’t tried to make them look really professional or photographed them in a studio. The camera angle from below looking up at them, could suggest they are above us, looking down on us. They have succeeded, and are at the top, in comparison to us.

The picture more or less takes up the whole cover, the text is placed over the photo, excluding the masthead, all of the pictures and font have a mix of colour, again adding to the loud effect., foreshadowing the music.

The overall look of the magazines front cover is quite busy, there is a lot going on, with colours, text and picture. It is quite loud and in your face, which I think would catch my eye if I saw it on a shelf. This style also reflects the genre of music that it is representing.

Thrust publishing Ltd. Is the company that publishes DJ MAG they don’t publish anything else, and there is very limited information on the internet or on DJ MAG’s website.

The language used in the writing is quite informal (e.g. ‘get loaded’) and is only used in short and snappy statements, there is no lengthy description, it is all brief. The language used isn’t that academically challenging but some words used you would have to know about this type of music to understand, e.g. ‘hyperdub’

There is a mixture of photos between studio photos and casual non-staged photos. I think this could represent that a large part of the music within this genre is created in the artists bedroom or home, unlike most pop artists who create it in studios. For example you can see the picture on the bottom right is an artist with his equipment, but not in a studio.

The colour scheme is white, black, red and blue, this scheme is showed in the clothing of the people and the colour of the font, for example the red hat and the blue jacket of the man in the top left, they keep it consistent throughout everything on the page. Even though you may expect to find a lot of bright colours used for electronic dance music magazine, I have actually found that black and white are still the most popular colours used.

The writing lets the audience know that this magazine is definitely not directed at children, you can tell this from the use of language, for example words like ‘morphed’ and ‘influential’. So we can tell that the target audience is young adults. They also use a casual language style, words like ‘lowdown’ make this different from how a newspaper would write, making it more youthful.

The overall look of the magazine is quite serious, the people in the picture all look like they are very dedicated to their work. The text is also quite plain, showing this page is purely about the skill in the DJ’s and the content of the text. Suggesting this magazine is for people who are serious about this sort of music, not just a light read about music celebrities.

The text to picture ratio is about 50/50, I have found the same text to picture ratio on all of the double page spreads I have analysed. I think this is the right amount, so that the page contains all the information you want it to, with out looking too boring and full of text, they have helped me to decide on how much text to pictures I should use.

The fonts they have used on the magazine are standard fonts that you would see used on letters and word documents. They have not tried to make the page glitzy and fancy, it is purely dedicated to the music.

The text on all of the headings in lower case, suggesting its informality and emphasises that it is targeted at youth age range. The font is also simple and easy to read, they have not tried to create anything fancy and complicated, which could suggest they know who they are targeting and what they like, nothing overly fancy, the audience is more interested in the content and music.

. There is a mixture between posed studio photographs and more casual non-staged photos. For example ‘033’ is taken from a live event, with no real focus person, where as ‘077’ is very intense, focusing on one person taken professionally in a studio. Photos such as ‘104’ tell me immediately that the magazine is targeting teenage people, that like to go clubbing. I can also tell that the audience are most likely middle class, with enough money to afford to go out a lot

Colour scheme is quite a big mixture of black, white, yellow, pink, blue, mustard and purple. The colour scheme is not carried on in the photos, like the other magazines that make a link on the whole page of a continuous colour scheme.

The over all look of this magazine is fun and colourful, for example the pink and blue highlights of the heading, illustrating its youthfulness. As well as being fun it also looks ordered and organised, with the photos all being in a column.

There is a good ratio between text and photos, on this page. As well as the images adding colour and making the page more interesting, it also adds information by showing what page the image is on. For example if you see the picture of an artist you like then you can go to the page by looking at the number on the image. E.g. page77.

The writing style keeps with the theme of the magazine and the target audience, it is casual and youthful. For example ‘tech’ is an abbreviation, which is a connotation of teenagers, this tells me that they are trying to attract a younger audience. I can tell from the content of the writing such as ‘Ibiza special’ that the magazine is targeting younger audience but over 18’s. They would probably need to be middle class with some money to afford events such as Ibiza.

The colour scheme uses a lot of contrasting, with black, white and pink being the major colours. The colours used are all bold, and they don’t use any pastel colours. There are only two colours used for the font, making it look organised and attractive to the audience.

The photography is very posed, the photo of ‘Justice’ give the impression that they take themselves very seriously. All of the lighting is very dark and dull with a spotlight on the two people, suggesting they are the focus point and all eyes are on them. The layout of the photo, the straight line of the headline beneath them and the lights behind creates the effect of them being on stage.

The length of writing is very short and they have kept the content brief, not giving away too much. The language isn’t too academically challenging, and they have used abbreviations such as ‘xmas’ and ‘nye’, making it seem more informal. This could tell us a lot about the target audience, as slang has connotations of teenagers.

The overall look of this magazine is quite representative of a club, being a dance magazine they have used the front cover to tell the audience this without having to write it. The use of dark background contrasting to the spotlights is what we would associate with a stage of club.

Development Hell Ltd. is the publisher for mixmag, it is also the publisher for a monthly magazine called ‘The Word’. This doesn’t target the same audience as mixmag, it is aimed at the older generation, showing they target a range of audiences.

The masthead is all in lower case, which is a differ from the normal capital letter at the start. This could also tell us that it is aimed at a younger generation because they are breaking rules and using a young and individual font for the masthead. The font changes from the masthead, to the text explaining the article, they have used a squarer and easier to read font for the other text.

The picture is used as the background for the cover and the text is placed in front (excluding the masthead). For a front cover they have used the right text to picture ratio, as too much would look busy and not grab your eye and just a picture would give you no information of what’s inside.

The colour scheme of black, pink and yellow on a white background. (also used in the contents page) gives the effect of a party atmosphere. This is because they are bright and vibrant, contrasted against the black makes them stand out even more. This colour scheme tells the reader straight away that this is a dance magazine.

The photography is very casual, they have a personal feel to them, as if they have been taken by friends on a night out. This gives a natural feel, the colours are also very bright which go with the colour scheme of the page. Alcohol seems to be a common theme in the photos, showing they are taken at a party or nightclub and making a link between this genre of music and parties and alcohol, backing up the connotation of dance music being parties or clubs.

The writing is split up into smaller articles, making it easier on the eye. The writing language they have used is well thought out, using techniques such as rhyming and well known phrases for the headings, for example ‘scouse house’. This could be so the reader remembers the articles, techniques such as rhyming helps it sticks in their head.

Overall look of this page is young and fun, it has a party atmosphere. It is nicely laid out with the text broken up into smaller sections with an image to fit each section. So even though there is quite a lot of text it is broken down, as it is targeting a younger audience they don’t want too much bulky text.

The fonts are bold and simple, although they still have a slight curve effect, which is continuing the style of the masthead font. They have steered away from using harsh square text, but have used it for the most important things, like at the very top of the page ‘The Big 3’. This is a good idea if you want a piece of text to stand out from the rest.

They have kept a mixture of casual photos, such as the one at the top right, but contrasted this with the photo used at the bottom middle, looking very posed and professional. I found this is common throughout all of the magazines, to have a mixture of styles of photo. This has given me the inspiration to use a mix of styles on my magazine.

The over all look of this page is quite clear and easy to read, they have kept the writing in one column on the left hand side and the photos on the left. Keeping it simple and easy on the eye, for example all of the font is the same colour, pink heading, and black writing underneath.

The font carries on the rounded theme of the mast head and the double page spread, I like the continuous theme. They have used a young and interesting font, that links to the swirls they have used for alot of the text. For example the font on the image page numbers is very similar to the mast head, using consistancy, maybe creating their own a signature font.

The writing language is kept quite informal and casual, for example ‘tunes’. I think this is good for the audience they are targeting, being young adults and teenagers, they feel comfortable with slang and abbreviations. (e.g. VIP)Also the length of writing is minimal, as the younger audience prefer to see pictures rather than a lot of writing.

The colour scheme they have used is similar to the front cover, they often use a lot of black and white, then use another bright and bold colour such as bright pink or yellow to contrast it. This contrast is used to attract the audiences attention, for example the heading at the top left is black and white with one bright colour, yellow.

There is a lot of pictures on this contents page compared to the other ones I have analysed. Al though the pictures on this give information of the contents too. Compared to the ATM magazine this page is more based on the look and images rather than the content.

The colour scheme is very contrasting of the cover as the dark/light blue is current through the title, outfits e.g artworks dark blue coat, and writing. This makes it easy on the eye and it doesn’t look too busy.

The shortened version of atmosphere, being ATM, is an abbreviation for at the moment, which could suggest to the audience that they are up to date and current. Also the use of abbreviation tells us that it is targeted at a younger audience, as they are well known for shortening words to ‘text talk’

The angles of the writing on the magazine are all straight lines, parallel which fits with one of the names of the acts featured However the writing on the CD contrasts at a different angle which attracts attention.

The stern expressions on the DJs face and the upward camera angle gives them a serious aura. This may be to represent they came to take dubstep to a higher widespread level, the cover from 2009 will have been just at the start, they look as if they mean business.

All of the font is in capitals and they have used a bold and simple font type to attract the readers attention. The font is also kept the same throughout the whole cover, they have also continued the colour scheme through the font as well. I think they have used the same bold and simple font to keep it simple, the younger audience are not too concerned with fancy fonts, they want it to be easily readable. Especially using a bold font in capitals for a cover page as this is likely to catch somebody’s attention when sitting on shelf, e.g. ‘MAGNETIC MAN’ stands out.

The overall look is quite dark and serious, If I was to look at this on a shelf, I think it looks quite intimidating and not that fun, the use of dark colours and stern faces.

The whole page is taken up by the image, although the text is placed over the image, the majority of the cover is image. I think that they have chosen more picture over text because the younger target audience don’t want to read too much text as they think it looks boring and that is who they are looking to attract.

ATM magazine is so small that there are no web pages saying who publishes it and it is not sold in many shops to find out the publisher, it is only available for buying online and at a couple of shops in the UK.

The brick wall behind him suggests that he is ‘underground’. There is a big emphasis on being an underground artist in the world of drum and bass.

His facial expressions are very serious, suggesting he takes his music very seriously. Also the clothing he is wearing is all black, implying he is a shady or mysterious character.

The text to picture ratio is half and half,. Although this wouldn’t seem much if the articles were small and broken up with many small photos. The text length looks very long as it is all in one big chunk, this tells us that he is important because he has a whole double page spread to himself. Therefore as an audience we are intrigued to find out who he is.

The overall look of this

page is quite simple,

there is no bold colours

and it is easy on the

eye. I think they keep

the focus away from all

the bold fonts and

colouring and more on

what it says in the text. Three columns written in sans serif, it looks very plain and formal. Suggests that the target audience are all very passionate about this type of music, as this type of layout would not attract somebody who was looking for something new and exciting as it doesn’t look very appealing to the eye, it is more informative.

The colour scheme is quite plain, the majority just being black and white. Keeping it simple and having the main focus on the context of the writing.

To contrast this

plain and simple font,

they have used

an unusual, quirky font for

the headline.

The photo is taken at angle that makes it look like he is looking and talking to you, making it feel more personal, it is also taken with a plain brick wall background, making it not too glitzy in a studio, this suggests he is quite down to earth.

All the photos are taken on real locations and not in the studio, they are an unusual selection of photos, that don’t look like the average photographs you would expect to find in a magazine. I think it would look more professional if they had a range of photos, some taken in the studio, as you can tell it is a low budget magazine through the use of photos.

They have kept the contents very simple, with quite a lot of writing. Although there is a cont list of contents the detail s very minimal and all of the list is just artists names, unlike other magazines that say what is featured in the article. I think this is interesting because it makes me more intrigued to what the article is based on.

The overall look is quite simple, I would say the ratio of words to picture is not quite right and they should spread out the writing to smaller sections but more often than less sections but longer, this would make it easier on the eye, although people who buy this magazine are very passionate about this music and want as much

information as possible. The page is quite simple, it also looks quite low budget, such as the pictures, they are all casual day to day photos, instead of studio.

The editor of the magazine has left his myspace address at the bottom of the ‘editors note’. This gives it an added personal touch and makes a connection between the magazine and the audience. It also tells me that the magazine is quite small scale, because he can give out details like this.

The font is very basic but easy to read, which I have found is what is best to use on the contents page. The colour scheme again of the font is just simple, plain black. This gives me the impression that this magazine is more focusing on the content of the writing than the appearance and bright colours.