Magazine Analysis

Magazine Anaylsis

Colour Scheme: This magazine uses a very simplistic colour scheme. It focuses around the clothing that the models in the main image are wearing. A light shade of blue is used as the backdrop for the image, which contrasts well with the main sell lines and other important information we need to see on the front cover, such as the masthead.

Masthead: The masthead is written in the same colour as it is in every other issue of the magazine. This is the first thing the reader will see on the page, and often, magazines are bought based on what magazine it is, rather than the content. In addition to this, half of the ‘E’ in the masthead is covered by the main image. This is quite significant, because this means the magazine cover designers are confident enough that people know what the magazine is, and can tell simply from the first 2 letters and the colour that is in.

Sell Lines: The sell lines are also very important for the selling value of the magazine. Often, if a reader regularly reads the magazine, they will buy it based purely on the title, but when trying to appeal to new audiences, the content in the magazine is very important. If the main article in the magazine is based around a certain band, fans of the band who don’t regularly purchase the magazine may buy it to read the article. For example, in the case of this magazine, fans of the Klaxons may buy the magazine, even if t hey had never heard of the magazine before.

Main Image: The image is a picture of the band ‘The Klaxons’, wearing quite different clothes to the average person. This draws attention to the image, and makes the reader want to read about them, because the dress is quite unusual. The image is set onto a light blue background, which as mentioned, works as a nice backdrop to contrast with the text on the page.

Main Sell Line: The main sell line seen in the image is the e promotion of the klaxons. It says ‘Back from the Edge of Madness’. Their album out at the point when this magazine was released was called ‘The Edge of Madness’, so this would imply they were on the cover to help promote perhaps a new album. Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that the clothing they are wearing clothing that can be considered quite unusual, which can relate to the idea of madness.

Other Sellines: Another sell line that we see is the ‘Arcade Fire: ‘The Suburbs’, track by track. Generally in a magazine, individual tracks from albums are aren't analysed. This would imply that the album is really good, which may further convince the reader to buy the magazine. In addition, arcade fire are a very popular band, which may increase the viewer base.

Sell Lines: There are another set of sell lines seen in the bottom right of the cover. This is a small note saying which other bands are featuring in the magazine. They use alternate colouring to help them stand out, which in the same way as the arcade fire sell line, draws attention to it, and will allow for a larger audience

Barcode: It’s worth mentioning the barcode on this issue, which is featured on every single magazine, as it is the way it is scanned when purchased

Masthead: This masthead is displayed much larger than any of the other font. This instantly suggests that this is the title of the magazine. It

is simply 1 letter, which suggests a very simplistic design, or, in the case of this

magazine, is followed by ‘the music’, to form the slogan ‘q the music.’

Main Sell Line: ‘Oasis are back!’ This is in a way that easily stands out, due to the size and

colours used. This draws the readers attention because its bright and colourful. It is similar to

the masthead, which highlights the fact that is a main feature in the magazine. The ‘!’ is also

worth mentioning, as it adds emphasis onto the text, increasing the interest of the reader.

Pull Quotes: Pull quotes give the reader an idea of what to expect in the article. This quote ‘Liam, hes a mouse!’, seems rather odd and

different, not something you would expect to see in a magazine focused on the return of a hugely popular band. This would make the

reader want to read on and see what the article features, and what the members are saying to

each other.

Sell Line: ‘50 Page Special Inside’ Indicates the issue is a one-off special,

meaning once the sell period (1 Week) is over, the next weeks magazine will not be

as substantial. This would increase the chance that the reader would buy it, as its more content for the same price as it would be if it wasn't a 50 page special.

Sell Line: ‘Kaiser Chiefs vs Kings of Leon’. This sell line tells the reader that in the magazine

they will be doing a comparison between 2 very popular bands. This will increase the audience for the magazine, as, due to their popularity,

people will want to compare their opinions with that of the magazine.

Colour Scheme: The colour scheme on this cover is very significant. Much of the cover is dominated by black and white. This may have been done to emphasis the return of an old band, as we often associate past times with black and white, due to things such as television. Another reason for why this colour scheme may have been chosen is to allow a contrast with the masthead and main sell lines

Barcode: It’s worth mentioning the barcode on this issue, which is featured on every single magazine, as it is the way it is scanned when purchased

Masthead: The masthead is written in the same colour as it is in every other issue of the magazine. This is the first thing the reader will see on the page,

and often, magazines are bought based on what magazine it is, rather than the content. In addition to this, half of the ‘A’ in the masthead is covered by the main image. This is quite significant,

because this means the magazine cover designers are confident enough that people know what the magazine is, and can tell simply from the first 2

letters and the colour that is in.

Main Sell Line: ‘Biffy Clyro, Unfold the Puzzle of Life’. This is quite significant

because this, along with the masthead, is one of the first things people see

when they look a the magazine. ‘Biffy Clyro’ is written in the largest font on the page, which along with the fact

that its in the middle of the page, tells the reader that the issue will be mainly featured around the band seen on the

cover.

Give Away: Giveaways are often featured in magazines. They, in some cases, especially in the case of posters, can sell a magazine.

In this case, their are 3 items that are available for the reader, two posters and a

chance at a festival ticket. The sell line along with the top of the magazine, the festival

ticket give away, features perhaps the most popular metal festival, which is the genre of

the magazine. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the date of the magazine,

May 19 2007, is only 2 months from the festival, which we can assume would mean

that the tickets are sold out, further increasing the likelihood of purchase.

Poster giveaways are often seen in magazines. Teens often like to fill their rooms up with posters, and buying a

magazine that comes with a poster is just a bonus to them, and is often a key selling

point!

Main Image: This image features the band, Biffy Clyro, who are the main feature of the magazine. It is worth noting that the model in the centre of the magazine, the lead singer of the band, Simon Neil, is wearing white,

which goes together well with the title of the article, as well as the masthead. His pose is also quite a puzzled one, which relates to the caption ‘Unfold the Puzzle of Life’, which relates to their album that was being promoted

around the time that this magazine was produced.

Barcode: It’s worth mentioning the barcode on this issue, which is featured

on every single magazine, as it is the way it is scanned when purchased

Table of Contents: The most important feature of a contents

page. It tells the reader what to find on each page. Often the most

important information is in the middle of the magazine, with more gimmicky items towards the end, such as games. In this case, the

main article featuring Metallica is on page 22, which is slightly under half

way through, but it towards the middle of them magazine.

Images: Images are seen throughout this front cover. They go together with the table of contents, as, on this cover, it has pictures of the

more popular bands in the genre, which the readers eyes are drawn too when they are looking at what

the magazine includes.

Front Cover: In the top left of the page, we see a copy of what is on the cover of the magazine. This is seen very often on contents pages of most magazines. It doesn't serve a huge purpose, but simply to be able to relate

the cover to what is featured in the magazine. Next to this,

we also see an article, written by what we can only assume is the editor of the magazine, which appears to

be describing the issue.

Quote: We see a quote by a member of metallica in the

upper right of the magazine, which we can guess is from

the article they have featured in the magazine. This is just to give another idea of what the reader can expect on this

page.

Subheadings: Subheadings are used as a way to split each type of article seen in the magazine up, this is almost always seen in magazines, especially

music magazines, due to the large amount of features they can include.

Masthead: The masthead to this magazine is quite unusual, however, it is easy to understand. It includes the standard ‘Q’ logo, written in white and red, followed by the issue number, with the word Contents centralised on the page, indicating it is perhaps the most important word in the heading.

Table of Contents: The most important feature of a contents page. It tells the

reader what to find on each page. Often the most important information is in the

middle of the magazine, with more gimmicky items towards the end, such as games. On this article however it is not

clear who is on the cover of the magazine, due to the lack of the picture

of the cover, which is often seen on magazines.

Main Image: This is an image of the singer James Blunt. Due to the lack of an image of the front cover, we cannot tell if he is the main feature of the magazine, however, due to the fact that his face covers up the majority of the page, we can assume that is bears some significance.

Subheadings: Subheadings are used as a way to split each type of article seen in the magazine up, this is almost always seen in magazines, especially

music magazines, due to the large amount of features they can include.

Pull Quote: We can also see what appears to be a pull quote from the article seen on page 102. The quote appears to be quite original, as its talking about gardening, as opposed to music, so this makes the reaader want to find out how the article got onto gardening, from music.

Subheadings: Subheadings are used as a way to split each type of article seen in the magazine up, this is almost always seen in magazines, especially

music magazines, due to the large amount of features they can include.

Table of Contents: The most important feature of a contents page. It tells the

reader what to find on each page. Often the most important information is in the

middle of the magazine, with more gimmicky items towards the end, such as games. On this article however it is not

clear who is on the cover of the magazine, due to the lack of the picture

of the cover, which is often seen on magazines.

Band Index: This is something quite individually seen in NME. It features a list of every band featured in the magazine, and gives a page number. This allows for easy access to all bands in the magazine, which increases the liklihood that the magazine will be bought, due to how easy it is to read. It is also worth noting the colour scheme, which is also red and black, the common colours of NME.

Masthead: Differently to most magazines, NME doesn't go with the standard ‘Contents’ for the masthead on a contents page, it instead uses ‘NME This Week’. This may be done due to the fact that on this page is not just a table of contents, but infact the beginning of an article, as well as other information.

Image: On this front cover, we see only one image, that is split into two. This is different to most other contents pages’, as they usually consist of quite a few images, that relate to what is seen in the magazine. This image however appears to just relate to the small article seen below it. This article in fact also has its own title, which means it does have some importance

Sell Line: This contents also features a sell line. It tells of how the magazines gig guide is the best in the UK, which, although it may be bias towards the magazine, does give some indication of the effort and information that the guide includes.

Pull Quotes: Pull quotes are seen in most interviews. It involves a quote from the text being pulled out and enlarged, to break up the article, and to give the reader more of an idea of what sort of thing has been revealed by the interviewee, often the most important information in the article. It is also worth noting that the masthead itself on this article is also a pull quote, which signifies its importance to article.

Masthead: The masthead on this page appears as a pull quote from the article. With the article being featured in a music magazine, you would expect it to be discussing music, but, its instead discussing swine flu. This, being completely irrelevant to what we expect to be in the article.

Pull Quotes: Pull quotes are used throughout most double page spread articles. They often contain the most important information or the most controversial thing the interview features. Often these are the key selling points of the article, if the reader is considering purchasing the magazine and wants to take a look at what is inside.

Pictures: Generally, on double page spreads, we see one image that often covers an entire page, however, in this case, several small images are placed on each page, perhaps pictures of the locations discussed in the article. Their is also an image that features, perhaps, those being interviewed. This gives an immediate idea of how the interviewee will act.

Subtitle: Underneath the masthead we see a small block of information, informing us, the reader, of what to expect in the article. It sums up in a few short sentences what the interviewee will be discussing with the interviewer, so the reader will quickly be able to summarise, and decide if they want to read the article or skip past it.

Format: The article is written using columns, which is the way the majority of articles are set out now. It is a clear way of

organising information, and is easy to understand what comes next, even after parts of it are interrupted by images or pull

quotes.

Enlarged Lettering: The first letter of the article is enlarged slightly, mainly to assist the reader in where to start the article, this is regularly seen in most forms of reading.

Colour Scheme: The colour scheme used across these pages is mainly red, white and black, along with the yellow and black which seem to be the theme throughout the magazine. In terms of text the colour, there is a lot of white on black. Using red I think is quite appropriate to rock as it shows anger, love, energy etc. which rock seems to have, if it was blue it wouldn't suit it as it is too calm and relaxing for rock.

Masthead: In the upper left of the page we see the main masthead of the page. It is written in white and red, mainly to contrast with the background image to make it stick out. The red appears to be dripping, suggesting that it may be blood. These colours, as mentioned above, are quite fitting, because red is quiet an appropriate colour to suit rock music. It is also written in speech marks, which signifies that the text is a quote, perhaps from inside the article.

Subtitle: A subtitle is written underneath the masthead. Once again, the scheme of red and white is used. It is written in much smaller font than the masthead, emphasising that it perhaps isn't as important as the main masthead, but instead helps to support it or has something to do with it. Exclusive is written in red, drawing our attention to it first. The font is also slightly jagged around the corners of the it. This could been considered to be waves, which relates too music.

Background Image: The image we see at the background of the page is a full bleed image of ‘Fall Out Boy’. This picture is taken very close and it is looking up at them, this makes them look important and also makes it seem as though as a viewer we are at a concert. The picture is in grey scale which adds to the effect of the magazine, being a rock magazine it seems to have strong theme of black, white and red, this therefore keeps with the continuity of the magazine.

Format: This double page spread is quite individual. Although it may be due to there being another double page spread, there is

very little writing on this page. There is a short article, a masthead, a giveaway and that is all. However, like most double

page spreads, the article is written in the form of a column.

Enlarged Lettering: The first letter of the article is enlarged slightly, mainly to assist the reader in where to start the article, this is regularly seen in most forms of reading.

Format: This double page spread is quite individual. Although it may be due to there being another double page spread, there is

very little writing on this page. There is a short article, a masthead, a giveaway and that is all. However, like most double

page spreads, the article is written in the form of a column.

Masthead: Differently to most double page spreads, this masthead is not exceptionally contrasting. It is written in the same colour as the main model in the image, clearly suggesting that it relates to him. In addition, the name of the main model is ‘Will.I.Am’, this features with the rhetorical question ‘Will He, Wont He?’ that we see in the masthead, suggesting that there may be a big question relating to Will.I.Am in the article.

Main Image: The main image features each of the 4 members of ‘The Black Eyed Peas’. William is the only member that is not faded into the background. This would suggest that the interview is directed towards William, but involves the other members, perhaps a feature on whether they will ever reunite as a band. It is also worth noting the clothing of the models. William is wearing much more similar colours when compared to the colour scheme used. It is also worth noting the provocative nature of the female models dress.

Colour Scheme: The colour scheme used in the article is quite simplistic. It mainly features white, black and grey. This are quite soothing colours, which is quite strange, considering this article was taken from a ‘Q’ magazine, which generally involves most genres, and in addition, ‘The Black Eyed Peas’ arent a particularly calming band, so the colour scheme choice is quite hard to understand.