Magazine analysis

Magazine analysis

By Anya Clayton

This magazine cover uses black, white and red as its main colours. These colours blend in well with the background image because it uses the same or similar colours to the main ones used in the text of the cover. The image looks like it is taken in a small room. The DJ in the cover looks like he is sat down, leaning against a wall like he is waiting for something, possibly waiting to go and play a set. The way he is sat reflects the kind of music he plays, dance music with a steady beat. We know who he is because of the text says his name. What he is wearing reflects the house music genre, he is wearing casual looking clothing which I think reflects the calm casual feel to a lot of most house music. I think this magazine is aimed at 18+ because the text promotes events and festivals, therefore they want young people who can buy alcohol to come to their events. Also 18+ people are more likely to have more money to spend on nights out than younger teenagers. The text on this magazine is easy to read and its all in one place making it a faster read. The information can be quickly read therefore making it easier to hook the reader to wanting to buy the magazine. The audience is most likely to find this kind of magazine in the kinds of places you can buy the music that is promoted on the cover. For example record shops or music cafes. This influences the look of the magazine because it needs to fit in with its surroundings and be appealing to its target audience. This also influences the structure of the text because it needs to be eye catching which is why I think it is in a block at the side. It makes it easy to read and quicker for the consumer to see if it’s the magazine for them. Even though this cover is in Spanish I was really interested in the image and how the text is laid out which is why I still decided to analyse it despite the language difference.

Here we can see the extra information about a different music artist from the one being promoted in the middle of the front cover. I think this is effective because it shows the reader other things that will feature in the magazine. This helps to attract more attention because they know the magazine will be about a variety of artists rather than just one. Also it is promoting Daft Punk’s new album which could excite readers to want to know about it.Again this section of the magazine is talking about other music artists. However this is different to the section about Daft Punk because its talking about a rivalry between music artists which straight away hook the reader to want to know more.

I think the main heading of the magazine looks really effective because of the colours used, which contrasts against its background. The text stands out because the white text has a black outline which gives it a 3 dimensional effect. I think this text is good because the audience instantly knows who the magazine is about which will draw the reader in. The small cover line under the main heading gives us a bit more information about the music artists which get us excited about summer. The colour red is used on the top cover line which I think reflects what it says. It says ‘bringing the heat’ which the red colour could represent because we associate fire and danger with red and orange colours.

This section promotes an event to the reader. It instantly grabs the attention of the reader because it tells the reader more about what they will find inside the magazine making them want to buy it to find out more.

The masthead on this magazine is really important because it tells the reader what magazine it is but also it helps to show the importance of the two figures as there heads are in front of the masthead. I think the colour of the masthead links in really well with the rest of the cover. All the colours work really well together. The white on the faces of the figures work really well with the other cover lines and titles.

This magazine cover uses five main colours, pink, blue, black, white and grey. I think the pink and blue helps to differentiate between the main feature on the magazine being Daft Punk and anything else. The main feature is in pink however the cover lines are in blue. All other information like names are in white and grey making all the text link better together. I think this magazine looks like it is aimed at females because the larger text is in pink and the way its laid out looks quite girly. The image is taken in a studio, I think they have done this because Daft Punk are wearing their iconic headwear, which looks very futuristic. I think they have taken the splash image in a studio to convey the futuristic feel. Because Daft Punk have their hands placed on the shoulder of the other man in the image, this suggests he is a feature for Daft Punk and isn’t quite as good as them. I think this because they are positioned in a way you would expect to see a family portrait the parents at the back with the child in front. I think this image gives a similar family like feel showing the audience who is in charge and who is more important. The cover lines on this cover show the audience little snip-its of what they will find inside. I think they are effective because they grab the readers attention and make them want to read more. Some magazines have a lot of text on the front, however this one doesn’t. I think they have done it to create more attention to the main image and so the readers have to buy the magazine to find out anymore. I think this magazine would be perfect for someone who doesn’t have much time when choosing a magazine as there is little text on the cover making it easier to get the main idea of what is going to happen in the magazine rather than spending ages on trying to find out. I think this influences the structure of the text because the colours make the text stand out making it easier and quicker to read.

Straight away from looking at the image used it implies the male gaze because of the way she is positioned and the clothes she is wearing. The model used in this image is very thin and healthy looking therefore using the male gaze again as men might not want to buy the magazine if there is pictures of larger women inside.

The number in this section of the page is bigger than any other on the page this suggests this item is more important.

From the actual contents text we can see the pages are split up into sections, ‘VIP’, ‘tunes’, ‘club country’, ‘regulars’. This helps the reader to find what they are interested in quickly. I like the ‘regulars’ section because it shows the reader that the magazine has more variety of content than just music.

Because of what the model is wearing it helps to determine the kind of music this magazine is trying to promote. We can tell that the model isn’t trying to promote classical music as you wouldn’t expect the audience of this genre to behave this way. The model looks like she has been on a night out and she is winding down after an long night in the clubs, therefore suggesting the genre of music is likely to be dance.

I like the way the page numbers of the contents are all in one place. This makes it easier for the reader to find the important information and if the reader just wanted to find more about what was going to feature in the magazine before buying the magazine, the fact the text is all in one place would really help this.

The layout of this contents page is really easy to read because the headings are either highlighted, in bold or both. The font used looks quite futuristic or geeky suggesting the audience this magazine may have. Also the way everything on the page is positioned is very neat which could also reflect the audience. I like the composition of the images down the right hand side because it shows the reader abit more about what will feature in the magazine.The bit of text above the image of the man helps the audience to understand the text more, as it is talking about the man in the picture. The text also helps us to understand who the man is.

The headline tells the audience what the page is about. A contents page is useful to the reader before purchasing the magazine as it allows them to see what will feature in the magazine therefore helping them decide whether this magazine is for them.

I think it looks really effective how the contents page is split up into sections. I think it makes it easier and quicker to find the desired content. The ‘on the floor’ section tells the audience about events that have happened or that are coming up. This is useful for the reader because straight away if they want to find out about music events they can quickly find the pages they want to read. If the reader wants to read about new music and reviews they can go to the music section.

The models featured on this page are all wearing casual clothing, this suggests the kind of audience this magazine would attract. It also reflects the chilled out attitude towards the kind of music this magazine is promoting.

I really like this contents page because I think it is quite different to normal contents pages. This is because there is less text than most contents pages however because of the numbering on the right hand side of the page we can tell this contents page is probably spread over two pages.

We can tell that the model on the page is dominant and the most important thing on there. We know this because she takes up most of the page wearing very little which makes the audience more drawn to her. Also her foot its over the title of the page, which shows power. The image used implies the male gaze because she isn’t wearing a lot of clothing, which is very appealing to most men, plus she has her legs in the air showing the perfect shape again showing off her features therefore attracting male attention. Her legs are positioned in the shape of a ‘V’ which connects to the name of the magazine therefore making the audience subliminally thinking back to the name of the magazine. However this ‘V’ shape is made more obvious because of the ‘V’ outline above which her legs overlap showing she is more dominant.

I think the colour of the models shoes were picked purposefully as the colour purple represents mystery, making the model more sexy as she is now more ‘mysterious’. This makes me think that her shoes also imply the male gaze as the shoes themselves men generally find more ‘sexy’ and the colour used also gives the same effect. The clothes she is wearing blend in with the background making her legs and shoes stand out more.The colour of the title contrasts against the dark background making it stand out more, catching the readers attention.The text on this page is split up in sections making it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for. The bold headings help the reader to see where new sections start and others end. The colour of the text is really easy to read against the background, which is also useful to the reader. I think it is effective how the page numbers are in bold and the titles of the pages are a slightly different colour to the rest of the text this makes them easier to read. I like the way there is extra text explaining abit more about what’s going on, on the pages.

Straight away we can tell that the image of the woman on the right is dominant to this double page spread as she is taking up half of it. Just from looking at the image we can tell that this page could possibly be an interview with the model or maybe the text is just talking about something she has said. We can tell this because of the shape she has created with her hand as if she is whispering and telling the reader something exclusive which will get their attention as everyone loves to be being told something no-one else knows. I think the way her hand is position conveys this. From looking at this image we can also tell the kind of person she is. Her hair style, make-up, clothing and accessories suggests she is an alternative, rock chick kind of girl. This could appeal to the audience as it might make her seemmore interesting to theaudience and possibly Easier to relate to.

The colour of the main heading helps the reader to connect the text to the image. This also applies to the main article as again we can tell its about the model in the image as the text is the same colour as the majority of what she is wearing and her eye make-up.

The layout of the text is very conventional and structured. It is based on a two column per page layout. The right hand page has an image which is composed around the two column layout using her hand and zip to create a sense of structure.

The headline is very striking which attracts attention to article as the reader will want to know more about the article, which then takes them to the strap line. The strapline tells the reader a bit more about the article. This is in white so it stands out to the reader. It is also is a slightly smaller size than the headline but bigger than the article text making it easier for the reader to differentiate between the different headings and where the article actually starts. I think the colour change also helps this.

The pink on the page really stands out to the rest of the text as it is the only thing in that colour on the page. The speech marks are highlighted in pink which helps the audience to pick out the quote.

The pink text at the bottom of the article is promoting the artist on the right hand pages new album. I think this is interesting as the size of this promotion is really small. This could show that they want the people who read the article to buy her album as they know they will be interested in it. Although the text is pink which would stand out to a reader even if they don’t read the whole article.

I think the images are really dominant on this page because of the different colours and sizes used. The same iconic women is used in all the images which suggests this page is all about her. The fact there is loads of images in a line of the icon in a slightly different position suggests movement. She is wearing red which suggests danger and love. Her body language and facial expression suggests innocence therefore linking to the headline about how Beyoncé has outdone her sister in her music career. I think the black and white images against the icons red dress really makes her stand out and makes the reader pay more attention to her than the text on the page.

the cover line at the bottom of the page stands out on the page because it is bolder than the text to the side of it. The readers eyes connect this text with the black and white images and lines at the top of the page together because they are the same colour. I think this makes this stand out on the page more than the main headline. It also stands out more as this text is next to the brightly coloured icon which our eyes are automatically drawn to when looking at the page.

The way the article is laid out incorporates the image into it. The size of the articles are the same as the icons legs, this helps the image to fit in more on the page. The fact the icon is in front of everything else on the page shows she is more important than everything else on the page. the icon is wearing bright colours which don’t completely fit in with the rest of the page making her stand out more. Her dress is red which conveys danger making her look less innocent. Her shoes are purple which suggest mystery. This helps us to see two sides therefore possibly making her more sexy to the audience.

The colours used on this page are on the whole quite subtle colours, which work together well to create a quite calm environment for the reader. The bright red of the icons dress grabs the attention of the reader and takes them out of the calm environment to make them really excited about the article. The way the images are positioned help to reader to know more about the star in the page.

The layout of this page really reflects the headline. The headline is very bold and ‘in your face’, which links in very well with what it actually says. The headlines says ‘people think im attention seeker…’ however the way the page is set out actually makes the reader think she is trying to attract attention, with a bold black title and a big image of the person saying it on the other side. We know the women on the right hand side is saying this because the headline is in speech marks, which help to reader to connect the two together. The way the text is presented conveys the layout of a ransom note, which makes the page look sinister.

The layout of the headline and how the icon is dressed conveys a punkie feel. We can see this as the most dominant colours used on the page are black and red. The colour black suggests the hidden and the unknown, red suggests danger and anger. The use of black could suggest the icon is hiding something which is why she says “people think I’m an attention seeker but I’m just honest”. The icons hair and why she is dressed is very stereotypically punk like. Punks stereotypically like to stand out by wearing brightly coloured tartan and lots of black. Punks are also known for wearing a lot of heavy eye makeup, male or female. The icon is doing both, which is why I got this idea.We know who the star in this double page spread is because she is wearing red and the only other thing that is red on the page is her name. this helps the audience to make the connection between the two.