My Music Magazine Front Cover and Contents Pages

This is the first draft of my music magazine which is very dull and boring. It does not look very interesting and magazine like. I have added various changes and improvements which now make my magazine very conventional and excellent. it has a plain set up with only two images, which is not very conventional.

This is the first draft of my contents page. it does not include many conventions such as the writers note and looks plain. I have added many images, and made it look more suitable for a goos contents page. These are the changes and improvements that have made my contents page better in many ways including the structure and attractiveness. it contains only one image and not many contents features so is dull.

Analysis of 2 double Page spreads - Mixmag

This article includes various bands and artists suggest that the audience will be targeted at people of an older age group. Approximately between the age of 18+. I can tell this as the images are of people in dance clubs and raves, only people of this age are just about legal to be in a club. Also the images are of adults only which relates to the target audience.
The type of language that is used in the article is formal and proper speech. Therefore is speech appropriate for older readers to understand.
‘Welcome to Rotterdam’s Sustainable dance club’
This is an example of the formal language as the writer welcomes you to the article. Adults would find this speech more suitable then teenagers.
The colours are used to attract the reader and to add excitement as dancing brings pleasure so the colours are used to relate to this. The yellow is a joyful colour and is also used on the front cover to add similarity.
The style of the text is used to bring the reader joy whilst reading about the festive information. The writer uses a groovy font’s style for the title and the first letter of the article used to excite the reader. The rest is a normal font used to add contrast.
The double page spread differs from most articles as there is a third page included. The first page includes images, a little bit of text which relates to the title which is also included. The second and third pages include images and text.
The sort of tone that the magazine is using when addressing the reader is that the reader is a member of the in-crowd.
The artist/band is presented relating to the text as they are on the same pages.
The style of the magazine of the article matches the style of the front cover as the yellow is the leading colour of the article and it is also on the front cover’s background. Also similar hip and cool font styles are used.

Analysis of 2 double Page Spreads

From looking at the article I can tell that the choice of the young individual on one of the double – page spread of the article suggests that the audience will be targeted at middle - aged teenagers, approximately the ages between 19+ as the rappers mentioned are from the 80’s. The young man named Gary ‘GZA’ Genius Grice will also relate to teenagers as they will be attracted by him due to his clothing style which is baggy white top, lose black trousers and trainers. These are all things that youths today are wearing and are interested in. Also the majority of middle-aged teenagers have slang names which we call tags, so his tag name will relate to them.
The type of language that is used in the article is slang or colloquial speech which’s relates well to their target audience. People who read this magazine will be aware of what the writer is trying to put across about ‘GZA’ as they will understand the use of language used.
‘PURE GENIUS’
Any formal reader would not understand the meaning of this as it is not of their lexis which would be ‘He is a genius’. Young readers will understand this information about the rapper as it reveals the specific style of the magazine.
‘It’s frustrating seeing rappers tail about the same shit all the time’
Again this phase relates to the rap, informal style of the magazine because it is slang. If this magazine was formal, they would have edited all the informal language said be GZA. The writer is trying to relate to the magazines target audience as this is the kind of colloquial speech teenagers use today. Also some of the speech by GZA is quite intelligent so the teenagers reading this would have to be an informed, intelligent young person.
The colour is used quite plainly maybe to signify GZA life as a rapper. Black, White and Red are the only colours used. This indicates that the style is normal and the reader is into these colours. Also the rapper in dressed in Black, White and Red so that the reader can focus on the writing and the image on the left and not get distracted by any other colours.
The style of text is normal and quite dull as the overall style of the writing is not very interesting but not boring as the title in bold and is larger than the rest. The style is not very groovy and exciting.
The double page spread laid out as the first page is only the text and the second, the image fills the whole page. I noticed that this tells the reader that the image is of the same importance as the text.

The sort of tone that the magazine is using when addressing the reader is that the reader is an informed intelligent fan as the reader has to be able to understand what the rapper is talking about so therefore has to be interested in rap.
The artist is presented as a dominant figure as the whole second page is him giving the rapper great value of what he does.
The style of the magazine of the article matches the style of the front cover as the red is the leading colour of the article and it is also on the front as it is the title. Also similar not so groovy font styles are used.
The article does demand prior knowledge when reading the article as they mention the Wu-Tan Clan and Liquid Swords. The writer expects reader to have previous knowledge on these bands.

Questionnaire With Results.

Name and age:
_________________________________________ __________

1) What on the front cover interests you when you purchase a magazine?
________________________________________________________________________________

2) What genre of music are you more interested in?
(Please circle as many as you want)
a. R&B b. Hip Hop c. Slow Jams d. Funky c. Pop

3) What colours on the front cover are you attracted to?
a. Pink b. Yellow c. Red d. Green e. Orange f. Blue

4) If freebies were to be provided, what would you prefer keeping in mind that it is a music magazine?
_______________________________________________________________

5) What is your price limit when purchasing a magazine?
a. 50p - £1 b. £1 - £2 c. £2 - £3 d. £3 +

6) Do you like when lots of information about the magazine are on the front cover, if yes why?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7) Who would you like to read more about?
a. Beyonce b. Lil Wayne c. Pretty Ricky d. Rihanna c. T-Pain

8) Do you think that posters should be essential in a magazine?
a. Yes b. No

9) What other things would you like to see? E.g. gossip column, agony aunt etc.
_______________________________________________________________

Mock Up Of College Magazine Contents Page + Comments

This is again like my Font Cover, very simple plain even though i included lots of colour, it is unsual to include lots of colour which confuses the reader. Its not that interesting like other contents pages which is why it is a mock up.

College Magazine Front Cover + Commments

This is my mock up of my first rough school magazine. I didnt improve or try to make it look like a good magazine front cover. I think that it is ok as i added denotations to try and make it look more professtional.

This is a step by step of my mock up;

Firstly, I took my background picture then I edited it in Photoshop, I had cut the background out and used many different tools to do this. I then made a black background with a pinkish purple border. I added text, a price and a barcode. Then I edited the title by making the title multicoloured, it is also curved which adds a nice shape to the magazine. The texts are also multicoloured. Included buzz words and teasers/sell lines.

The Evolution Of Britney Spears Analysis

The image of Britney Spears has been framed in the centre filling up the whole front cover vertically and the image is cropped filling the front cover of the magazine. The image doesn’t fit all of the front cover so the text can be seen and is not messy. Also so that the text doesn’t cover the image and doesn’t take up most of the space so the reader can focus properly on the image. The type of magazine that this is typical of is a male magazine as the shot is taken from a high camera shot so you can so her body features clearly. She also looks vulnerable to appeal to the male audience.
Britney’s costume is lingerie which includes a black push-up bra, pink with black poker dots silk girl boxers and an open short sleeve pink jacket. This suggests that her image is sexy and is shows this seductively. This is obviously appealing to a male audience as she wants to have a personal and intimate relationship with the reader. In that costume she wants to show that she is young, only 17 and classy.
Props has been used, a purple teletubby teddy bear, the messages that they are conveying to the audience is that the telephone is tying to reveal that she is a typical teenager always on the phone talking, gossiping to her friends. The colour purple of the teddy bear conveys a sweet and innocent massage about Britney. These props also make her look sexier alongside the costume. The message is conveyed full on to the audience.
The setting is a pink silk cover that Britney is laying on to make her look sexy and seductive. Also the pink makes her look pretty and young. The connotations of this are that she looks more attractive to the male audience as pink is a girly colour then she already is.
The intertexual references being made are, the teddy bear means that she is revealing her childhood as she wants to be young and the open shirt represents her uniform as a school student. The connotations of this are to present her childhood and youthfulness.
The colours that are used are pink, white purple and black as theses are colours that represent girls and show’s Britney’s girly side.


The image has been framed to fill the whole centre of the magazine. A medium shot has been used as it is a half naked shot from waist up used to reveal her private body parts to fully attract a male audience.
All that Britney is wearing is knickers in her costume, her pose is very sexy and seductive which is used pull in her attracters which of course are male. She wants to have a personal and intimate relationship with the reader.
The setting that is used is jest a plain whit background. The connotations of this is so that the reader focuses only on the image in front which off course sells as Britney’s pose is doing a lot of the magazine.
The lighting is use to reveal Britney’s curves as it is high key. Also it is plain white used to make the reader focus on the image.
The colours that are used are white, blue, black and red. These are mostly all dull colours to make the effect of the image bigger.

This image has been chosen to make her look sad and emotional as they are trying to make her tragedy more effective to the reader. Also the image is just of her face and she is pulling a sad and unhappy face with dropped eyes which looks like she’s been crying. These are all things also significant to the use of why the image is in black and white. Black and white is the colours that represent sad emotion which reveals her tragedy.
The image has been cropped fitting the whole of the magazine front cover.
The type of relationship that Britney wants with the audience is personal and dear so that the reader understands her deep emotion reveal.

Analysis Of Karrang Contents Page

The magazine does use the images to relate to their target audience also to explain the theme and tell us more about the text inside the magazine. The images have been constructed in size. As there is an image at the top right of the magazine is larger in size than the rest of images, this shows that this image relates more to the rock theme as the man is covered in tattoos , is wearing a black and white bandanna, pulling a scowling facial expression and is doing a rock sign with he’s fingers. The overall style of the magazine is very rock and heavy metal which tells us that its intended audience are people that are interested in that type of style. Also the font style relates to rock as the title is sort of scratched also is bold. There are many images which make the magazine reveal the different features of rock and also take’s up most of the space in the contents page. The artists are being represented

The colours are cold bold colours which relate good to the theme of rock. Silver, white, black and yellow are the colours used. The font style is a bold and quite boring which not very interests the reader but is large which adds to the attracting effect along with the image of their audience. It is also exciting to look at the title and become familiar with it as it is on a white background which stands out which is a feature used to draw the audience’s attention. The colours and font style does relate to the style on the front cover because the editor has used similar colours and font styles.

The information is organised in the far left of the magazine away from the images so that it is accessible to the audience and doesn’t look too messy and difficult to see and read. The different sections are the images, the text which includes the page numbers and the top bit of the contents page which is the editor’s speech to the reader saying thanks for the purchase of that magazine.

There are promotional features which includes the selling of the other ‘Karrang’ magazines.

The magazine does not include a logo as it is not placed on the contents page which isn’t very dominant.

The overall style and design of the contents page does relate to the magazine front cover as similar font styles, colours and images which also relate to exciting theme of rock.

Analysis Of NME Contents Page

The magazine does uses images to relate to their target audience also to explain the theme and tell us more about the magazine. It has also made use of several images. The images have been presented so that the text is either side or underneath the image. Graphic features are used to edit the images. Such as a bold border is presented around it making the image look more interesting.

I can tell that the magazine is mainly about a rock/punky genre, as the people within the pictures look untidily dressed and messy in looks, these are connotations of the genres mentioned. This indicates that the intended audience for this magazine are those who are very interested in the rock/punky genres. They look towards this style as a fashion as they will dress that way.
The colours that the editor uses are red, black, white, orange and blue. The use of the colour black is used to make certain words stand out is noticeable as the titles of the text are in bold and is in the colour black. The assortments of the other colours are used to make the magazine contents look pretty and colourful which interest and attracts the reader to read on. Also the font styles are overly presented therefore the reader gets confused and don’t know where to look.
The major information is prearranged so that it takes up the right side of the page and is titled in different sections. The different sections are News, Radar, Features, Reviews, Live! And Gig guide, I noticed that each section is presented in a different colour, the editor does this so that it is more detectable to the reader. These however point towards the making of the magazine’s administration and uncomplicated readership.
The logo for the magazine is positioned at the top left of the page and is not presented dominantly as the image in the centre of the page is the largest which contrasts to the logo making it look very small and unnoticeable. A promotional feature is located at the bottom of the page, in which it promotes the magazine itself.
Ultimately, the general style and colour design is integrated throughout the contents; this makes the page more simple and explicable to read. The writers use of more than three colours makes the page look muddled, in which it confuses the reader, as they won’t know where to look first.

Analysis Of Black Beat Music Magazine

The type of magazine that this is, is a hip–hop/ r’n’b. from the front cover the kinds of issues/articles that are going to be inside are the latest gossip and information involving black artists. Also articles on the male and female singers based on the music industry issues and basic facts.
The target audience for the magazine is all teenagers from the ages between 13 – 19 of that particular age group; their interests are mainly music and the good looking artists as a nice image of Usher is on the front cover a the main central image.
This tells you that the type of relationship it wants with the reader is close as it provides stuff that interests and fulfils their needs.
Usher is on the front cover as he is the main image of the main story also it relates to the title ‘Black Beat’ as he is a black artist who is very popular to the genre of the magazine which is hip-hop and r and b.
The anchorage text says that Usher shifts into Confessions mode. And there is more information about this underneath. It simply implies that the artist is popular and everyone wants to know about his break ups and new singles. He is the latest’s gossip that their target audience will find interesting.
The overall message that the artist is giving is that he is becoming serious about what he does which is singing and wants to become more popular as he confesses about he’s new CD inside that magazine.
The groups represented are B2K but without one singer, they are represented as a strong, still standing group as they move on from there fall-out.
There are ‘buzz’ words included. The effect that this has on the reader is that it makes the text that the reader’s are reading sound and seem better.
The design of the title block tells you that the magazine is popular and excellent as the title is more then able to see and understand as it is not covered by the image.
The title of the magazine tells us about the readership is that it is well understood, clear and interesting. It tells us that the image is attractive and poplar and also that the style is very exclusive and elegant.
The puffs suggest that exclusive stuff will be inside that magazine; this tells us that the type of audience the magazine expects to get is teenagers that will like this stuff.
The colours are pink, yellow, purple, black and red, these deep colours and attractive. The fonts that are used are large so that you can see them clearly and the words are easy to focus on.
The strategies that the magazine uses to attract the audience are the different colours and the layout as it not messy and very clear to see all the images and text.

Analysis Of Rollingstone Music Magazine

Brittney, the image on the front cover is using direct mode of address staring straight into the eyes of the reader. The singer has her hands up on the wall connoting that she is brooding and deep in thought that she looks nice and attracting the male audience. She is also dressed to impress as she is half-naked. She is sticking out her bum, adding to her persona. The lighting falls on her whole body indicating her style of music which is sexy and seductive to the male audience.

Rollingstone magazine regularly uses middle shade colours such as black, red and blue. They are always quite striking and reflect the light image of the magazine. The audience is proud to be alternative and the magazine reflects value. It can also be argued that Rollingstone helps to shape ideologies. Young readers are influenced by the style and fashion of the singers in the magazine and will want to emulate this.

The anchorage text tells the audience clearly that this is Britney Spears and this writing is almost as big as the title of the magazine. The fact that Justin’s name is mentioned again relies on the audiences’ knowledge of there relationship. Recognition for the audience comes from understanding this play on words. This magazine aims to create a sense of community.

A key feature of Rollingstone magazine is that a special report is usually included. This directly appeals to the target audience who will want to know about the exclusive stuff provided. The fact that the report is special makes the audience think they are knowing something for nothing, making this a bargain purchase. Also people who don’t always buy Rollengstone will be attracted by this offer.

It is a regular feature of Rollingstone4 magazine that a list of artists to be found inside is at the left hand side of the page. This instantly tells the audience what they can find inside and is useful to the irregular reader who can decide whether to purchase or not.

The title of the magazine is Rollingstone and is placed at the top of the page and this is a convention of magazine front covers. This is so that it can be seen by the audience when it is placed on the shelf. The is a niche magazine for men interested in rock.

Analysing Music Vibe Magaaine Front Cover

The Title is ‘VIBE’ which is big and bold which attracts the magazines audience. This is a niche magazine aimed at hip-hop lovers aged 14-20 approx. The title connotes to soft and happy music as the colour orange represents a soft colour also makes the readers in a happy mood so that they want to read the magazine. The title is also placed at the top of the page and this is a convention of magazine front covers. This is so that it can be seen by the audience when it is placed on the shelf.

It is a regular feature of vibe magazine that a list of artists to be found inside is at the sides of the page. This instantly tells the audience what they can find inside and is useful to the irregular reader who can decide whether to purchase or not.

Vibe magazine regularly uses bight colours such as orange and blue. These colours are soft and happy colours. It reflects off the image making the mood positive and happy. The audience is proud to be alternative and the magazine reflects value. It can be also argued that Vibe helps to shape ideologies. Young readers are influenced by the fantastic style and fashion of Janet Jackson and will therefore want to emulate this.

This pushes the reader to want to buy the magazine as the word ‘crucial’ is added. The reader is attracted by it so that the magazine sells.

This singer which is Janet Jackson is holding a camera to her eye. This is a reference to her quote that she likes to watch and relies on the audiences’ prior knowledge of this.

The singer is using direct mode of address starring straight into the eyes of the reader. She has a happy friendly facial expression on her face which reflects on her style of music which happy and soft.

Main story about the celebrity in the centre. The anchorage text tells the audience that Janet Jackson likes to watch which is significant to the image as she is holding a camera to her eye. Recognition for the audience comes from understanding this play on words. This magazine aims to create a sense of community.

Srapline at the top of the magazine tells the reader more about the magazine. This bar also assumes that the audience will be interested in Busta Rhymes and shows an association between hip-hop artists and music both offering similar values that the audience will be looking for.