CASE STUDY ON 2 MUSIC MAGAZINES

Zac Walker

Q – Discover Great Music•Q is a British music magazine

published monthly at a cost of £3.99 by Bauer Media, it focuses on reviewing music, but also features many interviews from popular artists.•The current editor of the magazine is Andrew Harrison. The Magazine was first published in October 1986. •One of the more popular magazines, it can be picked up at most retailers and postal subscriptions are available.

MastheadCreates a recognisable image that readers will be able to see and instantly know what magazine they’re looking at.

StraplineA line the magazine uses to give a short explanation of what the magazine aims to do.

CoverstoryThe story that ties in with the cover image, often in larger text than all the others on the page so attention is drawn to it.

Pull-QuoteA quote from an article, often taken out of context to entice the reader into looking in the magazine to find out what it’s referring to.

Cover ImageThe photo that dominates the cover page illustrating the main story, often the image is a medium close-up of an artist.

PuffsCreate a more dynamic layout, drawing attention to the text within them without taking thefocus from the

coverline/image.

BarcodeGives the price of the magazine.

Date/Issue NumberTells the reader when the magazine was published so they now if it’s the current issue, in this example it is included in the barcode area.

Rhetorical QuestionOffers the reader the chance to create their own opinion and see whether the writer agrees or disagrees

CoverlinesSmaller stories featured on the cover to give the reader more reasons to pick it up

ContentsA list of the articles and features in the magazine with the number of the page they are on.

FeaturesPieces which are specific to this edition of the magazine.

Regular FeaturesFeatures which appear in every issue.

MastheadA continuation of the house style and brand identity of the magazine.

Colour SchemeOften relates to the colours used on the cover page creating a house style.

Special FeaturesA special feature that set this apart from other editions.

Date and Issue NumberHelps to identify what issues this is and when it was released.

Featured StorySometimes the magazine will choose to highlight a story by giving it an image that goes with it or making it much larger on the page.

Photo Dominates Whole PageAn image which relates to the article, this is made clear by the fact it is so large.

Large Letter Underneath TextThis seems to be an aspect of the magazine’s house style as it can be seen in other issues

Black & White ImageThis add more of a glamorous effect to the image.

Drop CapitalThis helps the reader identify where the article starts.

HeaderThis gives the reader an idea of what the article’s about.

Page NumberThis tells the reader what page they are on, also if they have used the contents page to find the feature they can get to it easily.

BodyThe main text of the article.

Influences On My Own Magazine

•I like the way the photos take a large majority of the space on the pages, and will try to use this myself.•Also I like the way they organize their contents page, large page numbers and the separation of regular and special features.•The large letter behind the text for the article was also something I liked about they style they use for their articles.

Clash – Music Life Style•Clash is a UK-based music and

fashion magazine published monthly, available from the larger chains of newsagents and bookshops, the price ranging from £3.50-£3.99•It was founded by John O'Rourke, Iain Carnegie, Jon-Paul Kitching, Simon Harper in 2004, the current editor being Simon Harper.•Recently the magazine has taken a new approach to it’s house-style, becoming a very artistically-led.

MastheadCreates a recognisable image that readers will be able to see and instantly know what magazine they’re looking at.

Simplistic LayoutGives the reader key information about the contents without bombarding them with to much information all at once. Keeping it clean an minimal also plays on the “arty” approach the magazine takes.

Cover ImageIn contrast to Q’s cover image we see a group-shot, further from the camera. There is also more of the “artistic” direction seen in the abstract use of colour.

PriceBarcodeDate/Issue Number

CoverlinesTell the reader what else is in the magazine.

Coverstory

Page NumbersTells the reader where to find the article.

Column Layout

SubheadingsDistinguishes between the different sections of the magazine.

List of ArticlesGives the name of the article with a brief summary of it’s content and the page it is found on.

Feature PhotosPhotos that help to establish the feature’s content.

Black & White ImageThis time it implies more “artiness” than glamour.

HeaderBodyThe writing for the article is presented in a strange way. Rather than having the text black because the background it white they choose to keep the text white and give it a black surrounding, this creates an almost label like effect.

Drop Capital

Influences On My Own Magazine

•Clash seems to defy some of the regular conventions of a music magazine, this is possibly because of it’s influences from fashion and art.•This make it stand out from others and is something it’d like for my own magazine•I also like it’s use of analogue-looking photography and will use this on my cover.