Ruba Ibnwargan

MUSIC MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

Yellow- Those elements you think have been used in a way that is common to all magazines.

Blue- Those that have been used in a way that is specific to a music magazine.

Red- Those that have been used in a way that is specific to the genre of music your magazine is specifically about.

Masthead- The masthead has something that is common to all other magazines and that is that its placed at the top of the page so that its easily visible. Not only that, but the model is placed in front of the masthead so that the models head is covering most of the title. From research I found that the most magazines do this as they don’t want anything ruining the central image. Masthead- The magazine also uses this element in a way that is specific to a music magazine as they don’t use boring formal font because it’s a music magazine. For example Vogue magazine is specialized in fashion and so has an elegant look to the font, however for this one its not serious and formal as its for music. Masthead- The masthead also has techniques in which it tells us that its specific to the genre. I know this because of the color they used. The genre of this magazine is Rock and from my research I know that they should use more subtle colors instead of bright. For example for pop, I would imagine they use bright colors for example pink. However, as you can see they used the colors gold and black for this magazine.

Central image- The central image has something that is common to all the other magazines out there and that is that it is placed in the center of the page. Not only that, but from my research I found that central images on magazines are usually a medium shot, meaning from head to shoulders only and as you can see on this magazines this is shown.Central image- The magazine also uses this element in a way that is specific to a music magazine as they use a singer as their model for the central image. From my research I noticed that all music magazines use a singer or a famous music icon as their central image.Central image- The central image as it has techniques in which it tells us that its specific to the genre. This is because it edits its picture to be dull. Because the genre is rock, the audience enjoy dark colors and that’s why you could see the central image presented in black and white. Not only that, but mise-en-scene is used and the props that is used suggest the genre of this magazine. This is because the model is wearing a hat without a pirate sword and that is what their audience like.

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Title- Magazines always contain pictures on the contents page as it keeps the audience interested. This is because no one is interesting in plain text. Also, every magazine has the word ‘contents’ at the top of their contents page so that the audience are clear that it’s the contents page.

Title-This contents title suits its genre which is rock. This is because of the colors used. The colors that are used are very dark and rock followers like that! Not only that, but under the title you could see that there are small drawings, like for example the skull. The skull usually represents that kind of genre.Sub images- This element is used in

a way that is specific to a music magazine. This is by using pictures of famous music artists/singers. This is at the bottom of the page. This is a must for music magazine as the audience buy it for because they are interested in music and would like to know information about famous music artists.

Image- Rock magazines always present either a famous singer or a band logo and on this example you could see that they presented a logo. This is good because it attracts the audience of that band and so more people are likely to buy it.

Information- Every magazine has to have information about what's inside the magazine e.g. articles.

Image- Usually one double spread page has one picture that covers both pages and as you can see on this page, there is a famous singer on the double spread page and that’s what makes the audience interesting.

Title- This element is common on most magazines. Some magazines put a title, some put a pull out quote. In this example, they decided to only put the title as you can see as there are no quotation marks.

Article- Within every double spread page, there has to be an article about what the heading is all about. In this example you could see that there is an article on the bottom left of the page.

Colour scheme- The colour scheme of this magazine is dark. It also suggests danger as it is yellow, white, and black. These three colours suggest the police tape and that’s why it brings a dangerous picture in the audience’s minds. This goes perfectly with the genre of this magazine as its Rock and Rock audience enjoy dark colours and danger.

Image- This is a common thing that a music magazine would do. A music magazine would present a famous music artist or a singer singing perhaps like on this example on their double spread page. They do this because the audience buy the magazine out of interest in music so they would like to see a lot of interesting music pictures.

Pull out quote- Most magazines do pull out quotes to grab the readers attention as the fans of the person who the quote belongs to might would want to read what he says and his exact words perhaps. As you can see on this magazine, there is a pull out quote on the bottom right of this page.

Heading-The heading is displayed in a way where there are little drawings that represent the genre of the magazine. For example you could see a skull and the audience would enjoy this as it symbolizes their genre of music.

Masthead- Every magazine either has a masthead at the top of the page or going down from the side of the page. In this example as you can see its at the top of the page. Putting your masthead at the top of the page will enable it to be easily visible or your audience. Colour scheme- The colour scheme

used on this magazine is quiet dark. This is because as you can see the main colour is the colour black. The only “colour” on this magazine is the masthead which is orange and the colour orange is also dark as it isn’t bright t all. They used dark colour because metal followers enjoy dark colours and unusual masks as you can see form the central image.

Central image- Every magazine has to have a central image, whether it’s a picture of a model, singer, object, o even a logo. In this example as you can see it looks like it’s a picture of a band. This is used so that it attracts the audience as the fans of this band will more likely buy this magazine out of interest.

Central image- Music magazines can sometimes use mise-en-scene to attracts their audience which are metal music listeners. They do this buy using props such as masks as you can see on the magazine. These masks symbolize their genre of music and that is why they would buy the product.

Taglines- Usually magazines display taglines on their magazines but as you can see on this magazine there is no tagline whatsoever as there is only the masthead and the central image. Them no putting any taglines shows that the audience collect this rather than see the articles from the taglines and just buy it. Also, from looking at this magazine in front of me I noticed that the issue number and the name and date of the magazine is put on the side of the magazine. This backs up what I just said that they collect the magazines as this shows they stack their magazines.

Contents masthead- A contents masthead is a must in all magazines. As you can see, this magazine displayed the masthead at the top of the magazine and that’s a key convention of a contents page.

Contents masthead- As you can see the way that they presented the contents masthead is interesting to the audience as the font that they used goes so well with the genre.

Image- On every contents page, there always have to be at least one image that links to the genre. As you can see on this magazine there is one large image as well as 3 sub images that tell the audience more about the articles inside.

Image- The magazine used mise-en-scene while taking this picture. I know this because they used props to attract the audiences attention. For example as you can see on the models there are masks and the masks would be put under the ‘horror’ category. The audience of this magazine enjoy these kind of ideas.

Sub-images- A music magazine would have to display picture of singers or bands. This is because the audience buy this because it’s a music magazine so they are looking for famous music artists and their news perhaps.

Articles- All contents pages must contain information about the articles inside as that is its only purpose as a contents page. This contents page follows that key convention as they have information.

Typography- The type of typography that this magazine uses on their contents page suits their genre very well as there are no elegancy as this genre is the complete opposite and so the audience will enjoy this.

Heading- Every double spread page must contain a heading as the audience must know what the article is about. This heading is placed right in the middle of the pages so that it could be clear for the audience to know that it’s a double spread page.

Central image- The central image takes both pages and that’s a key convention in a double spread. This is done so that its clear that both pages belong to each other.

Pull quote- Pull quotes are usually used by all magazines. This is only if its an article that is about a person in this case, a band or a singer. Pull quotes grab the readers attention as the fans of that specific person whom the quote belongs to might be interested and therefore buy the magazine to read the article.

Central image- The magazine uses mise-en-scene to capture this image. I know this because the facial expressions can link to the genre as the audience of this magazine will enjoy reading about “uncivil wars”.

Typography- As you can see on this double page spread, the type of font they used is consistent meaning that it doesn’t change throughout the page. This type of font is very suitable for the heading of the article. This is because the font looks plain, straight, and serious as the edges of the letters are perfectly shaped. This also links with the central image as well as the models look very serious and angry perhaps.

Central image- This magazine uses famous band members as their central image. This is a key convention of a music double spread page as it’s a way of attracting the audience.

Masthead- As you can see the masthead is placed at the top of the page like any other magazine. This is because placing the masthead at the top of the page or down the side of the page is a key convention. They do this to make sure its easily visible.

Central image- The central image of this picture is a band. This is shown by placing the band name directly in the middle of the magazine cover. This is a key convention of a music magazine as it attracts music fans (the magazines audience).

Promotional Offers- Most magazines offer a free CD alongside with the magazine. They also always put it on the magazine, usually on the top left corner of the magazine cover. Its always there so that its easily visible next to the masthead. Free CD,s also gets the audience even more interested to buy the magazine so it attracts the audience.

Taglines- Every magazine contains taglines so that the audience can have an idea of what is in the magazine before buying it. Colour scheme- The colour scheme that

is used suits the genre as the genre is classic rock. This is a good colour scheme because the text on this magazine stands out and doesn’t blend in with the background.

Central image- The central image on this magazine cover has been changed. As you can see the image has no colours as its tone is black and white. This also suits the genre. Not only that, but it makes the text on tis magazine cover to stand out as I mentioned before.

Contents masthead- On all magazines, the contents masthead is usually placed at the top of the magazine. This is so that it could be easily visible and so that the audience could know that it’s the contents page. Image- Every contents page

needs an image and as you can see this image covers the whole page. This is a key convention of a contents page.

Image- The image on the contents page is of a famous classic rock singer. Music magazines usually do this to attract their audience. This is because the audience bought the magazine out of interest in music.

Article headings- Every contents page must contain headings about the articles that are inside the magazine. This is there so that the audience could have an idea as to what the articles are going to be about. Not only that but they can use it to know which article is where (number of page).

Colour scheme- The colour scheme of this contents doesn’t subvert the genre of this magazine. This is because this genre of music is a classic and so any kind of colour can be used for it.

Typography- The typography of this contents page is kept very simple and understandable. There isn’t anything complicated about it and can go with the genre.

Heading- In every double page spread, there has to be a heading that tells the readers what the article is about. However, in this case, as you could see in this example there is a heading but it doesn’t tell us a lot about the articles as it only grabs the audiences attention.

Image- Throughout every magazines double spread page, there always will be a big image that cover both pages. This is done so that the audience will know that the two pages belong to each other and doesn’t cause any confusion.

Article- As you can see here there is an article and without an article or any type of information a double page spread will be nothing. So, it’s a must for all magazines to have an article. As you can see, tis magazine presented their information in one page. They could’ve also spread their information across the other page as well.

Image- On this image as you can see there is a singer singing on stage. Music magazines usually do this to makes the double page spread more interesting as the audience who will be reading will obviously be interested in music.

Colour scheme- The colour scheme of this page suites very well with the genre. This is because it’s a classic and you can never go wrong with ay colour for this genre.

Typography- The typography that this magazine used is very simple as its easy to read. The letters also aren’t very close to each other so good choice of kerning used. The font goes perfectly with the genre as its classic and the font is a classic too!

Masthead- The masthead of this magazine is placed at the top of the magazine. This is done so that its clearly visible to the audience.

Promotional offer- This magazine does promotional offers. This is a way of gaining more customers as they will be interested in the CD and will also read the magazine alongside.

Central Image- The central image of this magazine is a collection of albums. Magazines rarely do this but I predict this goes alongside with the magazine genre as the albums that are presented are the same genre.

Contents masthead- The first thing that I noticed when I first looked at this contents page was that it has no contents masthead. That’s why I found it really hard to figure out if that was the contents page or not.

Article headings- The information about the articles are going down the page on the left hand side. This is normal as I have seen other magazines do this before. The headings of the articles are presented in a different colour so that its easier for the audience to read and break down.

Image/sub-images- Unlike the rest of the contents pages that I have analysed, this one doesn't have any images. It only has one image of the 200 albums that is also on their magazine cover. I am not sure way they have displayed it like that but I will surely do more research to find out.

Colour scheme- The colour scheme that have been used on this contents page is very simple in fact, it looks as though there are no colours are at all. I predict because the audience that this is targeted towards are older that the rest of the magazines I analysed.

Image- The image that has been presented on this double page spread is a picture of the band. Music magazines usually do these and is becoming like a key convention for them. This is good as it attracts their audience in wanting to read the article.Article- Nearly all magazines I

have read have an article on their double page spread. This is because the audience would like to know more about the heading or the central image.

Heading- All magazines must contain heading so that the audience could get an idea on what the article is about. This is done so that the audience could know if they want to read that article or not.

Typography- The font that is used on this double page spread goes perfectly with genre. This is because it’s a classic and the font has a mature look not the type of font that would be used for a metal magazine.

Image- The image has been changed into having no colour as it clearly shows that tone as black and white. This makes the picture have a more ‘mature’ and a sophisticated look as I predict this magazine has an audience with an older age.