Double Page Spread Analysis Two

This double page spread is from NME. They have featured a large main photograph of The Teenagers on the left page to immediately inform the reader about who this article is about. This again helps the reader decide quickly whether or not to stop and read the article. Light blue stands out from the rest of the magazine as NME is mostly Red so this page really stands out and catches your eye. It’s saying I don’t happen often so read me for I am a feature! Most of the page is white so the block blue colours really stand out and draw your eyes to them. The colours of the heading are really bold and the font is capitalized which makes it stand out and shout to the reader that this is important. There is a smaller article on the right about what everyone else is talking about in the music industry recently. Its background colour is black which distinguishes it from the main article. It effectively separates itself from the article to show its different. In the picture, The Teenagers are looking straight at the viewer with a blank expression on their face. This probably fits in with the genre of their music and therefore attracts the reader who is interested in them to read it. I think this is a more effective double page than Kerrang!’s as initially the colour stands out so it attracts the eye. Not only this, the page just seems to fit. Nice picture, large article, and a separate little strip down the side to break up the page to make it easier to read.

Double Page Spread Analysis One

This double page spread fits in with the colour scheme of the rest of the magazine which provides continuity. The red and black also represent and attract the target audience to read the magazine. My Chemical Romance are a very popular band amongst the readers of NME so having a feature article on them is a good idea as it attracts the readers to read it. The headings are all in capital letters and bold type with colours that stand out against the dark background. This reiterates the importance of this article and makes you want to read it. The little sign in the top left tells you it is a World Exclusive. You can only read this article here in this particular issue in this particular magazine. This adds a bit of excitement amongst the readers and pride among the producers. It is a very strong invitation to the reader to buy the magazine. Down the right of the column is a mini article (still about the same band) about their latest tracks. This helps to break up the page and makes it more pleasing to the eye aswell. The main article looks relatively small compared to the high importance of the page. There is a huge main photo which makes the background to the page with a few smaller photos underneath. The text seems pretty inadequate which is reversing the connotation of the titles which say THIS IS IMPORTANT! MUST READ!  Also in the top left corner next to the world exclusive banner is a word “NEWS” This encourages the reader to read it as it is the latest updates on this band. All they have written is unseen and unknown about to the public and readers want to change that. All in all I think it is an effective feature article. It attracts the eye, it’s what the readers want to read, but the text could be a bit bigger.

Magazine Contents Page Analysis Two

The main heading on this contents page appeals to the target audience and it lets you know what it is. The title is in capital letters and a bold font which means it is very noticeable. The title is not a usual style for a magazine as it is broken up and this makes our eye go towards it to see what it is we’re reading.

The outline of V in the background represents what the magazine is. Vibe. It’s colour works well with the colour scheme of the remaining parts of the contents page which makes it all very pleasing to the eye.

As in most contents pages, it features headings of what the magazine contains so you can easily read what you might be interested in due to the header which is in a bold capitalised font. Extra detail is given underneath in a smaller font to inform the reader about what the article is about even more. The page number is in bold to the left of the heading so it’s easy to find out where to go if you would like to read that article.

The person on the contents page is in a very odd position which may invite the reader to wonder why she is doing what she is doing therefore creating more readers of the article she is modelling for. Her gaze is aimed directly at the viewer and her facial expressing seems inviting if what mysterious. Her clothing also matches with the colour scheme of the contents page (or is it the other way round?!) enabling an altogether visibly pleasing page.

The model’s legs are positioned in such away to invite readers as they have links to being seductive and sexy. Not only this but her left leg is pointing to the title of the page which is to reinforce that this page is a contents page. The shape of her legs also make a V shape, matching the title of the magazine and the letter V at the top of this page.

In conclusion, this page looks very inviting to the reader. One colour scheme, not too busy and easy to look around and easy to understand.

Magzine Contents Page Analysis One

The contents page has the magazines logo in the top left again which relates to the front page. It is in red and white which appeals to the target audience. CONTENTS is in capitals and in bold which clearly shows us what the page is about. It is issue 232 (November 2005) which is also shown in a smaller font as it is not as important as the CONTENTS header.

The stories titles are in bold black text which draws the reader to them. The details about the stories are in smaller font as they don’t need to be as readable. This enables the reader to see the title so they can see whether they will be interested in reading it. If they are, they can refer to the page number in bold red rather than having to read through paragraphs and paragraphs of stuff they don’t want to read.

This issue is a John Lennon issue. It has its own silver lined box in the contents page to show it is a special section. This is appealing as silver stands out from the main red and black theme of the contents page.

James Blunt’s face appears as the main and only image on the page. This is unusal for a contents page. It resembles a front cover image. The fact that it is a big picture will draw the readers eye towards it and will see his eyes staring straight into yours which is inviting you to read the magazine. Towards the bottom of the page on the left, are the things which appear in every single Q magazine such as subscriptions, puzzles etc. They are divided up like this so the reader can see specifically what appears in every issue, and what is only in this particular one.

In conclusion, this contents page for this issue of Q magazine fits in to the usual contents page expectations. It features the same colour scheme as the front cover, it is divided up into sections enabling easy to read, understandable content, and the font sizes are different depending on how important the editor feels what they say are. The only part that is not necessarily ‘typical’ of a contents page is the very large image of James Blunt. Most content pages seem to feature one or two smaller images.

 

Magazine Cover Analysis Three

This episode of Q Magazine is a magazine based on rock music. This backed up by the red and black colours mainly used which we immediately associate with Rock.

The header Q is always in the same place; top left of the cover which enables instant recognisability.

Q is a letter not widely used so it could connate that the magazine is different and therefore you should read it and see what it’s all about. They have a cover line which tries to seduce the viewer into buying the magazine as Q is “The UK’s biggest music magazine” which means it must be a decent read so why not buy it! The coverline is not the only thing that is trying to seduce the viewer into buying it. Cheryl Cole. Often seen as a very attractive woman is sat on the front cover gazing intently into your eyes whilst licking her finger stud…Some if not all men would find this attractive and would want to see the image again and read what the image is all about. The wet hair also entices the target audience of men to purchase the magazine. The main coverline on the magazine is “3 Words…Cheryl Cole ROCKS”.  Cheryl fans will relate to this as one of her songs was called 3 Words so this brings in more people to buy it as it is based on Rock but then Cheryl cole is also appearing to bring in more contemporary fans.

As in most magazines there are three colours. Red, black and white. The red and black as said before match the rock theme and the white stands out infront of the dark background. The close up of Cheryl Cole matches the colour scheme. She has a pale face and is dressed in black with red lipstick which carries on with the colour scheme.

Magazine Cover Analysis Two

Black Book is a magazine on style and culture. I have not been able to find a media pack which enables me to interpret the cover in my own way with no influences.

As in the BBC magazine, the header is always in one place. This means it is easily recognisable and doesn’t have to be looked at intently to find out what the magazine is. Unlike other magazines however, the colour is not standardised. On researching covers of BlackBook, the colour of the header seems to change each issue. They have ben red, white, black, green, yellow and turquoise on this particular issue. This makes the magazine stand out as the reader may look at the covers as collectable items and they may decide to buy this particular issue as they have not yet seen a turquoise colour one. This may not be just for BlackBook magazines; I have never seen any magazine cover at all with this colour as the main feature…hence why I picked it to analyse. It caught my eye. The colour attracts a mainly female audience as turquoise is a fairly friendly, soft colour. It matches the eye shadow on Nicki Minaj’s face and the smaller text at the bottom giving it a smart and sophisticated look.

Nicki Minaj is the main/only image on the cover. This shows that she and the article the photo is for is of high importance and the reader must read it if they buy the magazine. People who know who Nicki Minaj is will relate her face to her music: Hip-hop and R&B. The name of the magazine doesn’t really give away what the magazine is about and the cover with Nicki Minaj on it can be misleading; BlackBook is actually an arts and style magazine rather than one based on R&B. Sticking a popular music icon on the front probably increased sales as people who do not know what the magazine is about are more likely to buy it as more people are in to this style of music than the actual genre of the magazine.

There are only two colours used on the magazine cover which keeps it simple and attractive to the eye and makes it easy to read. The standard amount of colours used on magazine covers is one to four so this cover is average.

Magazine Cover Analysis One

The BBC Music magazine is seems to be aimed at the older generation of people. The media pack does not disclose the average age of the people they are aiming at but it does state that 65% of readers are men. This surprises me as the fonts on this cover and the content of this issue of the magazine says to me that the majority of readers would be female. Class wise, I would say it aims more at middle upwards as not many working class families will have their children in a choir (see main photograph). This is backed by the fact that 66% of all their readers are ABC1 class.

The Price of the magazine reflects the working class target audience. £4.80 is pretty high price for a magazine but as they are aiming at a working class, most of their target audience will have a fiver to spare.

The header of the BBC Music magazine is always in the same place, large print at the top of the cover. This is the same for the BBC logo.This is so their readers will start to recognise the magazine by only glancing at it as they don’t need to look around the cover to find the name of the magazine. The swirly font represents the music that the magazine is about as music flows freely as does the text. You can see that the header is in normal type apart from two letters in music: “US” is written in italics to make it stand out. This maybe attracts new readers as it implies the magazine is part of a wider community of people who enjoy the music the BBC covers. It invites new readers in who want to be part of something bigger than just a reader of a magazine.

The colours used in the magazine can reflect what the magazine is about. The red on the chorister’s robe for example contrasted by the green on the tree behind him quickly remind us about Christmas, as does the photograph of the holly in the bottom left corner. The font of the main cover line also represents the winter months and Christmas time as each letter seems to have a star like ending to it which reminds readers of the Christmas star. This reinforces the fact that this is a Christmas issue and will therefore be mainly focused on this. The colours of the fonts are pretty standard for a magazine, there are three colours on this cover and the standard is around two to four. If it gets any higher than this, it becomes busy and confusing to the eye. If only one colour is used, it can look quite boring.