Music Magazines AnalysisJak Tilley

This magazine seams to follow the general code for magazines. I would guess

this magazine would be for the more gossipy type of people maybe aged

around 15 – 21 this is because one of the many title is talking about Kanye West

and rap and these things tend to be more interesting to a younger crowd of

people

The image is of a well-known musician called Kanye West who would help this

magazine to sell as he is very popular for the group of people that the magazine

is aimed at. The type of shot is a close up and he is covering the majority of the

magazine suggesting that he is very important and has a large story in the

magazine.

The colour scheme of the magazine has a white background to make everything

else on the magazine stand out. Also lots bright colours of text have been used

on the text to highlight more important text.

The mast head is partly covered by the main image suggesting that the image is

more important that the magazine itself and the mast head also uses a light

blue font again making it seem less important as other text on the cover have

been coloured pink which stands out more than the mastheads blue.

The ‘VIBE’ magazine front cover

This magazine has a different target audience in my opinion this is because it

doesn’t have as much gossip compared to the previous magazine. I would

guess that this magazines target audience would be 25+ year olds but I do not

think it has a specific gender audience because the stories on the magazine

seem to be for both male and females.

This magazine doesn’t completely focus on the main image as much as the

previous magazine. It hides most of the main image in this case extremely

famous musician Madonna in to a black back ground and only her face and

part of her arm can be seen. The shot seems to be very similar with a close up

shot and again the main image is covering up part of the masthead again

suggesting that the main image is more important than the magazine itself,

the previous magazine also did this.

The colour scheme of this magazine is very different to the previous magazine

as the previous used very light colours on a light background but this one uses

bright colour on black background but I think that it provides a similar effect.

Red has been used on this magazine to make text stand out.

The mast head on this magazine stand outs better than the previous but is

still covered by the main image and other things stand out on the magazine

suggesting that the name of the magazine is less important than the stories

that are in the magazine.

The Q magazine front cover

This magazine has a similar target audience to the first the magazine of 15 – 21

years olds as it seems to have gossipy stories like the first one.

This magazines main focus seems to be on the main image of the musician Miley

Cyrus the image cover most of the magazine and stands out more than anything

on the page this is because she is wearing black clothing against quite a light

background. This shot type seems to be different for this image compared to the

first two and is more of a medium shot of the person and she is covering up a lot

of the masthead. The fact the image is so prominent on the page suggests that

image is extremely important and more important than anything on the page.

The colour the scheme on the magazine cover is unlike the first two as the

previous two had backgrounds to make text stand out while on this a light

background and light text has been used, this is done to make the main image

seam a lot more important and make sure that it is the first thing that you look at

when you see this magazine.

The masthead on this magazine doesn’t stand very much because of the colour

scheme and a high portion of the masthead is covered by the main image and this

is done to put more emphasis on the main image. This magazine cover is designed

to make you focus on the main image more than anything on the page suggesting

that the main image is extremely important.

Billboard magazine front cover

Kerrang magazine front cover

This magazine has a completely different audience to any of the previous magazines this is

purely because the other magazines usually had a focus on hit music while this magazine

has a complete focus on rock music but I think that it would have a target audience of 18 –

25 it would be this way because people around these ages tend to like rock music more

than younger people. This magazine would be for both male and females but I think the

majority of readers will be male as males usually prefer rock music more than females.

Unlike the other magazines this magazine has quite a few images it still has a main image

but the usually only have one image. The main image doesn’t stand out as much as the

smaller image which is unusual of music magazines as usually the main focus is on the

large main image. The large image is a medium long shot of green day while the smaller

image is of medium close ups of different posters. The smaller image is a promotional

offer for posters while the larger image is the main story of the magazine. The fact the

smaller image stands out more suggests that there promotional offer is the most

important thing on the magazine.

The colour scheme of the magazine is mainly black and white with only a few things and

the smaller image and some text being coloured differently this is what makes the smaller

image stand out more than anything on the page. This also makes the small text that is on

the page stand out a lot.

The magazine masthead isn’t covered by the main image but instead doesn’t stand out

very much because it shares a very bland colour scheme and this is again done to make

the coloured parts on the magazine stand out the most.

The ‘VIBE’ contents page This contents page looks to have completely changed its colour

scheme compared to the cover page of the magazine.

The magazine has kept with the same model in this case Kanye

West again this is suggesting that Kanye West is very prominent

in this magazine as there has been a very large story to do with

him and the only colour on the page suggests that it is to do

with love as a heart I been held next to Kanye’s heart and the

fact that it is the only coloured thing on the page makes it

stand out.

The V behind the main image is reminding us of the magazine

which this is, this is done to make sure when you are looking

through the magazine you don’t forget what magazine you’re

reading.

The text on this page doesn’t stand out what so ever and is

intended to be the last thing you see the only text you do

notice quickly is the title of the page which is ‘CONTENTS’ but it

is written in a way which will make people take longer to read

and this is because they want people to notice everything on

this page rather than just skipping it.

The ‘Q’ magazine contents page The colour scheme of this page seems to be fairly different compared to

the cover page as this page has a white background compared to the black

background of the contents page however I do believe that the magazine

does try to remind us of this original colour scheme with the title at the

top of the page but apart from that and the use of red to highlight things

to make them more noticeable there isn’t much else similar with the

colour scheme similarities.

The magazine has opted to use a different person for the main image of

this picture suggesting that neither person has a huge story in the

magazine but fairly big as this are very prominent and there respected

pages. The main image doesn’t stand out very much but blends in with

the rest the magazine. There is a smaller image of the page showing some

more things on the page and showing some things that people reading this

magazine will be interested in. The smaller image also seems to have less

colour than the large picture to make sure that you see the large one first.

Most of the text of the page doesn’t really stand, the only text to really

stand out is the text that has been highlighted with red and these things

are usually subheadings. The rest of the text is very easy to read but

doesn’t really stand out a whole lot.

The ‘Billboard’ magazine contents page

The colour scheme is very similar to the cover page in that it uses very

dull colours and nothing really stands out on the magazine. However,

there is a very distinct part of this page that is the charts on the side

and this is Billboards unique selling point as the company is known for

having a lot to do with the charts so I would make sense that they

would have the charts in their magazine and this the parts of the page

stands out very well as it is the major colour difference on the page.

The cover page used a very large image that stood out very well while

this page doesn’t have any images like this but instead uses smaller

images that don’t nearly stand out as much as the cover page image.

The main point of the page is definitely the charts at the side of the

page and it is really that only thing that would be considered

interesting to readers of this type of magazine.

The text on this page is like the cover page text in the way that it isn’t

very noticeable but the sub headings do stand out somewhat and

definitely stand out better than the text on the cover page but the

main focus of the page isn’t on this text and is on the charts board.

‘Kerrang’ magazine contents page

This contents page is quite similar to its cover page in the way

that it has an almost identical colour scheme with the black

and white taking up most of the page and with some titles and

subheadings in a yellow/orange colour which makes them

stand out a lot.

This page has used a different musician compared to the front

suggesting that there isn’t any major stories about any one

because if there was then the person would be on most pages.

This also follows the layout of the cover page with one larger

image and a few or more smaller ones. It is the most similar

contents page to the cover page compared to all other

magazines.

The most noticeable text on this page is the yellow/orange text

because the text is on such a plain back ground that most

colours would stand out a lot on the page.

The ‘VIBE’ double page spreadThis magazines double spread page has a very simple but

effective layout. The main image taking up most of the page is

instantly visible when looking through the magazine as it takes

up an entire page and will very easily catch people’s eyes which

will in turn make them look at this page.

The colour scheme on the pages is very plain very plain and

makes use of lots of dark colour and the main image is black

and white which has been done to catch reader’s eyes as it

looks strange to the rest of the magazine and will draw people

in. The magazine also makes use of red for the headline and

subheadings to make them stand out since the background and

there isn’t much else for colour on the page this makes them

stand out well.

This page is a type of countdown for music but structures the

countdown in a way that it only has a few songs on each page

with a lengthy description about each one, this is done to keep

the reader reading for a longer period of time rather than just

using a simple countdown. It also uses some sort of break up

on the page to keep people entertained if they were getting

bored of reading the same things for a while, a break up would

keep it somewhat more entertaining.

The ‘Q’ magazine double page spread This magazine double page spread has a very similar to the

previous magazine in the way that it uses one main large image

and very simple colouring. Again this magazine uses one large

image of a famous person and uses the same black a white

colouring to draw people in. However, these magazine pages

use massive lettering over the top of the text in red in this case,

this will be done to make sure that anyone looking through the

magazine will defiantly stop to take a look at this page.

The person in question has a very seductive expression and is

wearing basically no clothing which means that this page would

be aimed at mainly males as these types of imagery will draw

them in. The letter on the page also seems to be the first letter

of the persons first’s name and this seems to be the case

throughout the Q magazine and is their unique selling point.

This double page spread is very different in the way of text as

this one is extremely lengthy and doesn’t have any breaks

during the entire thing so would be for people who like to read

a whole bunch of text all at once and it also means that it is

probably a life story or some other story about the person on

the page.

The ‘Billboard’ double page spreadThis magazine double page spread is very different to previous

as this one is mainly just one large image and is coloured. This

magazine also uses a famous person meaning the story on this

page will be about this person as most magazines seam to do

this. The pose of the person is in a corner and looking directly

at the camera, this is done to make the person look as if they

are trapped and looking for out help.

The picture take advantage of the pink colour to highlight

anything as it stands out a lot on the page but it also can be

referenced back to the cover page as that used a similar colour

for its background and this is done to indirectly remind people

of the cover page and of what magazine they are reading.

There hasn’t been much colour used on this magazine front

cover meaning that both the person and the text stand out

quite well.

The text on this text is very sparse and is trying to explain a lot

with a little but doesn’t really explain much an is more like a

cover page story as it really doesn’t have much to suggesting

that the writers to carrying on reading the magazine to see if

there was more on this story this page was almost like an

advertisement of something bigger.

‘Kerrang’ magazine double page spread This magazine follows very similar layouts to the first two

magazines in the way that there is a famous person on the left

and a chunk of text on the right and the text is usually about

that person. This magazine also has the person looking at the

camera and this seems to be the case for most magazine as it

makes the person reading feel more personal about the stories

and information.

This double page spread uses a very light background behind

the person and a darker colour behind the text and this is done

to make people look at the person first and then the text. Some

of the text also makes use of the pink text on the black

background to make sure that it is the first thing you look at

and the pink text explains the subject of the article below very

quickly and simply but it also engages people and makes them

want to read more.

There is a lot of text on this page but is split up with

subheadings with white backgrounds and this is done to make

sure that people can find certain parts of the article that they

may want to read as some people don’t want to read entire

article and only want to read some parts of magazines.