Textual Analysis For Music Magazine Contents Page

This is a contents page created by a music magazine “Vibe”, the main image of the content page is a celebrity by the name of “Amber Rose”, who is known through affiliating with another famous celebrity, “Kanye West”, who is a well-known artist in the hip-hop industry. By taking genre-related pictures, this should help me attract the correct type of target audience I desire. The “Vibe magazine contents page has started off with a low key lighting image with a spotlight going over her face, this may have been done to enhance the awareness of the famous celeb.  Also, the rest of the image is darker, which makes it easier to recognise the famous celeb. The costume that Amber Rose is wearing connotes wealth, as the fur coat and necklace/medallion she is wearing represents a lot of money since they must have cost a lot to purchase.

The top left corner had the magazine logo placed there, along with the website name for the magazine. The layout of the magazine makes viewers focus more on the celebrity, rather than the actual contents. The contents are in small san-serif fonts and take up about 1/3 of the entire page, which are aligned on the left-hand side of the page in white font. The first heading on the page reads “Departments”, which declares the other sections in the magazine, which are listed underneath it. The “Departments” heading is in a larger bold, white font compared to the rest of the page, this shows its purpose as the heading for the rest of the context below.

  

The purpose of this layout is to capture the audience’s attention with the image of a famous celebrity (Amber Rose). The light font on a dark background has made the reader’s job easier, as the font can be read clearly. The small images next to the sub-headings are colour-coordinated with the page numbers, this colour scheme helps to add some sort of colour to the dull image. This magazine has approximately 120 pages in this issue. Underneath the sub-headings is information about the page with the names of celebrities that are very famous, strangely enough the fonts are not in a bold font, which makes this hard for the readers to notice the full content of the magazine.

In conclusion, the content page can be improved by creating actual awareness of the content by increasing the size of the content information or having the text bold. The layout of the magazine is very efficient for attracting reader’s attention to the image. The image of Amber Rose helps me to widen the variety of the type of people that I can put on a music magazine, where it’s not just the artists, but some people who are affiliated with the music artists of that genre i.e. hip-hop. Also it was noticeable that there was only one picture on the content page, an increase of images of different music artists and associated can also be advised for improvement.

Music Magazine Conversations

Conversation 1
12:06am

do you read music mags?

12:06am

yh...

12:07

 What makes you pick up a magazine?

12:08
erm.. I guess the pics on the front page

12:11am

.. Would you want related or unrelated ads ?

12:11am

Related 

12:12am

Would you like to know about the new artists or old hip-hop artists? ..Or both 

12:12am

Both

12:13am

would you like the magazine to have a dark heavy theme or a lighter kind of theme?

12:14am

Light...white background with various artists on it and the title in front of them

12:14am

Alright so, would you prefer to hear more about the lifestyle or music of the music artists?

12:16am

Music of the artist...i don’t care about their lifestyle... I don’t want to live like them  

12:16am

Okay, but would you still want to hear about their interviews?

12:20am

yh 

12:20am

How about free things from the magazine?

12:20am

Yeah!!

12:21am

What kind of free stuff would you want?

12:23am

yhhh a picture of music artists

Conversation 2

12:08am

Hey!

12:08am

Gabs!

12:08am

Let me ask you something… do you read magazines?

12:09am

Not much... 

12:09am

You see for music magazines yeah... what attracts your attention to them?

12:20am

It’s the pictures that I look at. 

12:21am

Kk

12:22am

As a reader would you like related or unrelated adverts to the magazine?

12:24am

Related

Its more appealing and makes more sense to people of my race and age group

12:25am

Kk... Would you like to know about new or old artists.. Or both? 

12:27am

Both

But not that gossip nonsense

12:28am

Cool...  would you like the mag to be dark/heavy themed or lighter?

12:29am

Lighter

12:31am

Would you like to know more about some artist’s lifestyle or the music 

12:34am

Both really, majority of music is about the lifestyle

12:37am

Would you want to hear about interviews too ?

12:38am

Yeah.. Especially the ones were the artist really open up to the public

12:39am

oh right ..

 Would you want freebies from the mag?

12:50am

Umm depends

12:50am

On?

12:50am

What the free stuff is

12:51am

What would you like it to be?

12:51am

lip gloss

Headphones

12:57am

good

thanks

Conversation 3
1:12am

Remi ! do you read magazines?

1:13am

Yeah 

1:14am

:D

 what attracts you to a magazine?

1:14am

 The words and images they have 

1:15am

Cool...

Would you prefer image... Text or both?

1:15am

Both

1:20am

Would you like the magazine to contain related to unrelated adverts?

1:21am

A bit of both

Any more

1:23am

do you want to know about new artists , old 1z or both ?

1:25am

Both

1:26am

type of theme for the magazine: .. dark/ heavy .. or light ?

1:29am

Bit of both depends what the article is about

1:29am

would you like to know more about the music that they make or the lifestyles they live ?

1:31am

Both

1:33am

Want to know bout interviews?

1:33am

Yeah

1:34am

Do you want freebies from magazines? If yes what?

1:34am

Yes

Vouchers, music, posters stuff like that

Conversation 4

1:28pm

Anna i got sum questions 4 you 

1:29pm

go on

1:31pm

do you read magazines?

1:34pm

i don’t usually read magazines

1:36pm

Okay but what would interest you into reading a magazine?

1:42pm

What would attract me to a magazine would be colors and pictures

1:43pm

Would you like mostly pictures, text .. or both evenly?

1:44pm

Both

1:45pm

Would you like related adverts to the magazine or unrelated adverts?

1:46pm

Ermm i wouldn’t mind but i think i would like unrelated

1:47pm

Would you want to know bout old artists new... or both?

1:47pm

Both

1:49pm

Theme of the mag: dark/ heavy.. or light?

1:50pm

Dark/heavy

1:51pm

Want to know more about the lifestyle or actual music of the artists?

1:54pm

A combination of both

1:55pm

Want to hear about interviews?

1:55pm

Yeahh

1:55pm

Want freebies?

1:56pm

Yeah

1:56pm

Like what?

2:00pm

Ermmm like discount codes

2:00pm

Nice to know .. thanks

Conversation 5

12:53pm
do you read magazines??

12:54pm

sometimes 

12:55pm

ok.. What attracts you 2 a music magazine?

12:56pm

I like music, so it depends on the type of music it has.. and the images. So basically the content and images really ..

12:56pm

..  so what would you like to see more of? Text... Images or both

12:57pm

images are better

12:57pm

okay, but for adverts on the magazine... Would you prefer them to be related or unrelated to the magazine content?

12:58pm

related, what’s the point for irrelevant stuff..

 
1:00pm

Fair enough, so who would you to know about more? New artists... old artists or both 

1:01pm

some info bout ermm ... the new upcoming artists really.. no old artists! 

1:02pm

What about the theme for the mag.. dark & heavy or something abit lighter..

1:03pm

I say both so I don’t get too boring..

1:04pm

That’s true.. so what about the artists themselves? .. do you want to hear mostly about their music or their lifestyles?

1:05pm

their lifestyles because its kind of interesting finding out about the own interests and stuff like that.

1:06pm

So would you want interviews to be included in the mag then?

1:06pm

Obviously!

1:07pm

Okay then ! would you like free things with the magazine ? and what would you want if you did ??

1:08pm

Free stuff would be great though … I’d probably want posters with music artists on them

Profiling My Audience

This is a website called "xxlmag.com", also has a real magazine issued per month. This website has the type of genre if want to put into my music magazine, which is hip-hop. The advertisement on this website clearly shows that it is based on hip-hop because the person in the advertisement at the top of the website is in fact a hip-hop artist himself.  For that reason, it is obvious to realize the target audience of both the magazine and the website are people that listen to hip-hop music. For my own magazine, I may need to add advertisements that are related to the genre of music, in which other hip-hop artists have taken part in. The advertisements should be broad, whether it is about film, music or general news, the main thing is that it must be something that the hip-hop artist is heavily involved with. 

The magazine also advertises the latest news that goes on in the hip-hop music industry. It mentions things about the hip-hop artists, like what they have done, what they are doing and also, what they are planning to do. I may have to find out exclusive content or just regular news about the music artists, in order to get the correct type of target audience I intend on getting. By using the internet, finding news about the hip-hop artists can be done efficiently.

By the look of the images shown, it looks like a magazine that is more for men. The target audience I want to gain is an audience that is interested in hip-hop, no matter what their gender is. In order for this to be achieved, it needs gender balancing meaning that on my magazine I shall put some images and news about women along with men, in order to get the magazine to appeal to more people of both sexes, rather than the magazine being appealing to just the male side. This should help the magazine to appeal to both sexes and hopefully a broader range of people that are interested in the music genre.

Textual Analysis For Front Cover Of Music Magazine

 This is an image of the front cover of an “XXL” magazine that has a high key lighting, medium close-up photograph of a celebrity (P.Diddy) who is the main image of the magazine. As everything in the photograph is in focus, the image of the celebrity has a wide depth of field. The photo has been edited to create a black and white effect, taking away any other colour. In the photo of P.Diddy, the props he is wearing represent his wealth; the pinky ring and the “Jesus Piece” chain have diamonds and jewels in them.

The setting is a plain white background which helps to make the audience focus on the main image, the celebrity is well-known which also contributes to grabbing the audience’s attention. The font has been placed behind the celebs head and chain, this type of jewellery denotes riches and connotes the celebs pride of his money and fame. The costume that the celeb is wearing seems to be a t-shirt and a jacket on top, this casual type of clothing may connote the type of character P.Diddy is. The NVC of the celeb shows confidence in his career as his hands are pulling his costume as if to show it off.

On the “XXL” magazine, the masthead, which is “XXL”, is behind the celeb which may be connoting how big the news of the music artist is. The “XXL” sign is denoted as the masthead because of its distinctive colour and size between it and the rest of the magazine. The masthead of the magazine is boldly in red, which still makes the brand of the magazine stand out. The font is in a san serif style; this connotes the modern day type of magazine it is. The selling line is just above the masthead that reads, “Hip-Hop on a Higher Level”, this connotes that the type of magazine “XXL” is a music magazine, more specifically a hip-hop magazine. The selling line is in a small san-serif font in the top left hand corner of the magazine.

Below the main image of the magazine lies the main coverline, “Diddy” with the kicker underneath which reads “Mo’ Money. No Problems”. There is another kicker above the main coverline that’ reads, “Hip-Hop’s No.1 Mogul”, which was in an italics style along with the main coverline and the kicker above it. The word “Diddy” is in large capitals letters in bold, san-serif font, the word denotes the celebrity’s name, which is P.Diddy. As the main coverline is in bold it may connote the importance of the celebs story.

The kicker above the main coverline denotes a label for the P.Diddy, this connotes the how successful the career of this celeb has been. This kicker is not as big as the main coverline and is not in bold; this may be done just to keep the audience focused on the main coverline.  The rule of thirds has been applied here to avoid the kicker being unseen. The kicker below the main coverline supports the connotation of the other kicker as this one denotes that because he has more money, his problems are gone. This kicker is bigger and bolder than the other kicker above the main coverline.

The other coverlines are located at the top right hand corner and the middle left hand side of the magazine. They are also in san-serif font and although they are quite small, the bold font help the coverlines to be recognised along with the use of the rule of thirds, which helps to get the audiences attention because of the coverlines position. The celebrity names that were used in the coverlines also help to get audience attention to the magazine.

The “XXL” magazine was released on June 2010, the dateline of this magazine is found on the barcode at the bottom left hand corner. As the dateline had only contained a month and a year, this may connote that the magazine is published monthly. A barcode is displayed on the magazine, which denotes that the magazine is a purchasable item, which may be bought off newsstands; this magazine can be bought for $4.99. The currency of the price denotes that the “XXL” magazine is published in America as the currency is dollars.

 This “XXL” magazine has a website which is has to recognise, but it has been put in, using a vertical style of text, “XXLmag.com”. The magazine may have put the magazine website in such small font so that people will not realise it, this may have been done to avoid the loss of customers who buy the magazine.

Textual Analysis For Music Magazine Double Page Spread

 












This “Kerrang” double page spread has six different images of people associated with music. The main image denotes a man with a prop microphone, it is also hard to see behind the text but he also has another prop which looks like some type of guitar, presumably an electric guitar as the page seems to be based on heavy metal music. The background is unclear but it seems that the man is performing outside.  The man’s costume is black and he has tattoos on both arms, this is a typical look of a rock star. As the man is performing outside, the high-key lighting effect has taken place. This man’s NVC shows that he is shouting into the microphone because the color of his face has gone red, which usually happens when shouting or aggression occurs. This man is also pointing at something off of the image, this could connote that he may not be performing at all, but introducing another music artist.

At the top left corner of the magazine, is another denotation of an image of a music artist, using a prop which is an electric guitar. He also has the typical look of a rock artist as his arms are also covered in tattoos, with the well known guitar of rock in his hands. The setting is dark, but the man is in high-key lighting. This music artist’s NVC denotes that he is shouting with his eyes closed which could connote how great the atmosphere of that place is. There are two other photographs of rock stars with their microphone who are also singing into them with a lot of passion, this is denoted from the NVC from their faces. Both photos were taken in dark backgrounds and both seem to be low key lighting.

The main coverline of this page reads, “Whiplash!” in capital letters. This large font is bold and white, written in san serif style to give that modern style to the magazine. Underneath the main coverline is the kicker that reads, “Wembley stadium gets its metallic baptism”. This is in smaller font and in serif black font, which connotes a traditional feel to the magazine.

The rest of the magazine has a dark background for the text, which is typed in white and some parts red. This double page has a theme of black, red and white colors. Due to the type of music the magazine is based on, which is heavy metal, these type of colors suit the genre because the colors connote dark feelings. Heavy metal is known for giving that type of dark, loud music.

Introduction

My new task is to create a music magazine front page, contents page and a double page spread. The following posts will be for the main task of creating a music magazine.

College Magazine

The front cover of the magazine had a medium close up of a girl with a background of different colors. The background in the image of the front cover was a weakness of this magazine because it had limited the range and positioning of colors. On the other hand, the colors chosen by the questionnaire participants allowed me to get a vibrant front cover, making the cover look more appealing to the colleges.

 

This content page of the magazine is a double page where the color theme is; red, green and purple, just as the college students requested. A few more pictures of students have been placed on the content page to show different scenes of the college. All of the font has been outlined by the use of white "strokes" from adobe photo shop to help make the letters more visible for the audience to read. 

Drafts Layouts