Chad: Similar Product Research: Mojo Magazine

 

December 2001

Mojo magazine uses a black, white and red colour scheme on every single issue. However the usages of the colors are rotated each month. They possibly use a red, black and white colour scheme because it is somewhat established and stands out. The black and whiteness of the photo also fits with how aged the photo of Michael Jackson is. Other popular magazines that include a black, white and red colour scheme in there house style include Q, and NME. 

Mojo has a white, bold, slightly playful spaced out Masthead. Like Clash, there is a red bar at the top with some extra cover stories and a picture. This highlights some more stories and separates them from the main story. Mojo has a sell line ("The Music Magazine")which is designed to look like it has been handwritten. The connotations of a fancy, handwritten font are that perhaps the magazine wants you to believe that real people agree that it is The music magazine, and it isn't just the company trying to sell you something - even though it is. The magazine seems to cater to all genres, which could be because it wants to make its target audience as large and as diverse as possible, or because it knows people do not just listen to one genre unless they are extremely narrow minded.

The picture of the magazine fills most of the front cover, leaving no blank space, and there are relatively few cover stories on it, the main one being about the rise and fall of Michael Jackson. His name is in a white, grungey, printed style font which also seems quite retro. The tone seems quite professional, and there is no sensational writing. All of the text is on top of the Michael Jackson portrait, which could be to make the magazine seem more important than he is. The shot of Michael Jackson seems to be a smiley, press shot from the 60's, which was the peak of his career.

From this magazine we will use the technique of rotating colours each month; the simple sell line; the slightly more mature target audience; the multi-genre nature of the magazine; and the professional tone

Chad: Similar Product Research: Clash Magazine

Issue 42

Issue 42 of Clash magazine uses an incredibly simple colour scheme of monochromes and gold. This is probably because it suggests the cover star (Jay-Z) exuding opulence, as gold and silver both have connotations of precious metals, and of being very expensive. This also ties in with the fact that Jay-Z is one one of the richest musicians/ producers in America, plus it suits his dark skin tone much more than it would suit pale skin. In addition, it makes the magazine seem much more mature and stylish compared with if it had been full of bright colours. It does seem rather masculine though, but, now I think of it, a lot of major music magazines do.

There is a white magazine logo masthead in the top left corner of the magazine. The magazine title is is a curvy, modern, sans serif font that is similar to all the other text other than it being more curvy, bigger and more stylized. There is a bar at the top with some an extra cover story on. All of this is the house style - the colours, content, and cover star change every issue.

Whereas on most music magazines, the cover stories take up and fill most of the blank space, on Clash the portrait does, which is unconventional.The cover stories that are there have headings that are bold, to add emphasis. The tone is slightly sensational ('Reveals All!'), and they use exclamation marks a little too readily, to make it seem exciting! Hmmm...

All of the text is on top of the moody close-up of Jay-Z which is conventional, and is possibly to show that the magazine is more important than him - or it could just be to make everything seem simpler, and more organized. The fact that he is in a moody pose makes him seem a lot more serious, powerful and masculine.

The magazine does not seem to focus one genre, as it features both a hip-hop modern megastar - Jay-Z, but refers to a Classic pop band - The Beatles. This could be to have as wide a target audience as possible, or because it is trying to cater to an audience who are mature enough to have listened to the Beatles, but who also like to keep up with new music too.

From this magazine, we might use a similar simple colour scheme; a similar simple logo; modern sans serif typefaces;  the usage of boldness to emphasise stories; and the multi-genre focus.

Callum: Similar Product Research: NME

 February 21st 2011 Edition

This NME features the redesigned house style that the magazine recently adopted.  For example, the masthead is no longer red with a white inline.  The font is Sans Serif and each issue it rotates colours (white, blue, pink etc.) with this issue being white.  The new style makes the magazine seem more grown-up, important and less tabloid-y; possibly in an attempt to recapture the readers it has slowly been shedding over the past few years.

The colours that grace this front cover are purple and white, which fit the new house style and easily separate the headlines from the strap lines.  The text of the entire front cover is entirely in a Sans Serif font.  However, the cover story is italicised for emphasis (plus the Graham Coxon quote).  This continues the newly professional layout of the magazine.

The barcode is in the bottom right hand corner with the price and date included on it to keep it from clashing with the rest of the magazine's front cover.  The price and date are reposted in the top left hand corner of the cover above the logo, however their size is much smaller than the logo.  This makes it very easy for the customer purchasing the magazine to know at a glance whether or not they're picking up the latest edition.

Parts of the logo and sell line (New Musical Express) are obscured in the picture by the band in the shoot (the photo overlaying the logo and sell line).  This assumes that the reader is familiar with the brand of NME (seeing as they've been around since the 50s) and shows how important the band on the front cover are (seeing as the are important enough to block most of the magazine's identity).

The mode of address is very informal and sensationalist.  “Graham Coxon spills all” and using quotes pulled directly from the articles without any context to them, for example.  Regardless, they definitely do attract the reader's attention and it definitely interests those who want every single bit of gossip on their favourite band.

The cover has very little blank space with text and stories taking up just about every possible space.  This can cause three impressions.  1] That the magazine is fit to burst with stories and content, enticing the reader into believing £2.30 for a weekly magazine is value for money.  2] It's professionally laid out so that only one major story overpowers the others.  Or 3] Some may think it looks a bit too cluttered and messy and possibly too text heavy.

(note: The outer white line does not appear on the actual cover.  I know.  I own that issue.)

From analysing this cover, we will take from it the ideas of  using italics to emphasise stories; and the newly mature tone.

Both: Magazine Front Cover Analysis: Mixmag

Edition: February 2009

The cover has a large-ish masthead of the magazine title in a sans serif font, like the majority of the text apart from the main cover story 'THE DJ REVOLUTION', and most of the text on the free CD. The sans serif font seems much more modern than a serif font, which fits with the youthful atmosphere of the magazine.

The somewhat simple colour scheme of the magazine consists of orange, navy, white and black. Because these are all the colours on the magazine, it does not appear too garish which it would if there were any more colours. Orange and blue are contrasting colours so go together well, and orange pops out and is eye catching, as it is the only non-neutral colour featured. Also, Orange isn't used much in magazines, so this sets the magazine out from the crowd. Orange text is used to place emphasis on the sell-line, the word 'Revoution' and the cover story headings.

The barcode, date, and price is situated in the bottom right hand corner, probably because tucked away in a corner means it doesn't interrupt with the rest of the magazine design. The magazine also has a poof in the top left corner, informing what is free this edition.

The magazine is based around pop culture, as clubbing and dance music are large parts of popular music, so the language used is quite simple and informal -'Amazing Pictures!'. However, some parts are more formal such as ' A SPECIAL REPORT'. There's also some technical language such as 'Touchscreen Turntables' which a reader educated in dance is expected to understand what it is, and this also means they don't feel like they are being talked down to. To fit with the youthful edge of the magazine, there are some superlative colloquialisms such as 'hottest' and a type of colloquialism where the word 'at' is replaced with the symbol  '@',  meaning the magazine front cover is slightly less cluttered.

The magazine has a sell line, which is: “The worlds biggest dance music and clubbing magazine', which can make it more attractive to a reader, who will want the best magazine for his interests.

The photo background is a midshot of a DJ entertaining the large crowd. Connotations of this are that he is powerful because he is in the foreground, and because all these people have come to see him. He is also under a spotlight, whilst the crowd are shaded dark navy. The shirt the DJ wearing is orangey-yellow, which fits with the rest of the magazine design and helps emphasise him. The navy colour of the crowd also matches this. The DJ seems quite young, as he is has shaved hair; a colourful modern style shirt; he is toned and has no noticeable wrinkles. This reinforces the idea that the magazine is targeted at young people. Magazines normally feature their role model on the front cover (beautiful women on women's magazines, toned men on men's health magazines etc...), so this man could be the magazines idea of the perfect person - someone that can whip the crowd into a frenzy. It isn't as shallow as many magazines, and may music magazines for that matter.


There isn't much blank space on the front cover either, which does look professional.