Magazine covers that are related to my chosen genre of music:

The magazine I will be evaluating is “Q” found by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth. The name “Q” is abbreviated for the word “cue”. Situated on the left side of the magazine is an award making it clear to customers to customers they are one of the best magazines, this can cause purchasing rates to increase as they know they will get their money worth if bought. The magazine looks formal and mature maybe targeting audience ranging from 20-30 judging from the artists they feature in as the image on the front of take that would be more appealing to older age range instead of younger.  

From the photograph on the front we can see that some artist are not looking at the camera and some are, the ones that are used to help make the audience feel valid, it also interprets them as acting like immature boys; re-enacting how they use to be before when they were young and so now they are trying to show the audience that they are still young and still the boy band that they use to know. They are all wearing a black leather jacket which is stereotypical of boy bands back in their time. It is also used so they can stand out from the white background.

The theme of the cover is black, white, and gold and red which when put together can be seen as classy and formal, it makes the reader relies that although they are acting in a childish manner they are still mature adults. The front cover hasn’t got much text which is effect as customers prefer pictures as they are more eye catching and the little text that is there is short and snappy easy to remember and gets to the point of the magazine. The punt “Back for good” is a play on word as Take That has been away for a while and so the magazine has used lyrics from their song to reunite the band.    

The next magazine I will be analysing is “Blender” developed by Dennis Publishing. This magazine could be seen as targeting audiences ranging from 19-30 because although Black Eyed Peas is a young people group the other artist featuring in the magazine are sited to that age group, there is not many colours used which can suggest why I picked that target age group, the background is plain so the artists can stand out. The photograph on the front also insinuates it is for elder people as the man in the middle is drinking however but acting immature by spilling the drink this could suggest the immaturity on the age group and the text suggesting their maturity.

The photo of the artists dressing in young people clothes suggests them trying to relate to young people as they are wearing trainers and their body language shows a sense of immaturity. Placing Furgi in the centre highlights she is the only girl, because she is centred by men her femininity is exaggerated making her body language seem flirty especially with the clothes she has on. Both lead singers are juxtaposed towards the front in order to signify their importance.

The text at the top speaks directly to the audience using informal language “Hey you with the iPod” this could cause people to buy the magazine because there is a free download inside for them to use on their iPod. The magazine also features other genres such as rock this could cause people to buy it as it has a variety of artist/ genre of music to talk about.

The Final Magazine cover I will be evaluating is “Billboard” created by William Donaldson and James Hennegan. From looking at a number of magazines covers

I noticed that the titles are sometimes covered by the artist this could this suggests that the magazine is so well known that they can afford to cover up their lettering and people still know the magazine it also helps to make the artist in this case Lady Gaga photo to stand out. The text surrounding her medium shot image speaks indirectly, however her eyes are looking out to the readers suggesting although the text is indirect the photo is reaching out to the audience. The magazine itself talks about matters concerning the music industry suggesting that the target audience could be for audience aging from 16-30 as it not only have information pertaining to Lady Gaga, although she would be the main storyline.

Lady Gaga’s body language portrays to the audience her promiscuous side as she revels apart of her breast to the audience suggesting she is using her feminine ways to intrigue the audience. Gaga’s purple hair suggest that she is different to other artist as they don’t usually have different coloured hair the ring/ bracelet on her hand also portrays her uniqueness. The colour scheme used in this cover is straightforward this consists of grey and black allowing the artist and text to stand out however some text are clashing as some text are grey similar to the background which may make it hard to read.  

Here are three examples of music magazine covers from different genres:

The magazine I will be analysing is “Black Beat”, judging from the colourful front cover this magazine attracts young people aging from 15-20 we can clearly highlight the genre it specialise in from the title “Black Beats” meaning it only associates with black artists however may drop in a few stories about other genres to keep the magazine diverse in their audience. From both of these magazines we can tell that “Black Beat” usually covers their page in as much colours and different font in order to attract younger audience, they also talk about current artists that they know young people would be interested in. The magazine with the image of “Bow Wow” on it has less text this is so that audience instead of reading can know who is involved in the magazine just by looking at their photograph, this promotional method works good as customers from a distance may not be able to work out the text on the cover but they will be able to see the image and become engaged as to what the magazine has to say about 

them.

The cover also states that available inside the magazine is not just music stories but also the latest fashion trends, audience may find this absorbing as they always want to keep up with the latest fashion. It also provides competitions for customers to take part in “Win a date with Young Steff”. The background for “Black Beat” is usually plain so that the background doesn’t clash with the writing and image as they use a lot of text colours, fonts, sizes and compositions. The title is also useful in promoting as it is big and bold and uses alliteration so that it is catchy and memorable, also uses informal, slang language in order to relate to young people i.e. “Beat and Shut Up”.   

Keyshia Cole’s magazine is themed in order to suit her femininity using lots of pink and white and purple this is seen as stereotype, while Bow Wow’s magazine is themed with a close up image of his face causing it to take up the majority of the page showing that he is the main storyline and shows his authority by claiming the majority of the page with his face, while Keyshia Cole takes up less space although still letting the audience know she is important by making her centre of the magazine. At the top of Keyshia Cole’s magazine a bit of the paper is purposely torn off revelling a previous member of  “High School Musical” member Corbin Bleu, this is done to show the immaturity of the magazine as it targets young  people it create realism as young people are usually seen as careless therefore the torn paper represents their youth.    

The magazine I will be evaluating is “NME” which means New Musical Express. It was produced by Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. NME has short abbreviated title in order to catch audience attention and make it more memorable, its signature title colour is mainly red because it is bright. “NME” focuses on niche and mainstream audiences this enables them to have a wide selection of stories instead and not just specialising in one genre; it is also used for unpopular bands/ artists to get recognised.  

 The cover overall gives a sense of seriousness and formality we can tell this from the band solemn facial expression and dark coloured clothes they are wearing. Highlighted from the rest of the group is a girl with orange hair and bright red lipstick this suggest her importance as she is the lead singer because she is positioned closer to the camera than the men in the back. Judging from the cover and it melancholy appearance the genre of music would be rock music as stereotypically most people who associate with that genre generally wear black and have bright lips and dark eye makeup. This is linked with rock music as it is usually represented as a colour for moodiness and negativity which is been conveyed by the artists.  

The bright pink Paramore sign implies to the audience that they like to stand out from other artist, it also could be seen as stereotypical as a girl is the leading singer so she is viewed as liking the colour pink. The cover also uses devices such as rhetorical questions to engage the audience “Everyone else has fallen for them will you?” this is used to highlight how popular the band is, hyperbole is used to exaggerate the text as not everyone has fallen for them be, this exaggeration is used to pull audience’s attention.

The second magazine cover I will be evaluating is “XXL” published by Harris Publications. To start off with the main image on the cover is Jay-Z a famous rap artist this suggest the target market for the magazine is young people because he produces music to suit their taste. The image of Jay-Z has been purposely juxtaposed big onto the cover because it gives the impression that he is superior  to Hip-hop therefore putting empathy on that he is also bigger than New York City as that is the capital of Hip-hop, so him being bigger than New York means nothing can get bigger than that. The front cover also point out that the main story would be about him, the magazine cover also relates to one of Jay-Z songs. Jay-Z posture also empathies on the fact that he is great because he stands with pride with his hands in his waist and facial expression stern.

The colours used in this cover is simple but effective as the background only consist of grey allowing all the other colours to stand out and the word “Jay-Z” is in red which   catches audience more than different colour because it may get too confusing to read. The background also relates to his album cover. The text is all uppercase lettering in order for audience to be able to read with ease. The text on the left shows off all of Jay-Z achievement revelling to us why he is better than Hip-Hop, the way in which the text is written we can interpret the tone as a commentator would say it allowing the audience to feel like they are being spoken too. The text includes devices such as alliteration “Hip-hop on a higher level” this makes it more memorable for the audiences. The magazine sell lines consists of other artists that feature in that weeks addition of the magazine, this gives the audience an insight into the genre of  music the magazine has available and it also a promotional method as they put well known artists in order to attract customers as they well established customers are interested.The fact that the magazine has available an XXL website this means their audiences are usually website users therefore they have a website provided for them, also showing synergy through the use of internet promotion.

This magazine also consists of the same genre as the one above however different company. The magazine “Vibe” was launched by Quincy Jones, its cover consists of a main image, a master head, cover line and a main cover line. The photograph on the front initiates that this magazine targets young people ageing from 15-20 and music lovers as the iconography image of “Lil Wayne” suggests this as most young people listen to his music.

The male artist Lil Wayne is seen as a major rap artist in this image his states is empathised with the use of the throne on the front cover and him sitting with his feet on the chair this is seen as a subvert to what thrones are usually used for this shows his immaturity and his act of not following tradition, suggesting he is different.

The title of the magazine is usually big and bright, this type of font is used on other magazines i.e. NME suggesting that magazines with large title are more appealing for audiences. Vibes front cover usually uses famous artist in order to gain audience interest the artist are usually Hip-hop or R’n’B artist this enhances it recognition as we can then immediately notice what genre of music it specialises in and what the magazine main story would be about, Vibe uses this as a promotional method as they know customers would be interested in famous rappers such as Lil Wayne’s story, it also teases the customers as it gives them a taste of what to expect in the magazine. Surrounding the artist are headlines about other artist that people would also be interested in, this is also another way to help promote as people are always interested in famous people lives.

From looking at other magazines I have realised that most magazines stick to a limited amount of colours as shown in this cover this could mean that they don’t want to over do it as if too much is happening on the front cover then it maybe hard to read and colours may clash, therefore complementary colours such as blue, yellow and orange help to make the cover stand out and more readable.
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Preliminary Task

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Preliminary Task Photo Ideas