MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

By Olatoyin Shonowo

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MUSIC MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

For my music magazine analysis, I have decided to compare and contrast a modern day magazine with a late County Music issue. It is evident by the quality of the magazines one is a lot more recent than the other. Rolling Stone is a bi-weekly American magazine focused on music, liberal politics, and popular culture. Country Music was a bi-monthly magazine on Country music that was published by American Media from 1972 to 2003. After the closure of Country Music. Country Weekly, continued publication.

MASTHEADThe masthead of these magazines are highly appropriate towards their genre as well as their public perception. The Country Music magazine masthead resembles a ‘Century’ font which is particularly simple with a faint elegance which also resembles the font used for baseball jerseys. This font is able to complement the magazine as Country music is generally linked to US southerners and the stereotypical idea of them being hillbillies; being ‘out of touch’ with the modern world, in other words, old fashioned and in this case particularly classic. This may also be evident by the use of a brown background, which may connote the rough, dirty, southern, western life.The font on this cover is able to contrast the backdrop of the main image allowing it to stand out even though the subject matter (model/artist) overlaps it

The Rolling Stones is a highly recognised brand in America as a general music orientated magazine which does not appeal to one genre, therefore it is clear the magazine must generalise in particular conventions. The font may be regarded as animated as it almost pops out of the cover, comically, by the use of its heavy black drop shadow and the use of a vibrant red with a white sketched outline. This allows the magazine to look exciting and engages the consumer. As the magazine is well known they can afford to allow the subject matter (model/artist) to overlap the masthead for it has already established itself as an international brand.The use of the white background is significant as it make the magazine appeal more to an audience as it is bright enhancing the rest of the magazine, in high definition.

MAIN IMAGEIt is evident these images differ from each other in various ways.The Rolling Stones cover starring Country Pop singer Taylor Swift, there is a use of high key lighting present which allows the image to look vibrant and give meaning, as it is perceived as professionally photographed with a high quality camera.It is somewhat evident the Country Music magazine is the complete opposite. Although it may be questionable whether or not the quality of the magazine is because of the camera or due to it being so old.A similarity can be seen through their positioning of the cover as they are in the middle. The use of direct eye contact towards the camera is present too, however on the country magazine her eyes are off the straight focus and almost as she is looking over the audiences shoulders. This may be able to connote her purpose of being on the magazine, it may have relation to her cover story, is she dreaming? Both they’re make up is fairly simple featuring a heavy eye, with the use of cosmetic eye shadow, eyeliner etc

Taylor Swift is shown to be seated down in a rather relaxed manor, this is presented by a mid shot. Whereas Faith Hill’s cover is a mid shot of her standing. Both artists costumes allow them to be bare in one sense or another. As the Rolling Stones is known to be charismatic and fun we understand their representation of young celebrities to meet the appeal of the audience, enhancing the idea of Taylor Swift creating a sexual appeal as the length of her legs, arms and face seem to be the center of the photo. The use of her arm between her legs is significant as it may symbolise her sexuality referring to her private life and hence explaining the sell line “The Heart Break Kid”. The Country Music magazine is able to portray Faith Hill ‘freely’ this impression is stemmed from how her hair has been presented as it intentionally hadn’t been done up, this is shown on the Rolling Stones magazine as well.

The cover lines presented here are a general depiction of any magazine cover. These cover lines are presented in the same font allowing the magazine to look more presentable. The use of lines are evident yet very effective on the magazine as it is able to split up the various cover lines similar to the purpose of contents pages. The Rolling Stones issue may be seen to have more style, as the text aren’t all formatted the same way. They are able to distinguish differences between writers by formatting it in italics, the most important features are in bold and others regular.The Country Music magazine on the other hands font is less appealing and more default throughout.

COVER LINES

CONTENTS PAGE

ANALYSIS

The masthead of the page has been portrayed to look almost abstract as they have broken up the word, to make it seem to be more than it is. This is able to give not only meaning to the page but style

The use of one coloumn is able to make the layout more visible towards the audience for it becomes more clear as it is easily accessible on the page. This also allows the page to look neat and presentable.The coloumn is formatted in a reasonable font and is in black to contrast the pale background. It is clear there isn’t much on the contents page, the question is, is the magazine interesting enough?

As this is a hip hop magazine contents page , it may seem ironic how there is an article on fashion, this allows most hip hop rap stars to subvert ideas of not being into such things

The big ‘V’ in the background allows the contents page to individually represent the magazine, as it acts as a logo of some sort. Allowing everything else to overlay it lowers its significance on the page. Yet it is one of the two forms of colour shown.

The fact this single coloumn is on a completely other side of the page, singled out it basically, screaming to the audience as it is clearly to be noticed and not ignored

Kanye West is a well known and established hip hop artist. As he is not only the only image in the foreground but the only image on the whole magazine we understand he is probably the feature in the possible cover story.As he is in black and white and not colour he almost lacks significance as a celebrity and may be regarded as another commoner. However his black and white may connote his attitude: ‘what you see is what you get’.The fact there is a female hand wrapped around him reaching for his bright red heart, it creates an appeal for him as an artist.

The use of the vibrant colour red may indicate not love but danger, danger of reaching and using the heart.

This column may be general information on the magazine i.e website

The use of the colour red as a highlight on the headline of the contents allows the page to look vibrant in contrast to the white background.

The effectiveness of the contents page being double page, engages the reader and allows them to pay more of an interest into the magazine for they get a variety

The top stories are distributed across the pages, giving a brief description of what each article entails. This gives the reader the chance to chose whether or not to read it by seeing if their interested in it or not

The use of the images are able to illustrate to the reader what consists of the issue. Here, the magazine sells its top articles which may consist of well known celebrities in which the readers are attentive into finding out more about.

The page numbers presented on the images are specifically larger. They are formatted to contrast the image i.e in white font on black highlights helping give meaning to the image as the reader is able to recognise and locate where in the magazine it is.

The colour red may connote the alertness of the magazine as well as being monarchic

The dominant image in this double page contents is able to correspond to the front cover of the magazine, this is able to allow the reader to relate to the context as it is almost further elaborating on what was shown on the cover

The context has been presented in the form of columns, as they are informative mini articles making it presentable as well as easy to read

A preview of the front cover giving an overview

DOUBLE PAGESPREAD

ANALYSIS

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It is clear the main image of this is dominant and it surpasses the half way line and goes into both pages. The feature of this is music artist Florence Welch and the iconography of the photo suggests how she is establishing or has already done so in America as she is seated on their national flag.As her costume is black it almost makes her seem like a spy or a robber snatching away the American fans. As red is the dominant colour in the image it may represent how she is ‘on fire’ in the states

I personally admire the layout of this DPS as it has a reasonable size image which relates to the article and the article itself is presented neatly into three columns. This allows the columns to look appealing to read without looking too bulky

The language presented in this DPS addresses the audience in an appropriate manor, as it is formal and general. This makes it easier to read and promote elsewhere such as on a contents page.

This hip hop magazines, double page spread is very simple yet effective, the language used in this varies as it is clearly colloquial in regard to the artist. This is presented by the use of an urban font, which is able to resemble graffiti

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The main image features hip hop artist Soulja Boy, from this close up he automatically conforms into the category of being stereotyped as a ‘thug’ as he is of African American heritage, has many tattoos and an ear piercing. The brightness and contrast present on the image is highly effective as it allows him to be the main focus and standout

This is a classic layout of columns, the fact the image is on one page and the article on another may entice the reader, as they get a chance to tear the page out and later use it as a poster.It is evident the article is very brief and this may make readers think there isn’t much about him at first glance

The standfirst is very small, indicating it gets to the point, which may reflect the personality of our celebrity

The quote shown here is presented on the page as if it is vandalism but works well in the presentation as the artist has so many tattoos

In comparison with the DPS featuring Florence Welch, this layout can be regarded as simple while hers in fairly complex. Florence Welch’s cover is able to attract an audience more as it says a lot