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Music Magazine Analysis

Natasha Marlow

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Codes and Conventions-Covers

• Most magazines these days stick to unwritten rules about how their magazine should look.

• Some of these things include where about the barcode is positioned on the front cover, this is normally at the bottom right of the page and contains not only the barcode but issue number and date.

• The title is always positioned at the top of the front cover. This is because when the magazine is placed on the shelf in the shop, the title can be seen over the other magazines on the shelf below.

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The mast head of this particular issue of NME is in black (officially, it is red) which shows us what the issue is about. It links to the articles in the magazine. This sets the tone for the over all magazine.

The main colours used are yellow, blue and red. The main theme of this issue is the band Primal scream, and their most famous album. The colours scheme of the magazine reflects hr album cover linking everything together.

The text fonts used are quite square and harsh, this implies that the magazine is predominantly aimed at males.

The + sign is used instead of the actual buzz word, this implies that the readers are regular and know what extras are normally in the magazine.

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The mast head is shattered which gives almost a violent feel to the magazine. It implies that Kerrang! don’t care about what the readers think and goes with the genre of the magazine, rock and roll.

The main colours used are red, and white.

The sky line tells us extra things that are included within the magazine, without taking away from the rest of the front cover of the magazine.

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The main colours used are red, white and black, this would appeal to the target market of the magazine being male 18-34 year olds.

The main image is quite clever as it reflects other members of Oasis in Liam’s glasses. This tells us that even though the whole of Oasis are being interviewed, it is mainly focused on Liam.

The word exclusive is used a couple of times on the front cover. This makes the reader feel like they are getting a more personal service because Q are offering what other magazines aren’t.

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The main colours used are red, black and white. This reflects the exclusiveness of the issue as it is about Lil Wayne who has just been released from jail.

This issue contains no buss works of flashes. This reflects that target audience of 18 to 34 year olds as it is more mature.

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The main colours used are grey white black and yellow.Yellow is a colour associated with Nirvana, so using it on this special edition is very clever.

The main images of this magazine is of Nirvana. The images is in black and white because it is an old photograph of when the band were still together and all still alive. This tells us that the magazine is reflecting on the bad as it was 10 years ago that they are focusing on.

Free CD encourages more people to buy the magazine because they are getting more for their money and as it is a music magazine they away giving away free music.

The fact that this is an anniversary special means that most of the articles in the magazine need to link to this.

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The main colours used are white, red and black. The use of red conveys the meaning of danger/anger.

The small images on the left hand side give us an impression as to what is in the magazine without having to actually flick through it. The pictures work well with the headlines to give us impressions of what else is in the magazine.

The buzz word ‘free’ makes us think we are getting more for our money because the magazine is giving us extra.

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Both the masthead and the ‘150’ use dirty broken texts which tells us that the genre of the magazine is rock.

The main colours used are black, blue and white. The blue stands out and is quite a personal colour, which links to the fact that the main theme if the magazine is tracks voted for by the public. Using another colour would not have the same effect.

There are small versions of the free posters available. This is so you can see what posters they are without having to search for them in the magazine.

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This is a special edition of Q. It is all about the 250 best albums of Q’s lifetime . The colour scheme reflects this as it is blue, red and gold. The gold reflects the ‘best of’ element of the magazine, and the gold records that are collectable in the music industry.

The cover is reasonably simple , this is because it is a special edition. The front cover tells us that there will be little else in the magazine apart from the countdown. If there is anything else in the magazine that it isn’t as important as the countdown as it is not on the front.

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This special edition features a flash telling us that Jay-Z has written the introduction. This is a clever way of widening the target market from the normal audience to those who like Jay-Z as well.

As this is a special edition of the 500 greatest songs of all time, that is all that is mentions on the front cover. This tells us that there probably isn’t anything else in the magazine apart from that.

The 8 images on the font cover give us clues as to which artists with be included in the countdown, probably higher up. This means you can guess what songs they will mention.

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The is a special edition of Mojo, featuring John Lennon. Because only John Lennon is shown we know everything in the magazine will be about him.

As this is a special edition on Mojo, the front cover is quite different to a normal edition. The image used is quite artistic, a sepia portrait of John Lennon. I like the image that is used as it gives a more personal feel to the magazine.

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Codes and Conventions-Contents

• The contents page is an essential part of the magazine. It is there to help the reader and to make the finding your way around the magazine a lot easier.

• The contents page is normally on page 3 of the magazine, on the right hand side of the magazine. Page 2 of the magazine is traditionally an advert, which costs a lot of money.

• One of the codes and conventions of the magazine contents page is that the actual contents is on the right hand side of the page. This is probably because the right hand side of the magazine is more important is it is more visible when the reader flicks through the magazine.

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NME features a Band Index. This gives the reader an easier way to find their favourite band in the magazine. This is a USP of the magazine .

The colours are fairly simple, just white, black and red which are the colours of the magazine. This makes the contents page easier to read and follow, meaning you can find what your looking for quicker and easier.

This contents page also includes an advert for subscription to the magazine. This gives easy advertisement that you can subscribe to the magazine.

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The page features small square images of other bands and artists that are featured in the magazine. This gives us visual information which is easier to understand for some people. This means that the magazine is aimed at more people, those who prefer words and those who prefer pictures.

There is a small letter from the editor. This normally gives the editors point of view and lets you know what is going on behind the scenes within the magazine.

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The contents is on the left had side of the page.

At the bottom on the contents, there is a section called every month. This gives us information about the small bits in the magazine that are the same every month. This includes things like the cross word, and bow to subscribe to the magazine.

There is a main images on the contents page with could refer back to what’s on the front cover of the magazine. Giving you even more information about what the main article in the magazine is about.

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At the bottom of this contents page is a section on who contributed to the magazine. This is quite unusual to have on the contents page but it gives the magazine a more personal feel to the magazine, allowing the reader to connect directly to who helped with the magazine before you’ve even read it.

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The contents is split up into different sections, News, Radar, Reviews, Live! and Features. This makes it easier to find what your looking for, the Features bit links to what is on the front cover of the magazine, so you can go straight to the page you’ve seen on the front.

The contents page is laid out in this way for a reason. I makes it easier o navigate and find what your looking for within the magazine.

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The contents section of the page shows us how the magazine is set out on a whole. From this particular magazine, Karrang!, we can see that it is set out in an order that makes sense, this order was probably found out through doing market research. The different sections of the magazine are then highlighted on the contents page.

The colours used are black, white and yellow. These colours are used as they are the main colours of the magazine.

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The left hand side of the page is dedicated to a kind of scrap book style selection of images. They are positioned in a way that makes you think they have just been put there without much though but in fact they help to show us what is in the magazine.

The colours used are quite simple, because even though the contents page is important within the magazine, it is not the main attraction. Keeping it simple in colours and layout make it easer to follow therefore making it quicker to find exactly what you want with in the magazine.

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Codes and Conventions - DPS

• The double page spreads in magazines follow some codes and conventions.

• One of the codes and conventions is that there needs to be a good balance between text and images. This makes the article work as a whole.

• When they are planning the layout of the article they have to consider the position of the text and images so that no vital part of these are lost over the centre fold of the magazine. Words in the title have to be split so that they do not directly cross the centre fold. This means that no information is lost.

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The title of this article suggests what the article is about. The article is called No Man’s Land and it is about a woman, PJ Harvey. This could show how powerful and popular she is as an artist.

The title and image overlay each other. This makes the article more artistic which could represent the artist and the theme of the article.

This article features a small section of text at the beginning. This introduces the article and gives a brief description of what is included in the article. This means you can read this and know whether or not you want to read the full article.

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This is a ‘world exclusive’ news article. The flash in the top left corner tells us this.

There is a main image of the band performing and some smaller images of the band recording their new album. As this is a news article, all featured on the same page there is more images than if the article was placed over several pages. These images tell us what is in the article as well.

The images used have a sort of sepia effect on them, this makes them go with the colours in the article for the text. The overall effect is that everything looks like it belongs there.

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The main image for this double page spread, is quite artistic. This reflects the artist, Adele, and what is within the article.

The colours used are quite muted, the images has quite a gray tinge to it. There is a small amount of red used that really stands out against the muted background.

This is only the first page of the article, therefore there is not much text as it continues over the page. The image takes up most of the page as this tells us who the article is about without actually having to put her name.

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The title of this article is a reference to the film ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. This gives the article a different side to it and tells us that the band may be slightly alternative.

The page is mostly an image of the band in an outside location. There is very little text which tells u that the article probably continues over the page. The image sis quite happy and lively with could reflect the genre of the band and/or the article on them.

The main text of the article is the right size to read. The font is also simple making it easy to read.

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This is an article about The Streets and how they have split up.

The main image links up with the title and the theme of the article which is about the band breaking up. The image is of Mike Skinner supposedly trying to hitch hike, which links to the title, End of the Road. The general theme is obvious thought the design ad layout of the article ensuring that we know what the article is going to be about without having to read it.

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There is little flash in the top right hand corner of the page telling us that is a page about Paramore. This could help you when you flick through the magazine to help you find the right page for what you want to read about in the magazine.

The text on the page is wonky, leaning slightly to the left. This gives us an impression of the tone of the article, and of the band and relates to the days of punk music.. It goes with the title ‘Teen Titans’ as this shows that they are making an impact on the music industry.

The arrow at the bottom of the text tells us that the text continues over the page, enticing you to complete reading the article.

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In this article, Q magazine use drop capitals at the beginning of some of the paragraphs. This could show the separation between different sections of the text, maybe because they have different information in them. The first drop capital used is right at the beginning of the article and is underlay's underneath the text. This mean it stands out a lot more against the background and the texts and shows you the starting point.

The bold colours; red, black and white, contrast well against each other. The image stands from the background as it contrasts against the colours used.