Textual analysis clash magazine new
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Transcript of Textual analysis clash magazine new
Textual Analysis
Magazine 1 – Clash Magazine, Issue 81a, January/February 2013
Clash Magazine
Clash magazine is published by Clash Music Ltd twelve times a year. Clash magazine is a trademark of Clash Music Ltd. Clash Music Ltd originally extended to live events and festival
partnerships, until the magazine was founded by publisher John O’Rourke in 2004.
Readership:188, 940
Circulation:47, 235
Gender (approx.):50/50
Average Age:21 – 31 (71%)
Clash’s Mission Statement:“Clash Magazine is the flagship product in the Clash portfolio. Award-winning and widely revered, Clash provides in-depth features and stunning shoots alongside informative news, exclusive interviews and respected reviews. Our opinion-forming audience is treated to a premium print product which challenges convention like no other across twelve monthly issues, many of which are themed specials..”
The average Clash reader is “in employment and follows music, films, books, gadgets and clothes. When they choose to spend their
hard- earned cash, it’s well considered and based on recommendations from the sharpest sources. They are gig-going,
fashion conscious, tech hungry and consider the Noughties the decade of cheap money, and ‘nothing’ politics. The 30+ are settling
down to laugh at the days of Acid House with the 18+ creating what’s new.”
Clash MagazineThe colour scheme used on the front cover of Clash
magazine is very simplistic and pale mostly made up of brown and sepia tones which helps to compliment
the clothing Bobby Womack wears in the main picture and also symbolizes the indie genre of music. Clash magazine’s readers are typically aged
between 21 and 31, so this colour scheme helps to connate a very calm, mature feel to these readers.
Typically, magazines would use bright colours to stand out to readers in a shop, whereas this magazine does the opposite in order to stand out against these
other stereotypical music magazines.
Again like the front cover, the colour scheme of the contents page has been kept to a minimal black and white theme in order to fit in with the general house
style. Using these two basic contrasting colours allows the text to be easily read by anyone. The use of black and white colours also connotes a modern,
retro feel to the magazine, which fits in with the quirkiness of the genre of music.
Clash MagazineTo follow this house style, the double-page spread with Bobby Womack featuring in it continues to use the black and white,
simplistic theme seen on the contents page. This helps to give a nostalgic feel to the article,
which is appropriate as they are interviewing a ‘music legend’. On the page,
everything is completely black and white, apart from a small block of orange which has been used to list the photographer, the writer and the director of fashion for this particular
article. Clash magazine is famous for it’s writing and house style, so the use of a bright colour
enables readers to know exactly who is responsible for the article. The colour
orange also symbolises something quite warm and happy, which tells the readers what
the overall tone of the article should be like. The follow-up pages to this article follows
the same colour scheme but alternates between black and white and sepia photos
to link in with the house style of the magazine.
Clash MagazineThe general house style throughout the magazine is
really varied – every individual page more or less has a different layout in order to suggest how
modern and fashionable the magazine is. The general layout of text is used effectively in order to
frame the different images, such as on the double page spread, where the text is altered and varied to ‘fill’ the empty space on the page. The
unusual combination of different fonts throughout all pages of Clash magazine actually
looks quite effective and quirky, which well-suits the indie/independent style of the magazine.
The more decorative fonts connote quite a fun, fashionable message about the magazine, whilst
the simpler, sans serif fonts show that the magazine is also very informative and mature. This idea is shown on the front page, in order to get the main headline to stand out; on the contents page, to inform readers what page it is; and on the double-page spread to distinguish between the title of the article, the featured artist,
subtitle and a snippet of the text.
Clash MagazineIn general, especially where there are pictures present on the front cover and the double page
spread, the magazine uses the rule of thirds as a lot of the images take up the whole page.
The rule of thirds needs to be present in the images to allow the reader to engage with the artists featured – the eyes are always positioned near to where the vertical lines
intersect with the top horizontal line, as this is where the eye is automatically drawn to, and the eyes of the model/artist can give a lot away about the image. Bobby Womack,
who features on the front cover and double page spread, is pictured smiling in order to appeal to the audience and connote a warm, happy tone to the magazine. The indie music genre is very unique, and typical listeners of this genre of music also have very bold, extravagant
tastes in fashion, which is why the main image features the artist with very unique, out-there
fashion in order to appeal to the target audience.
Clash MagazineOnly one main image of Bobby Womack has been used on the front cover to reflect on
the main content within the magazine. Many magazines will often feature more than one
image on their front page to entice readers with the content, but I think the simplicity of just one image makes this magazine look more mature and stylish. Bobby Womack is
not seen as a particularly attractive figure (especially not to Clash magazine’s target audience), but he could be seen as
someone who young musicians aspire to be.
The photo itself and the pose is quite natural; having him smile connotes a
warm, happy feeling to the magazine. His styling and make-up is also kept to a
minimal level to show the simplicity of the magazine style and tone. Using a mid-shot
also allows the reader to clearly see the model’s facial expression, whilst also
filling the page but leaving space for text.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954), stated that, “magazines and advertisements promise to fulfil many of our needs to be accepted into social groups and our need for self-esteem and self-respect.” The main image on the front cover is styled to allow readers to really connect with the indie vibe and allows them to feel like they belong to that particular genre/group. Styling Womack like this would also allow readers self-respect as they see people with similar interests can look ‘cool’ so allows them to feel better about themselves.
Clash MagazineThe front cover for Clash magazine
doesn’t give a lot away to the reader about what is featured inside the magazine – there is a list of the
featured artists and just a couple of the main articles, but nothing that really gives a hint to the reader about
what is being said inside the magazine. In some sense this could be quite effective
as it may intrigue readers to read and buy the magazine, whereas it may also put consumers off from buying
the magazine, as there is no clue as to what they will read about – if there is noting interesting, they won’t continue to buy it. However, what is actually written
on the front cover is very clear and easy to read from a distance, and the
minimal use of text could also entice a reader to buy the magazine, as it is
not too overwhelming.
Clash MagazineThe contents page
actually has no images apart from two of the
alternative front cover designs to inform the
reader of the issue they are reading. The use of no
other images actually makes the magazine look more organised and professional, but
arguably looks more like a high-profile fashion
magazine such as Vogue because of the way it has
been structured. This doesn’t help the reader at all as it makes the page look boring to look at, and doesn’t give any clue away about the
content of the magazine.
Clash MagazineOverall, the front cover has been designed
quite well in the sense that the magazine has created its own identity, being one of the
few indie-music magazines published. It would stand out really well against most other
magazines because the overall design is so unique and different, but really the actual
language and text may not necessarily be enough to entice a reader into buying the
magazine, as very little information is given away about the magazine’s content. The magazine front cover also does well to “include both a categorisation and an
evaluation of the group being stereotyped,” Branston and Stafford
(2010). The indie music genre is something that is slowly becoming more popular in
British culture, and just like any other genre of music, the people who listen to it are
often stereotyped. The front cover does well to create and hold a ‘style’ and ‘title’,
which stereotypical indie fans would relate and conform to.
Clash MagazineThe layout of the text is really
well structured and is appropriately organised
according to the type of article to make locating page numbers/articles easier for the reader. The use of lines
across the page to section text also helps to effectively
give the magazine identity, as it is something which is repeated on a lot of the
pages throughout the magazine. These lines also help
to fill blank spaces and creates an interesting
design/pattern for the page. A lot of the fonts have also been
made bold in order for the numbers and the titles to
stand out better against the regular text.
Clash MagazineThe language style, which is
particularly evident on the double page spread, is quite formal
considering, the fun, quirky design of the magazine. As Clash try to target quite a few students, the language style is very intellectual
and uses a wide range of advanced vocabulary – the text talks to the readers and treats them like adults. The text also
features some examples of rude/adult language here and there within the article, but this just makes the whole magazine seem much more grown up and perfect for
adult readers. The language used is also fairly genre-specific, it uses a lot of music terminology in order to connect directly with the readers, who are more than likely to be big
fans of music.
Clash MagazineOverall, Clash Magazine gives off a very grown up feel which is well suited to its target audience, and has a very professional and stylish look to it. Every single page is well thought about and the
style and design is kept consistent for that professional look which is what makes the magazine so popular. However, some readers may argue that a
few pages, such as the contents page, are too simple and do not live up to the design of the rest of the magazine. I really like how ‘real’ the
magazine is, everything from the colour scheme to the writing style is kept very natural and
realistic, and helps to bring out the indie vibe. With my magazine, I would like to use Clash’s
language style and page design and layout for inspiration.