Music Magazine Front Cover Sketches

Textual Analysis: Music Magazine Front Cover

This music magazine consists of a selling line “THE UK’S BIGGEST MUSIC MAGAZINE” which is anchored on the top of the magazine connoting that it is a top seller and the best. The ‘UK’S’ shows who the target audience is and how globally successful it is in the UK. The ‘biggest’ in italic draws the attention of the public as well as it’s further enhancement in a bold font. The ‘music magazine’ simply states what the magazine is and lets the public recognise who it is aimed at. The selling line is in white against a black background which helps the words stand out big and bold to attract onlookers attention. It is placed on the top as it is competing with other magazines on the shelves and therefore must sell itself to the audience in a sharp bold sentence.

The magazine’s masthead of the ‘Q’ is positioned in the left hand corner in white against a striking red background framed in a misshapen square. Both colours contrast against one another which is in bold leaving it with a striking effect. There is also low-key alongside high-key lighting of the masthead which highlights it and gives it a slight shadowing to emphasize the boldness of it which connotes that it is a worthy magazine. Also it’s colour of red connotes passion, excitement and strength alongside simplicity, precision and youth (because of it’s white font), about what this music magazine has to offer and to whom the target audience are. With the use of the images, layout, style and wordings it’s aimed at music fanatics most likely rock/ indie people who are aged around 17- 30.

The main image is of a music artist, part of the band Muse who has an electric guitar as a prop which is smashing the mastheads rectangle into pieces which could connote that he is breaking out in the music industry and is ‘out of control’ mentioned in the sentence provided. It could connote how his music is so lively and hectic that it’s taking over this magazines edition. His NVC is one of frustration and perhaps determination to break into the magazine by being a rebel. He is a stereotypical rocker through his costume dressed in tight black jeans and a blazer lined in red giving it a military look. As he is stood in the centre of the front cover against a dark grey empty background which connotes dignity, solidness and experience it anchors him as a true dignified rocker, showing how freelance and carefree he is which could also reflect the type of cool vibe you may get in this magazine.

Beneath the fragmented masthead is the main cover line that quotes “I bought 50 tins of beans and an axe.” which seems as a random and bizarre statement. Also the added sentence of “Matt Bellamy is out of control” both relate to the chosen layout and format of the hectic wreckage produced by the man in the image. The “Muse” is in a large, smooth, white font which shines out on the page and trails on top of the main image with a sprinkling of the pieces of the fragments from the square which gives it an authentic and enticing look and gives the magazine an effect that makes it seem chaotic, connoting that it’s a fun and cool magazine which would grab the attention of a young audience who are into the indie, rock genre.

Underneath the main cover line is a cover line consisting of “Rock’s greatest nut jobs” which blatantly gives you the answer to who the target audience would be and the reason for the mayhem illustrated on this page. The sentence “Sex, drugs & … yeah, right” follows the cliché of “Sex, drugs & rock n roll” which instantly relates to the public as though it is having a conversation with you inclining that everyone knows what the ‘…’ means. The contrast of part of the cover lines font style and size makes it looks more interesting and diverse to read rather than have it all look the same which could connote the various and exciting things that won’t bore you when you read into the magazine.

Another cover line is positioned in the top right-hand side of the magazine with the striking red ‘plus’ which comes directly under the selling line therefore your eyes diverts to the interesting news of what the magazine can offer. The names of various artists are in white rectangles with a black font which gives it a simplified structure for the audience to pick out the names of artists and is a more interesting way to look at it rather than just a plain bullet pointed list packed together. At the bottom of the list is “ & … Ant and Dec” who are TV presenters which would make the audience wonder why they are in the magazine as they are not known for music. The fact that it is also in red instead of black like the other artist names connotes that the magazine is going broader in the types of audiences that it is read by. It may also as well be another way to attract new audiences to read this magazine for Ant and Dec who are well known and favoured.

In the bottom right hand corner is another cover line about ’The Beatles’. Alongside this is the large number of ‘200’ which immediately strikes your eyes like the red on the masthead and the ’plus’ on the cover line. The sentence ’things you didn’t know’ makes the audience hungry for these facts as the Beatles were a successful and legendary band and also draws the music addicts in, insisting that they should know these facts. There is also an image at the bottom of the cover line of the Beatles in a high-key lighting picture looking as though they are happy. The fact that the picture has purposefully been slanted slightly diagonally connotes that this magazine is edgy and not simple and plain and boring as others may be.

The barcode is placed at the bottom left hand corner and can be easily seen because of the empty space around it. The dateline and price is just above the barcode to show that it is a monthly and a collectable issue.

Overall there are only four simple colours involved (alongside a little more, although not powerful colours of the Beatles) which are black, white, red and grey which all contrast against each other to Bolden out and emphasize details that the editors want your eyes to draw to first. The blacks, reds and whites match the artists’ costume and is therefore in tone with the whole magazine which connotes it’s anger and intense passion for music and the power and perfection that this magazine can offer.