Analysis of A Music Magazine ( Front page & Double page spread)
I am going to analyse an existing magazine that is the same genre as my magazine which I will be creating in the future. The magazine which I’ll be analysing is called “Hip Hop”, I will be analysing the front page and double page spread of the magazine.
I done some research about my magazine's profiling audience and found out that:“Hip Hop Weekly magazine is a groundbreaking product that brings its readers fresh, exciting and relevant content on a consistent basis, including the latest news and information on film, TV, music, current events, fashion, sports and celebrity lifestyles.
When I’m making my music magazine, I would like the target audience to be interested in what I’m interested in which makes it easier for me to get more people to like my magazine. When I found out about the target audience on this magazine, it matched the type that I would want, which now gives more help because if I want that type of audience, I would need to stick to this specific genre (hip hop).
http://www.hiphopweekly.com/about-us
The title of the magazine makes it obvious as it what the magazine’s genre is. This makes it easier for the company to grab their audience and make money because people who love hip hop music and sees the magazine “Hip Hop” are more than likely to buy this magazine.
The subject of the photo “Kanye West” - stereotypical, a black male, Hip-hop artist to which the audience should be familiar with is looking at the camera so there's an element of eye contact which institutes a relationship with the reader. His dress code also fits with the target demographics of the magazine because this genre is known to be "cool". In addition his clothes represent his style also known to be hip-hop and implies his image of being a known hip-hop star. I believe he may be known by most of the public because even though he is making strong eye contact with the camera, his is using a prop (sunglasses) which gives the impression that he is trying to hide his identity or trying to hid in the dark or this means that he still has that the superior personality. On the other hand, the use of a photo with the subject wearing sunglasses detonates that this magazine reveals the untold truth about the hip-hop music industry. 80% of the celebrities' photos on the front cover all have sunglasses on which suggests that this magazine more ‘revealing’ and ‘truthful’ than any other magazines like NME or Kerrang.
The front cover represents Kanye West as being an unpleasant celebrity, this ties in with the stereotype of “hip hop” music to being negative and violent towards society. - http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tGCE-aW5gUwJ:www.thestar.com/article/214702+hip+hop+stereotypes+negative&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
The main article "kanye west" is at the mid left third of the page and is quite small but in white over red highlight, this is symbolic of how dangerous the revealed truth of "kanye west" is - because red symbolises danger. Not only does this symbolise danger but it also catches the readers’ eyes when there is a use of bright a colour (red) so that when the target audience pick up this magazine the “Kanye west” text is visible to their eyes. Another point about this magazine is that the masthead runs across the top third, this also drags the readers attention if they‘re interested in “hip hop“. the use of white is bright compared to the photos in the front cover which allows the mast head to stand out more. The white block colour contrasts with the other colours on the cover so it is easy to read and more eye catching.
The use of flashes on a front page cover catches the awareness of the target audience. In this case the flash contains future more revealing truths on many more hip hop artists such as “Jay Z, Rihanna, DJ Premier, DMX, Chris Brown, Beanie Sigel and Nuvo”. This persuades the audience even more as to why they should buy the magazine.
The four secondary artists featured on the front cover also seem to be genre specific, and would appeal to am audiemce to those who don’t only love rap and hip-hop but for those who enjoy watching basket ball and know about the "NBA" stars.
The front cover uses only white and yellow throughout, also the use of higher case letters all around the cover gives a less formal effect, similarly the colour yellow is relaxed and has connotations of youth as it is bubbly. The use of bullet points in the cover make the magazine sound straight foward to the point and simple, relating to the music industry.
The language used in the front cover is colloquial and sharp. Words like “Ain’t” makes it appealing to the audience as it fit’s the stereotype that hip-hop industry uses a lot of slang.
The hip hop weekly magazine uses 2 pages full of gossip on the known hip hop artists and celebrities. This is proven through the images as the dress code of the celebrities indicate the genre. By just looking at the double page spread you can see who the target audience are, which are hip hop/rap lovers probably aged middle teenage years to early adulthood. This age group is younger than most of the celebrities in this double page spread which could imply that the target audience look up to this people.
Moreover, on the double page spread the language get more colloquial, “Word on The street” refers to “Gossip”, the difference is that “Word” means truth in this situations so therefore instead of gossip they deliberately said word on the street because it’s the truth around. In addition, the use of the word “disses” seems informal which ties on the the target audience of the magazine.
The colour scheme on the pages of the music magazine correspond with what the celebrities are wearing. By the use of corresponding colours, it’s more appealing and more easier to read for the audience. For example, the colour scheme around flex’s article is mainly white and purple as well as for Kat’s article too. On the other hand as for Nicki Minaj & Lim Kim and Snoop Dogg’s article, the colour scheme changes because purple and white will make it seem dull and wouldn’t go with what the celebrities are wearing in the photos.There are far more images compared to the amount of text on these two pages therefore the layout is unbalanced but the use of colloquial language makes it more interesting and relaxing to read for the target audience. For example, I enjoy hip hop and dislike reading, when I first saw this double page spread I ended up reading it all because the use of colloquial language was high which made it seem like it was meant for me. If it wasn’t for the slang language in this magazine, I wouldn’t even take a second look. This helped me because I was about to use formal language and the audience that I believe would read my magazine aren’t the type who enjoy reading a lot of text. So I now found out that using slang text will make it more interesting for your audience. This also relates to the fact that most of the target audience uses slang language when talking on chat online which I found out when doing my public research.
Furthermore, looking at Tupac’s image in circle, with his hands open wide relates to the headline “Funkmaster… disses tupac…” because his photo is blurred and as audience know, tupac died which ties on to why the picture is blurry. The low key lighting uses on flex’s images makes it seem as if he is dark and evil. This builds more interest for the reader to read more and want to know what this part of the article is about.
Finally, layout is also simple and easy to follow, with every article placed before the celebrities’ photos. Making it easier for the audience to see who the journalist is talking about and making it easier for the audience to SEE who the page is about if they don’t read it so that they can read the part they want. I.e. I don’t know who flex is really, but I know who Nicki Minaj is, so my eyes quickly jumped on to Nicki Minaj & Lil Kim’s article when I saw this page.
Doule Page Spread
The colour scheme of the double page spread is quite dark from the background but becomes light and more focused on what is infront. For example, the text is mainly white and yellow and when placed on a dark background the text will stand out more and not fade in with the background.
The main theme of the double page spread consists of information based on an interview with Lupe Fiasco (who is shown in a medium close up on the left hand side. The complete colour scheme of the double page spread, correspond with what the hip hop artist is wearing.
'Fiasco @ 9:30', hence the time the interview took place with Lupe Fiasco which is a good idea because it is creative and moer appealing/interesting to look at. On the top right hand side is a quotation taken from one of Fiasco's tracks. This is done for the audience to be able to know more about the artist himself so that they not only know how he looks but able to know what type of lyrics is used in his songs so they can view what type of musician he is. After, they'll read feedback from the interview which took place so that they know quite enough information on what this man is about.
The text in yellow on the right hand side is basically the answers to the questions which were asked in the interview. This enables the audience to be able to just read the meaty information if they don't want to read the questions.
This type of layout is what I'm looking to use when doing my own music magazine.
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