Preliminary Task Front Cover and Contents Page

Magazine Analysis 1

Magazine – MIXMAG

This magazine is monthly and £4.95 and it contains 122 pages inside.

The Cover:

o   The title: why is it called that? What does the title connote? (imply or suggest)

The title is ‘mixmag’. It is called this because its content covers a wide range of different music genres therefore making it a mixmag. The title doesn’t necessarily imply that it is just a music magazine; however, having the word ‘mix’ as part of the title made it clear that it was about the different mixes in music. The title also implies that it is a magazine using the word ‘mag’.

o   The masthead /title logo – analyse it.

The masthead/title logo is in bold, white writing at the top of the page located just under their magazine motto. The title stands out on the dark background as it is bright white; this makes the title very loud on the page. The font of the masthead is very casual and quite childlike and immature. The ‘i’ in Mixmag has been designed with a different font to the rest of the title and gives the title a retro and funky look. No capital letters have been used in the title making it unclear whether it is the title or not. The masthead of mixmag is different to other magazines due to its title, it looks very young and has a new look to it.

o   Is there a strapline? – analyse it.

The strapline for mixmag is ‘The world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine’ written in capital letters at the very top of the page. The format of this text has been given capital letters and a peachy colour to stand out on the page. This strapline immediately identifies and indicates the genre of the magazine which is likely to be one of the main reasons as to why it has been placed at the very top of the page. The strapline makes us assume that this music magazine has been made specifically for the younger generation as it is a ‘dance music and clubbing’ based magazine which the younger generation are mainly interested in.

o   What is the main image? – analyse the facial expression, direction of gaze, body language, clothing etc. How does this reach out towards the ideal reader identified above?

The main image shows a medium shot of Nina Kraviz who is dressed in all black with a cropped metallic looking purple cardigan which has a gold neck. The facial expression that Nina Kraviz holds is a pout which forms a half smile sort of smirking expression. Her hand is by her head as if she is saluting to the readers and fellow music lovers. Her other hand is placed just below her right hip with her elbow pointing outwards. Nina Kraviz is a well-known Russian DJ and the younger generation are very familiar with her and her work. Nina Kraviz's body language looks very dramatic and also creates a very striking vibe which fits in with the music genre and the style of the magazine. It is also clear that photo shop has been used to enhance her facial features, in particular her cheekbones and eyes. Her cheekbones have been made very defined, and her eyes look almost sunken in and dark which attracts our attention to them, and as her gaze is directed at us we feel that the magazine is personal and interactive. Having a familiar person on the front cover is what can attract readers easily as they want to find out what they have written in the magazine. The medium shot of Nina Kraviz is placed directly in the centre of the front cover which allows plenty of space for the strapline and other headlines. 

o   What other images appear on the cover? – Why?

There are no other images, only text.

o   What content is promoted by the cover lines?

There are many different cover lines on the front cover, the main one is ‘Nina Kraviz’ in huge capital letters in the centre of the page across Nina Kraviz’s picture, and this text is in a black text box in a bright peach/pink font. Written around that is a quote from Nina Kraviz which says ‘You wanna talk about the music..? Let’s talk about the music” inside a white filled text box in black typeface. This quote is informal as it sounds friendly and relaxed. All of the cover lines tell you what you can expect to find inside the magazine, for example, “the best underground student nights”, this suggests that you can find a variety of music based on the student nights genre.

o   Explain the connotations of typefaces (fonts), graphics, colours etc.

The colour scheme of the Mixmag front cover is black, white, peach/pink and grey. All of the cover lines are written in black text boxes, with either peach/pink or white typeface colour in order for the text to stand out on the background. The contrast of bright and dark colours creates a party theme which gives us an idea of what the target audience is interested in.

o   What sort of language/language features/language devices can you identify? How does the cover ‘talk’ to its readers?

o   Does the cover look similar to other magazines? If so why? What does this magazine offer which rivals don’t (USP)

Mixmag has an excellent brand identity and one of the main unique selling points of this music magazine is that it comes along with a free CD inside. Mixmag was the world's first dance music magazine and has been the market leader ever since which makes it very unique compare to other music magazines. 

Inside:

o   How many pages are there?

123

o   How many pages of adverts?

23

o   Categorise the products advertised into types.

The adverts fall under the following categories:

o   Jewellery – 1

o   Concert Dates – 3

o   Musical Event - 8

o   CD Albums – 5

o   Drinks – 1

o   Music Products – 4

o   Music Related Business Advertisement - 1

Above shows an image from the "Twice As Nice" double page spread. 

o   Make a list of the features/article topics in the magazine.

Features and Topics:

o   Nina Kraviz – Her life as a DJ

o   Twice As Nice – Vintage Prints and Clothing

o   Night People – when are people at their happiest

o   Renato Ratier – His life in fame

o   Kelela – Her future plans

o   Redinho – His younger life until now

o   Black Magic – Who they are and what they do

o   Betoko – how he was born to make music

o   Deetron – his life

o   Gessaffelstein’s – about his tour

o   DJ EZ – his time performing at a festival

o   Paul Woodford – his creativeness

o   Mat Zo’s – Interview with Mat Zo  

o   Categorise the features/articles topics into types.

-       Celebrity Lives: Nina Kraviz, Renato Ratier, Kelela, Redinho, Black Magic, Betoko, Deetron, Paul Woodford, Mat Zo.

-          Concert Experiences: Gessaffelstein, DJ EZ.

-          Clothing: Twice As Nice

-          Young People: Night People

o   How many double paged spreads are there? What are they about?

24

o   Are there any “advertorials” where it is not clear if something is an article or an advert, or a mixture of both?

There are no advertorials inside this magazine, the difference between what Mixmag consider as an article and an advertisement are clearly defined throughout the magazine.

o   How does the magazine achieve a unified ‘house style’? Think about the language and mode of address, colour schemes, graphical elements etc.

It achieves a unified house style by having a colour coordinated front cover. It also separates all of the different sections and articles by using different colour and graphics to notify the reader when they are moving onto a new section of the magazine. Any pages that have a black background always have white text showing more colour coordination. Similarly, on any white pages, there is always a variety of explosive colours and graphics on the page to draw the reader’s attention.

o   Why is this house style appropriate to the target audience? What assumptions does it imply about the TA?

Using this house style draws attention from the younger generation as their target audience; this is due to the use of contrast between the dark and bright colours which attracts readers. The magazine also includes a lot of bright images and as well as being a music based magazine it also includes some pages based on fashion to keep the reader intact and interested. As the magazine is £4.95 this is quite expensive and therefore implies that Mixmag is particularly appealing to higher classes.

Brief

Print Production Brief

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate your grasp of DTP.

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine (if done as group task, each member of the group to produce an individual edition of the magazine, following the same house style).