My second magazine front cover i am going to analyse is a magazine called Mixmag. I wanted to analyse different genre of magazines, so for my second analyses i decided to look at magazine based around club and dance music.
Colour
The colours used are very bright and colourful, which is very different to the other front cover magazines i have analysed with the genre of rock using dark colours. The four main colours used are pink, blue, white and yellow. The bright colours give off a bright and happy mood, for example the bright blue sky and the bright pink and yellow could be associated with happyness. The genre of this magazine is dance, this fits in well with the colours, it also fits in well with the core audiance which is mainly older teenagers who listen to current house/dance music. The blue seems to be the base colour for this cover and gives a soft fell to it as its light blue. If it was too over powering then the pink and yellow wouldnt stand out as much. The white serprisingly stands out, mainly because there are a lot of bright colours, so with the white against it you can clearly see it. If there was another bright colour used for the title then it would be too overpowering and less sofisticated, also it wouldnt stand out as much because it would blend it with the other bright colours and seem less important, but it is important as its the title of the magazine. The hot pink stands out the most and has a scence of sexyness which gives it an edge to the cover. It also makes the girl stand out as she is all in pink, this makes it eye cathing. However most of the writing on the sides are also hot pink and bold, this could take the audiances eye away from her and onto the writing. The only yellow colour on this cover is the bold word 'IBIZA O8', this makes it stand out as its the only time the colour yellow is used. you can tell its important as its the brightest and this issue is about ibiza.
Design
On this magazine front cover the image is near enough in the centre, with the text surrounding the image. The titals surrounding the images are much bolder and brighter then what is writen underneath it, for example 'festival carnage' in bold and pink when right under it is '50 best UK and overseas events' which is in a smaller font and its white. This shows that the writing in pink is more important, and they want it to stand out. The way the writing is slanted makes it more interesting and gives a lighting style effect to it, just like strobe lighting in clubs. This adds more personality to the magazine and seems like a good technique for this type of magazine. The mast head also stands out in contrast of the bright white and blue. making the magazine name clear and attract the audiances attention.The image fits in well the whole theme as she is in a bikini and dressed for a holiday in the summer. The aeroplane also fits in well and looks good as it gives an edge to the cover, it also makes you feel more on holiday. By having the coverline in an unusual style it gives the cover more funkyness and more of an edge which is what ibiza is like.
Image
The image is of a blond skinny girl, who is dressed in a bikini with sun glasses. This portrays well with the magazine as the magazine is about Ibiza in the sun. Her bright bikini, lips and sunglasses also portrays the night club scene, as ibiza clubs are decorated with bright colours inside and outside. This girl can also be seen as a sex symbol which would appeal to the male audiance, as she is only wearing a bikini. So apart from the target audiance being club and dance listeners, it would also target the young males because of the young girl posing on the cover.
Pose, style hair and make up
The way she is posing is very sexy, this shows a suductive side to the magazine and the front cover. This is appealing to the male readers and showing us the genre of the magazine. The way she is pouting her lips also shows she sexy side. Her long blond straight hair resembles the stereotypical girl who would appear in the genre of musics videos. It is also the type of girl that the male audiance would want to see on the cover and in Ibiza. She doesnt have alot of make up on, which could be a good thing as it would take away the attention from the rest of the cover and her body. The sunglasses hide her eyes so you dont know if she has smokey eyes, however this makes her lips stand out much more and her eyes less important. Whereas if she had dark smokey eyes like cherly cole on the cover of Q you find the bright pink lips that interesting, as it wouldnt stand out as much.
How are words used on the cover?
The strapline is situated at the top of the cover, this tells us that they want the readers to see it instantly. Straight away it tell the audiance that you get a free 'Tiefschwarz CD', its not that bold but it is in bright pink so it is visible. By making the this visible it could attract more of the target audiance as they would want the free CD with club/dance music. Also by making the number '1,233' bright pink and not the rest of the sentence on the stapline makes it more interesting and draws your attention to it. The coverline is located on the left hand side to the girl and is fully visible to the audiance. By looking straight at this coverline the reader would instantly know what the magazine will contain, also by having such a unique style of writing and it being a big font would definatly catch the core audiances attention. The headings are also eyecathing as it is pink and bold, and they aslo give the reader an indication of what the magazine is about and shows that it is in the same category as the genre of the magazine.
Language
The language used is not formal at all, for example 'grab your sunnies', by the language not being formal tells us that their core audiance is definatly young adults as they would understand and like this unformal language. This continues as under this is 'Ibiza is go', its easy to understand and doesnt go on, this makes it short and sweet and very catchy. Overall the language used has fun, playfull words that would attract their core audiance.
Overall impression
My overall impression is that the strapline, coverline and headings give a good indication of whats inside, this definatly helps to create an effective overall cover. I think that the colours, images and language combine to create on overall effective and powerfull impression, and every little detail works well for a excellent outcome. I also think that using a girl in a bikini was a good idea, as it resembles the true side to ibiza, also it would attract more readers like male readers, and not just club/dance listeners, so i feel that they have achieved in attracting the core audiance. And lastly i think that this magazine would stand out on the shelf mainly for its bright colours, image, free CD and there playfull words.
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