Analysis of Existing Magazines

These are both front magazine covers from the popular dance magazine Mixmag. the title of the magazine does not change from month to month, this means you can get a recognisable title style that people will immediately recognise. On both of these magazine covers there is a picture of one person on the front, these pictures are taken to create an effect that will draw readers in to want to read their magazine from just the first glance that they take. The picture of the woman on the right shows complimentary colours being used with the background and her make up and clothes, and the picture of the man on the left shows contrasting colours with the red, fiery background against the yellow title and the main flash. Another thing to note is that neither of the people being photographed are smiling in their pictures. The cover on the right also has the main picture covering a small part of the title, many magazines are able to do this as people will be familiar with the design and look of their title. The language on both of these covers is quite informal, there isn't many sentences on the covers just quick main sells to let the reader see the style of the magazine. The layout of the magazines are similar and the title is in the same place, they both have similar pictures and the main sells are always in the sample place down the right side of the magazine, this can create a recognisable magazine. The same font is also used for the main flash on both of them. The design of these covers is tailored to meet the needs of the target audience as this is younger people which can relate to the colours used and the language, and also males will be more likely to read it so the colours will attract them. There is also a free CD on the front of every magazine which will attract people to buy the magazine more. Both of these covers will appreal to the magasines main target audience because of the features on it like the free cd, colour and the images on the front of the magasine. I am also analysing a contents page from the same magazine as the two covers pictured above. This contents page has a big, main picture that takes up most of the page, this picture is very noticeable when you turn onto this page and is interesting to look at, the picture covers one of the main articles of the magazine. The page is not titled as a contents page it is titled as 'Tunes', this will definitely attract a younger audience due to the informal language used and the design of it is very bold and noticeable. All the rest of the content from the magazine is written below the main one down the left side of the page, these are all listed with not much detail so you want to read on and see what they are about. as there wasn't one on the front cover, there is a strap line across the bottom of the contents page, it has 'all the hottest releases reviewed and rated'. This is a good and attractive strap line because it used alliteration and also the rule of thirds, this is a very good method to use when you want to attract more people to read on in your magazine.
This is a double page spread from the magazine Mixmag, this double page spread has a large picture completely dominating the left page, this can catch peoples attention and show who the whole article is about. Then on the opposite page there are two samller pictures to compliment the big one. There is no bright of eye catching colours on this page, they are all very neutral to create a theme, this theme should be appealing to the target audience as this is one of the main articles in the magasine and one of the main things someone from your target audience will look at possibly before buying the magasine because if they are not interested in the main article then there is less chance of them buying it. There is also a quote on the largest picture of something that the woman being interviewed had said and this has been put there to draw the audience in by giving them a small piece of the interview to judge whether they would like to read it.