Feedback

Sanjay you have made a very good effort with the research and planning work. However you still have few tasks oustanding e.g. sketches and your preliminary task. In addition, your audio upload doesn't appear to be working properly so please check this.

Contents Page Analysis 2

 The main image is centred in the middle of the page to act as a focal point. The main image also links to the main article which draws most of the customers in. In order to sell more copies of the magazine, it has made the image large and more noticeable from the rest of the page. The contents page is very busy with large variety of colours and a lot seems to be packed in to this page. This is done to make the audience think that you get a lot more for your money as the busyness suggests that there is so much to read, it could last you a long time.
 

This magazine is aimed at a slightly younger audience. The age bracket would be around 18-25. We can see this because if it was aimed at a younger audience, there would be less going on in this page and it would be less complicated. However the large array of colours hints that it is for a younger audience.
In addition,  the images are composed in a similar way to how a collage would be crafted, generating the idea that the magazine is quite spontaneous and haphazard as opposed to displaying a fixated structure.

The difference of colours in each box suggests a different personality for each section of the magazine and makes it easier for readers to navigate to the pages they want to go to.


The tie-in at the bottom of the page encourages readers to subscribe to the magazine by saying that each issue will only cost 20p. The magazine suggests that if you are addicted to music you have to get this offer. Most readers will enjoy music as they have bought a magazine on it.

Front Page Analysis 3

The genre of this music magazine is RnB. This is easily shown by the typography used in the masthead. It is big, red and bold. This represents toughness and dominance. The use of such a strong typography suggests it is not a niche genre and as RnB is one of the most mainstream genres it dominates the music industry much like its typography represents. The masthead has a cut through itself in order to create a brand identity and reflect the name of the music magazine as 'Blender'.

The main image is one of the most famous rap artists in this generation who goes by the name of Jay-Z. Using such an influential character as the main image will draw consumers attention into the magazine as the notice the man on the cover. We can see that the magazine is aimed towards an older audience, reflected by Jay-Z's clothing, he is well dressed which attracts a sophisticated audience. Jay-Z is wearing a large diamond ring which represents wealth and superiority. However it keeps its sophistication with the 'bling' being very subtle rather than him being drenched in chains and other sorts of jewellery. Jay-Z's facial expressions suggest that he is tough and is not someone you would mess around with.  This also attracts women to buy it as many of them like a 'bad boy' and will encourage the female audience to buy the magazine for the sex appeal.

The background is all white, this makes everything else stand out. It makes Jay-Z seem largely more important and 'in your face'. The red masthead contrasts the background and makes the masthead more noticeable and more people will see and remember the magazine increasing brand awareness.

The main cover line states 'The fly life of an American gangster'. This suggests that Jay-Z is a gangster however does not depict the stereotypical representation of a gangster suggesting that the stereotypical picture we see is wrong all together. The sell line encourages us to buy the magazine as we want to know what the famous rapper has been up to and the mentioning of his love interests - Beyonce - reinforces the want to buy the magazine as everybody loves famous couples.

 

Front Page Analysis 2

This is the magazine cover of VIBE. Immediately we can see that the colour scheme is upbeat and chilled out which connotes that the magazine will most likely have a genre of RnB.

We can see that the masthead is in capital letters apart from the 'e' at the end. This could suggest that vibe wanted to be a bit more unique then other music magazines of the same genre. The typography of the masthead is blue which links back to the chilled out feel of the magazine and blue is a universal colour meaning it appeals to both men and women, doing so maximises the target audience. The masthead is big and bold which makes it more eye catching and appealing to the audience.

The main image is of usher who is a current RnB artist. He is very successful and is a world wide phenomenon, known by millions. The camera is at a low angle shot, this increases the importance of Usher as it is almost as if he is superior to us and we should look up at him. His head is tilted to show his confidence as an artist. Compared to XXL, Vibe is not as 'blinged' out. It is more subtle in the way it presents itself. Doing this appeals to an older audience who are more sophisticated and don't just like shiny things. The fact that Usher is wearing glasses makes gives a nice swagger about him and makes him out as if he is mysterious and perhaps not worthy enough to make eye contact with him. The glasses show Ushers importance.

 The word ‘swagger’ is shown in graffiti style which makes it stand out a bit more off the page. The magazine draws in its readers by its additional cover lines which tells the reader what they can expect to see inside. The word 'sex' is used many times on the front page to draw in readers this is because in these modern times, sex sells. People are more open about sex and like to read about celebrities love lives and how to improve there own.This also gives us an idea of the target audience. As they are mentioning sex, it will have an older audience ageing from 16-25. The main cover line goes hand in hand with the main image as they are about the same subject. The main cover line backs up the theory of Usher being very important in the industry is at refers to him as the 'king' which is connotes importance and royalty.  The fact that they write 'sexy issue' at the bottom it makes it more unique and hints that its not a normal magazine, its a special edition magazine. This will encourage the reader to buy it as they will think that they cannot buy this 'sexy issue' every week.

Contents Page Analysis 1

The contents page strikes the reader as it is well structured and has a simple design with good use of colours and layout. This allows for the reader to retrieve the information from the page easily. . The Masthead attracts us very well. ‘Drummer’ is big and bold and instantaneous. Its the first thing we see on the page. This enables us to know what sort of genre this magazine is. The ‘drummer’ stands out and is the largest text on the page by a large margin. 


The magazine is most likely going to be aimed at younger audience as it is not very complicated. It has many pictures by has a simple layout which is easy to navigate through. There are many images with drums in them which links to the masthead. The drums is a loud instrument and jumps out of the page at you This suggests that it is a Rock magazine. The use colours black and red are dark colours which also connote that it is not a music genre such as RnB but rather something like Rock. We can clearly see the genre thanks to the good use of colours.The colours make the contents page look elegant and simple. By keeping the colour scheme simple, it relates to the target audience as they are young, they will prefer something simple with lots of pictures. Right in the middle of the contents page there is a sub heading in bold white saying ‘Exclusive. This draws in the reader and excites them as they feel like they can gain something from this magazine that you cant get from any other magazine. This encourages readers to buy the magazine.

Front Page Analysis 1

The masthead for XXL is a unique selling point. The typography is big and chunky. This suggests that it is aimed towards the male audience as these two characteristics suggest masculinity.
The Masthead is made of diamonds which suggest wealth and luxury. This helps us indicate what kind of genre it is, as a stereotypical rap artists 'swagger' would be that they wear baggy clothes and are drenched in bling.
The background of the masthead catches peoples eye as it is red and eye popping.

The main cover lines typography is also big and chunky. The main cover line is of baby and lil wayne. These are big artists in the RnB genre and anyone who likes this genre of music, knows who they are. Using well known characters, it will draw people in to pick up and read the article.
The cover lines '&' has a different sort of typography which gives us a sophisticated feel to the magazine.

Above the masthead we can see the puff which states 'A decade of dominance'. The puff is used to promote the magazine and exaggerate how good the magazine is. This puff suggests that this magazine has been the best magazine of this genre and the use of alliteration in the puff emphasizes this and makes people want to pick of the magazine and see what all the hype is about.

The sell lines on the left of the magazine has a variety of artists which are specific to XXL genre. They show exclusive interviews with Kanye West, Eminem etc. The magazine name drops famous artists in that genre in order to encourage people to buy the magazine. If someone saw an artist on the cover in which they know of, this person will pick it up because it has made them curious. Also the use of so many artists will create a larger audience. For example some people may not like Eminem however love Kanye West, they will pick up the magazine just for that interview.

The main image portrays Baby and Lil Wayne looking tough and looking like a very stereotypical rap artist. They are both wearing jewelry to show off their 'bling' and almost makes them look superior.  This 'bling' also links to the font style of the masthead.
The artist follow the colour scheme of black and red as they are wearing black and red chains. This is to give the magazine a more professional look to it and make everything look more seamless.
They're showered in tattoos, which suggests that they have had a hard life and it shows that they are strong men as they can with stand the pain of having a tattoo numerous times.
But we can also see that they are half naked, they're body language suggests toughness because they are brave enough to make themselves look vulnerable. It also encourages a female audience to pick up the magazine as they may find the two artists on the cover attractive. This done by manipulating the that sex sells.

Feedback

Sanjay, you have made a good start to the research and planning work.
Target: work through the checklist to complete the remaining tasks e.g. textual analysis.

Interviews

Main Article

Questionnaire analysis

View more presentations from sanjm.

Thanks for adding me to your blog Sanjay.

Questionnaire