Analysing Magazines

In class to analysing magazine covers, such as ‘Mixmag’ and ‘NME’. As a class we discussed the way the conventions shape the target audience, and discussed the genre each magazine has.
Mixmag focusses on dance music, whereas NME focusses on specific styles of music, such as rock and indie. I could see the different genres just by looking at the front covers. The use of the main image and the colour pallet made this obvious to me.

'NME'

 

 

NME used a ‘Snatched image’ which is a type of image, which looks as if it had been snatched, and a moment has been captured.

This image showed a man having a great time at a festival. This linked with the theme of the magazine and also the fact that this was a festival edition.

NME also uses brand recognition to lure the reader in further. I notice how the masthead always stays the same colour, same size and same font. it also stays in the same location on the cover.

 

'Mixmag'

 

 

On the ‘Mixmag’ cover, there was a 'Posed image' in the centre, in which a woman was looking directly at the audience. This is a device used to capture the audiences attention and lure them in to reading the magazine.

The colour pallet suggests it is quite a feminine magazine, maybe surrounding pop/dance music. Judging by the clothes she is wearing and the record player in the corner, as well as the bubble font of the masthead, I get the idea that the magazine is quite 80’s inspired.