Magazine In-depth Research
Research suggests that most important part of a magazine is the front and back cover. The front cover is considered important because it is the first thing someone looks at when deciding to purchase the product. A good front cover can attract more potential buyers whereas; a poor cover can turn them away. The back cover arguably is equally as important because when someone reads the magazine people sitting opposite can see the back cover. Furthermore, when someone has finished with the magazine they might lay it down flat and the back cover would show up. Depending on the back cover someone may pick it up to read or just not bother to pick it up at all.
I have researched different magazines to identify how the content addresses the audience. After extensive research I have found out that often most expensive magazines (upmarket) choose to follow a publishing house style. Magazines that are published by a specific house such as Bauer (A German Corporation) or Future PLC (British Company) often uniquely follow an In-house style. The in-house style can relate throughout other magazines in terms of colour, typography and composition.
Furthermore, the magazine depends largely on the publisher in order to help promote the product. If the publishers are a large corporation then they can promote the magazine through cross media representation. They can promote the magazine on their TV channel or radio channel if they have one. In particular this would be helpful to a magazine that is catered towards a niche audience such as ‘Guitarist’ as they don’t have a wide target audience.
Magazines such as Mojo (a popular British music magazine) and Kerrang! follow an in House style of red, black and white. The composition is also similar with the front cover and the inside pages of a magazine particularly on the double/triple page spread.
Analysis of the Front Cover
The main image on the front cover shows an electric guitar designed by James Tyler. It is a symbolic image as it relates directly to what the magazine is all about. My personal opinion is that it is a medium close-up shot of the guitar, as the image does not show the full guitar but shows enough of image for the viewing public to recognise it’s a guitar. The composition of the guitar is directly in the middle of the front cover; with the magazine masthead overlapping at the top of the image.
The reason why the main image on the front cover is important is that it attracts the viewer’s attention to an image they may associate with the magazine or they may be interested by the image meaning they may decide to buy the magazine. The guitar on the front cover is new and attractive to the niche market audience (people who are interested in guitars/musicians). The appearance, style and popularity of the guitar have a valuable part in attracting the specific audience intended for the magazine to be successful.
When looking at a magazine based on its front cover; to initially access whether the content within the magazine is relevant or interesting to the prospering buyer they will have a quick glance at the relevant information provided. This tells you what feature articles are within the magazine. Such as within the ‘Guitarist’ magazine they have stated there are reviews, interviews and guitar lessons which are stated at the very top of the front cover (The “eyebrows”). Also around the main image they give little sneak peeks - for example a little image, name or an interesting quote from an article.
The information on the front cover is arranged in the following way: Firstly, at the top of the magazine otherwise known as the eyebrows you have the cover line. The cover line can include basic information about what the magazine contains. In this case it reads in a professional style: ‘Gear reviews, Interviews and Guitar lessons’ this gives the audience something to expect inside.
Then secondly you have the Masthead, which in my opinion is one of the most important factors of the magazine. It is the recognition of your magazine and does a similar role to that of a brand. The masthead for the ‘Guitarist’ magazine looks sophisticated as they use smart low case lettering. The use of low case lettering shows that the magazine targets a softer approach to their market. Below the masthead you have the date line which simply tells the audience the date of the issue.
Then you have the sell line/strap which encourages the audience to purchase the product. For the Guitarist it says ‘Guitar players Bible.’ The use of religious connotation could represent that this magazine is vitally important and urging guitarists or rock fans to have buy it. After that you have the cover lines for each magazine which highlights the most important articles.
Here is a cover line from the Guitarist magazine: ‘Exclusive first review – VARIAX RETURNS’ not as in your face compared to the cover line in TV choice magazine. The designers still manage to get the meaning across that this is a must read article. The choice of colour again
Works well and appeals to the reader because the bold capital lettering with a soft blue outline looks effective.
At the bottom of the magazine you get the barcode which lists the price of the magazine. The Guitarist magazine is up-market therefore it is vitally important for them to have a publisher. They are published by Future PLC (British Company) a large corporation which is useful because now they can have cross media promotions.
The information has been arranged to be reader friendly meaning making the information the buyers see’s first to be inviting and interesting for them to continue and buy the magazine. The colours that have been used on the front cover are bright yellow, white, a small amount of red and tones of blues.
From looking at previous ‘Guitarist’ magazine covers I’ve noticed on the majority of their covers they use shades of yellow/gold, which may be a consistent colour they like to use or they may be using colour representation meaning the colour yellow may be used to represent happiness (to look forward to interview as such). The cover also has red which is used as part of a company logo as well as the red representing an important or new aspect within the magazine which they want the buyer to know about.
I can’t identify any iconic signs on the front cover of this magazine. But, there is a symbolic sign of an electric guitar. It is a symbolic image as it relates directly to what the magazine is all about.
The sign appeals to the identified audience because the cover shows what the magazine is about, and the niche market who is interested in magazines about all things –guitars would be drawn in by seeing an attractive guitar.
Yes, normally the colour of the masthead is considered significant; as the public relate some magazines with a certain colour. For example ‘NME’s masthead colour was previously red and now that it’s changed some people may now recognise the magazine when scanning through the magazine racks. However the ‘Guitarist’ magazine is different compared to magazines that have a trademark colour which can possibly distinguish that specific magazine from others like it. The ‘Guitarist’ magazine is different as they have a palette of colours they may use for their masthead.
The type of font used in the specific September 2010 issue is possibly Bookman Old Style.
I’ve analysed some of the ‘Guitarist’ magazine covers and I’ve come to the conclusion that the font has changed over the years (decades) meaning this is why I think the font has changed – possibly to change with the years.
The magazine also has a website I have posted the link below - http://www.musicradar.com/guitarist/
The magazine may have a website because they want to expand their media sources from only magazines to the internet. They would attract more possible purchasers for the magazine. Also the website may offer more information they are not able to include within the magazine. The website also may have video interviews, deal/offers etc and a chance for the magazine buyers to have a chance to view previous issues of the magazine. The cost of the magazine is £5.50. The price is situated near the barcode.
The representational issues I can identify are the age range is probably from mid 20’s to late 60’s. The magazine may attract more of a male audience. Ethnicity wise, the magazine may attract all cultures; however my personal opinion is that the magazine may attract a more Caucasian audience without being discriminative. The standard occupational classification is from A throughout until C1 (Senior Professionals to Highly Skilled Traders).
The language targets the audience by including interesting and understandable information. The type of language used in the magazine is formal (Standard English). Guitarist magazine is produced by ‘Future PLC’.
Contents Page Analysis
A denotative description of the layout of the contents page is the first page shows an electric guitar which covers 2/3 of the page. With 1/3 of the page containing page numbers and breifly what contents will be on that specific page or pages within the magazine. The second page contains one image which is larger than another image on the same page. The rest of the page contains the continuation of the page numbers and there brief relevant page information. The first page of the contents page; I previously said contained an image of an electric guitar that took up 2/3 of the page – this shows that the magazine ‘Guitarist’ is more concerned about showcasing that specific guitar than having a page containing a larger ratio of text than image.
Around 4 to 5 have been used throughout the contents page. This is because the word ‘contents’ must be in bold to indicate that it’s the contents page; to the audience. Also different sections in the magazine are addressed by different fonts for specific sections.
On the first page there is a close up shot of the guitar in the middle of the page. I think this is because the designers want to remind the audience it is ‘Guitarist’ magazine. On the second half on the contents page there is medium shot of a musician on the top left hand side corner of the page.
The image on the first page of the contents page; represents what the magazine is about and this is to remind people that it’s aimed at niche audience.
‘Line 6 upgrades its digital guitar with the help of master craftsman James Tyler. We exclusively review and demo the first MK II variax to storm the UK’.
The use of colour is minimal – meaning that the in the two page of the contents magazine they use roughly 4- 5 colours. Which are all masculine colours; that shows that the magazine is directed to a male readership, rather than female. Also the use of few colours may be to make the audience focus more on the images provided on both pages of the contents page, rather than the text.
Double Page Spread
The layout on the double page spread is busy, there are images scattered around both pages with associated text relevant to the image close by, also information for example booking tickets, telephone numbers, animations are at the sides of the pages. The layout of the double page spread is busy because the information may only have a specific number of pages allocated for use on the precise topic in the magazine. Also the text is minimal compared to the images, titles and signs. This may be due to the fact that the images and signs speak for themselves. Also the magazine might have been paid to include discrete advertising – such as booking information, which the purchaser may not associate with an advertisement and may not be put off.
Around 4-5 different fonts have been used because this makes the double-page spread more appealing to look at. The different fonts make the article more interesting because the different sections have different styles.
When talking about a specific brand of guitar they show an image of the same guitar so the audience can relate to the article better.
Here is an example of the register identified: ‘we’ve put together a glittering line-up of artists, exhibitors, seminars and master classes at the ExCel centre that will be unmissable for aspiring players of any level’.
The use of yellow in western countries is associated with being happy. The word ‘BOOK’ is in bold yellow font, as the magazine wants the audience to feel happy to book at ticket.
Also another example is a sign stating - ‘TICKETS FOR SALE NOW’ in bold white font with a red circular background. The use of a red background is possibly used to associate with warning that tickets are running low.
The content is targeted at the niche audience because it’s talking about specific guitar models using language only guitarists and guitar fans would understand. The language is formal because it’s for a, b and c1 band, this is because it is targeting a niche upper – middle class audience.
