Hannah Wood Music Magazine Analysis

Front Cover

The text at the top of the page is in a bold white font on a black background in order for the text to stand out. However the font is fairly small so that it doesn’t overpower the title and other eye-catching, important aspects of the cover. This text section is placed clearly separate from merging with the rest of the top of the magazine as it is not part of the main cover feature however is still important as it is introducing the rest of the contents of the magazine.

The title of the magazine is printed in white with a dark drop shadow outlining it to improve the sharpness of the text. This is because the overall page background is grey so that and plain white text may have looked too similar on top of each other. Due to the cover feature artists wearing all black clothing, the background is unable to be black as the colours would merge and the clarity of the artists would not be suitable. Overall, all coloured text/image featured must be on an appropriately coloured background in order for them to not become washed out or unclear.

There are three smaller pictures placed at the bottom of the page which are of other bands that are also featured in the magazine however not as heavily as Green Day. Because of this, these photos are printed smaller, at the bottom and not as close up images. This implies that the articles surrounding these artists are smaller than the main feature.

There are hints of red scattered across the page in order to keep the house style slightly more vibrant and colourful rather than just black and grey. Another colour that is featured is green due to the featured artist ‘Green Day’s’ title. I think that the use of the colour green ties the main photo and surrounding text together making the house style very appropriate to the featured band.

The title of the artist featured is the boldest piece of text on the page which stands out the most due to the fact it is the main contents of the magazine. Fans of this particular band will be drawn to the name and may choose to purchase the magazine. The text may be printed in green because of the band’s name being ‘Green Day’ therefore green is the appropriate colour for designers.

There is a quote placed underneath the bands title, ‘’we’ve made the album of our lives’’. This provides a small insight into the interview inside the magazine and may entice onlookers to purchase it. The quote does not give too much away or provide any detail on the album being mentioned, this leaves fans on a cliff-hanger and wanting to know their reasoning’s for making the ‘album of our lives’.

The main load of text is placed at the bottom of the page so the focus isn’t taken from the main photo. It is printed in a mixture of 4 colours, red, green, black and white, sticking to the house style. The sections of text are also placed overlapping each other in a misplaced fashion. I think this represents the overall magazine music genre.

The house style of this magazine is the four colours red, white, black and gold. The colour red has connotations of murder sex and death which are often topics of hip hop songs. The colour gold has connotations of wealth and stardom, I think this represents jay-z’s overall appearance and attitude.

The cover star, Jay-Z displays a huge amount of dominance as the photo of the star is placed on top of other text items. This resembles the fact that he is in front of the rest, showing confidence and superiority.

‘42 pages of reviews’ is written in a small circle in the top right hand corner of the page to seclude itself from the rest of the magazine in order to stand out and be clear to the audience, and appealing to passers by who are contemplating buying the magazine.

The image of Jay Z is a close up of the stars head, a trimmed headshot filling the entire frame and displaying all facial features clearly with great detail. This provides the indication that the magazine is of high quality. He is looking directly at the camera which is body language appearing to invite the audience into reading the magazine.

The other artists featured in the magazine cover are printed in the colour red in order to stand out and entice the audience to by the magazine if they are a fan of any of these other artists, not necessarily the cover star.

The Q magazine logo is situated in the top left corner of the cover, it is in the same place for every issue and means the magazine is easy to distinguish due to the clear branding. It is in a red box allowing it to stand out and appear vibrant.

The barcode section at the bottom right corner of the magazine is vital in order for the magazine to be scanned and purchased. This section also usually includes the price and issue date of the magazine. The Price is not printed in a clear stand out section at the top of the page like some magazine types e.g women's gossip magazine where its in a bright shape advertising the cheap budget price. The difference here is, people buy this magazine for its contents rather than the price.