An analysis or evaluation of music magazine within the similar genre.

1. COLOUR SCHEME: All the SKYLINE: The skyline
colours are bold and bright, heading, right at the
there aren’t many pastel top instantly catches
colours used. These bright the readers attention,
colours have been used to the magazine uses this
attract the audiences attention, to their advantage by
for example the red masthead advertising a free mix,
‘DJ’ contrasted with the black therefore making the
outline and the yellow text person feel more
within the masthead makes the inclined to buy it.
text stand out and grab the
readers eye. The overall look of the
magazines front cover
Almost all of the font is in capitals, this adds is quite busy, there is a
to the magazines overall look being bold lot going on, with
and loud. The quirky font on ‘mid-summer colours, text and
mischief’ adds a slight edge to the cover as picture. It is quite loud
all of the other font is quite basic and and in your face, which
straightforward. I think would catch my
eye if I saw it on a
MAIN IMAGE: The image shelf. This style also
they have used is quite light reflects the genre of
hearted and comical, they music that it is
haven’t tried to make them representing.
look really professional or
photographed them in a
studio. The camera angle
from below looking up at The picture more or less
them, could suggest they takes up the whole cover,
are above us, looking down the text is placed over the
on us. They have photo, excluding the
succeeded, and are at the masthead, all of the pictures
top, in comparison to us. and font have a mix of
colour, again adding to the
The language used in the writing is quite informal (e.g. loud effect., foreshadowing
‘get loaded’) and is only used in short and snappy the music.
Thrust publishing Ltd. Is the company that publishes DJ MAG statements, there is no lengthy description, it is all brief.
they don’t publish anything else, and there is very limited The language used isn’t that academically challenging
information on the internet or on DJ MAG’s website. but some words used you would have to know about this
type of music to understand, e.g. ‘hyperdub’

2. There is a mixture of photos between studio photos and casual non- The fonts they have used on the magazine
staged photos. I think this could represent that a large part of the music are standard fonts that you would see used
within this genre is created in the artists bedroom or home, unlike most on letters and word documents. They have
pop artists who create it in studios. For example you can see the picture not tried to make the page glitzy and fancy,
on the bottom right is an artist with his equipment, but not in a studio. it is purely dedicated to the music. The writing lets
the audience
know that this
magazine is
The colour scheme is definitely not
white, black, red and directed at
blue, this scheme is children, you can
showed in the clothing tell this from the
of the people and the use of language,
colour of the font, for for example
example the red hat words like
and the blue jacket of ‘morphed’ and
the man in the top left, ‘influential’. So we
they keep it consistent can tell that the
throughout everything target audience is
on the page. Even young adults.
though you may expect They also use a
to find a lot of bright casual language
colours used for style, words like
electronic dance music ‘lowdown’ make
magazine, I have this different from
actually found that how a newspaper
black and white are still would write,
the most popular making it more
colours used. youthful.
The overall look of the magazine is quite serious, the people in The text to picture ratio is about 50/50, I have found
the picture all look like they are very dedicated to their work. the same text to picture ratio on all of the double
The text is also quite plain, showing this page is purely about page spreads I have analysed. I think this is the right
the skill in the DJ’s and the content of the text. Suggesting this amount, so that the page contains all the
magazine is for people who are serious about this sort of information you want it to, with out looking too
music, not just a light read about music celebrities. boring and full of text, they have helped me to
decide on how much text to pictures I should use.

3. The text on all of the headings in
. There is a mixture between posed lower case, suggesting its informality
studio photographs and more and emphasises that it is targeted at
casual non-staged photos. For youth age range. The font is also
example ‘033’ is taken from a live simple and easy to read, they have not
event, with no real focus tried to create anything fancy and
person, where as ‘077’ is very complicated, which could suggest they
intense, focusing on one person know who they are targeting and
taken professionally in a studio. what they like, nothing overly fancy,
Photos such as ‘104’ tell me the audience is more interested in the
immediately that the magazine is content and music.
targeting teenage people, that like
to go clubbing. I can also tell that
the audience are most likely middle
class, with enough money to afford The over all look of this magazine is
to go out a lot fun and colourful, for example the
pink and blue highlights of the
Colour scheme is quite a big heading, illustrating its youthfulness.
mixture of black, white, yellow, As well as being fun it also looks
pink, blue, mustard and purple. ordered and organised, with the
The colour scheme is not carried photos all being in a column.
on in the photos, like the other
magazines that make a link on the
whole page of a continuous colour The writing style keeps with the
scheme. theme of the magazine and the target
There is a good ratio between text audience, it is casual and youthful. For
and photos, on this page. As well example ‘tech’ is an abbreviation,
as the images adding colour and which is a connotation of teenagers,
making the page more interesting, this tells me that they are trying to
it also adds information by attract a younger audience. I can tell
showing what page the image is from the content of the writing such
on. For example if you see the as ‘Ibiza special’ that the magazine is
picture of an artist you like then targeting younger audience but over
you can go to the page by looking 18’s. They would probably need to be
at the number on the image. E.g. middle class with some money to
page77. afford events such as Ibiza.

4. The colour scheme uses a lot of The masthead is all in lower
contrasting, with black, white and case, which is a differ from
pink being the major colours. The the normal capital letter at
colours used are all bold, and they the start. This could also
don’t use any pastel colours. There tell us that it is aimed at a
are only two colours used for the younger generation
font, making it look organised and because they are breaking
attractive to the audience. rules and using a young and
individual font for the
The photography is very posed, the masthead. The font
photo of ‘Justice’ give the changes from the
impression that they take masthead, to the text
themselves very seriously. All of explaining the article, they
the lighting is very dark and dull have used a squarer and
with a spotlight on the two people, easier to read font for the
suggesting they are the focus point other text.
and all eyes are on them. The
layout of the photo, the straight
line of the headline beneath them The picture is used as the
and the lights behind creates the background for the cover
effect of them being on stage. and the text is placed in
front (excluding the
The length of writing is very short masthead). For a front
and they have kept the content cover they have used the
brief, not giving away too much. right text to picture ratio,
The language isn’t too as too much would look
academically challenging, and they busy and not grab your
have used abbreviations such as eye and just a picture
‘xmas’ and ‘nye’, making it seem would give you no
more informal. This could tell us a information of what’s
lot about the target audience, as inside.
slang has connotations of
teenagers.
The overall look of this magazine is quite representative of a
Development Hell Ltd. is the publisher for mixmag, it is also the
club, being a dance magazine they have used the front
publisher for a monthly magazine called ‘The Word’. This
cover to tell the audience this without having to write it.
doesn’t target the same audience as mixmag, it is aimed at the
The use of dark background contrasting to the spotlights is
older generation, showing they target a range of audiences.
what we would associate with a stage of club.

5. The photography is very casual, they have a personal feel to them, as if they
have been taken by friends on a night out. This gives a natural feel, the colours
are also very bright which go with the colour scheme of the page. Alcohol seems
to be a common theme in the photos, showing they are taken at a party or
nightclub and making a link between this genre of music and parties and alcohol,
backing up the connotation of dance music being parties or clubs.
Overall look of this
page is young and
fun, it has a party
The colour scheme of
atmosphere. It is
black, pink and yellow
nicely laid out with
on a white background.
the text broken up
(also used in the
into smaller sections
contents page) gives the
with an image to fit
effect of a party
each section. So
atmosphere. This is
even though there is
because they are bright
quite a lot of text it
and vibrant, contrasted
is broken down, as it
against the black makes
is targeting a
them stand out even
younger audience
more. This colour
they don’t want too
scheme tells the reader
much bulky text.
straight away that this is
a dance magazine.
The fonts are bold and simple, although they still have a slight The writing is split up into smaller articles, making it
curve effect, which is continuing the style of the masthead easier on the eye. The writing language they have used
font. They have steered away from using harsh square text, but is well thought out, using techniques such as rhyming
have used it for the most important things, like at the very top and well known phrases for the headings, for example
of the page ‘The Big 3’. This is a good idea if you want a piece ‘scouse house’. This could be so the reader remembers
of text to stand out from the rest. the articles, techniques such as rhyming helps it sticks in
their head.

6. They have kept a mixture of The colour scheme they have used is
casual photos, such as the one similar to the front cover, they often
at the top right, but contrasted use a lot of black and white, then use
this with the photo used at the another bright and bold colour such as
bottom middle, looking very bright pink or yellow to contrast it.
posed and professional. I found This contrast is used to attract the
this is common throughout all of audiences attention, for example the
the magazines, to have a heading at the top left is black and
mixture of styles of photo. This white with one bright colour, yellow.
has given me the inspiration to
use a mix of styles on my
magazine.
The writing language is kept quite The over all look of this page is quite
informal and casual, for example clear and easy to read, they have
‘tunes’. I think this is good for the kept the writing in one column on
audience they are targeting, the left hand side and the photos on
being young adults and the left. Keeping it simple and easy
teenagers, they feel comfortable on the eye, for example all of the
with slang and abbreviations. font is the same colour, pink heading,
(e.g. VIP) and black writing underneath.
Also the length of writing is
minimal, as the younger audience
prefer to see pictures rather than The font carries on the rounded
a lot of writing. theme of the mast head and the
double page spread, I like the
There is a lot of pictures on continuous theme. They have used a
this contents page compared young and interesting font, that links
to the other ones I have to the swirls they have used for alot
analysed. Al though the of the text. For example the font on
pictures on this give the image page numbers is very
information of the contents similar to the mast head, using
too. Compared to the ATM consistancy, maybe creating their
magazine this page is more own a signature font.
based on the look and images
rather than the content.

7. The colour scheme is very contrasting The shortened version of
of the cover as the dark/light blue is atmosphere, being ATM,
current through the title, outfits e.g is an abbreviation for at
artworks dark blue coat, and writing. the moment, which could
This makes it easy on the eye and it suggest to the audience
doesn’t look too busy. that they are up to date
and current. Also the use
of abbreviation tells us
that it is targeted at a
The stern expressions on the DJs face younger audience, as
and the upward camera angle gives them they are well known for
a serious aura. This may be to represent shortening words to ‘text
they came to take dubstep to a higher talk’
widespread level, the cover from 2009
will have been just at the start, they look
The overall look is quite dark and
as if they mean business.
serious, If I was to look at this on
a shelf, I think it looks quite
intimidating and not that
The angles of the writing on the magazine are fun, the use of dark colours and
all straight lines, parallel which fits with one of stern faces.
the names of the acts featured However the
writing on the CD contrasts at a different angle The whole page is taken
which attracts attention. up by the image, although
the text is placed over the
All of the font is in capitals and they have image, the majority of the
used a bold and simple font type to attract cover is image. I think that
the readers attention. The font is also kept they have chosen more
the same throughout the whole cover, they picture over text because
have also continued the colour scheme the younger target
through the font as well. I think they have audience don’t want to
used the same bold and simple font to keep read too much text as they
it simple, the younger audience are not too think it looks boring and
concerned with fancy fonts, they want it to that is who they are
be easily readable. Especially using a bold looking to attract.
font in capitals for a cover page as this is
likely to catch somebody’s attention when
sitting on shelf, e.g. ‘MAGNETIC MAN’ ATM magazine is so small that there are no web pages saying who publishes it and it is not sold in many
stands out. shops to find out the publisher, it is only available for buying online and at a couple of shops in the UK.

8. The colour scheme
The brick wall behind
is quite plain, the
him suggests that he is
majority just being
‘underground’. There
black and white.
is a big emphasis on
Keeping it simple
being an underground
and having the main
artist in the world of
focus on the context
drum and bass.
of the writing.
His facial expressions
The photo is taken
are very serious,
at angle that makes
suggesting he takes his
it look like he is
music very seriously.
looking and talking
Also the clothing he is
to you, making it
wearing is all black,
feel more personal,
implying he is a shady or
it is also taken with
mysterious character.
a plain brick wall
background, making
it not too glitzy in a
studio, this suggests
he is quite down to
earth.
The text to picture ratio is half and half,. Three columns written in sans serif, it looks
Although this wouldn’t seem much if the very plain and formal. Suggests that the
articles were small and broken up with target audience are all very passionate
many small photos. The text length looks about this type of music, as this type of
very long as it is all in one big chunk, this layout would not attract somebody who was
tells us that he is important because he has looking for something new and exciting as it
a whole double page spread to himself. doesn’t look very appealing to the eye, it is
Therefore as an audience we are intrigued more informative.
to find out who he is.

9. They have kept the contents All the photos are taken on real
very simple, with quite a lot of locations and not in the studio, they
writing. Although there is a are an unusual selection of photos,
cont list of contents the detail s that don’t look like the average
very minimal and all of the list photographs you would expect to find
is just artists names, unlike in a magazine. I think it would look
other magazines that say what more professional if they had a range
is featured in the article. I think of photos, some taken in the studio,
this is interesting because it as you can tell it is a low budget
makes me more intrigued to magazine through the use of photos.
what the article is based on.
The editor of the magazine has left his
The overall look is quite myspace address at the bottom of the
simple, I would say the ratio of ‘editors note’. This gives it an added
words to picture is not quite personal touch and makes a
right and they should spread connection between the magazine
out the writing to smaller and the audience. It also tells me that
sections but more often than the magazine is quite small scale,
less sections but longer, this because he can give out details like
would make it easier on the this.
eye, although people who buy
this magazine are very
passionate about this music
and want as much information The font is very basic but easy to read,
which I have found is what is best to
as possible. The page is quite use on the contents page. The colour
simple, it also looks quite low scheme again of the font is just
budget, such as the simple, plain black. This gives me the
pictures, they are all casual day impression that this magazine is more
to day photos, instead of focusing on the content of the writing
studio. than the appearance and bright
colours.