This document analyzes the front covers and contents pages of three different music magazines. The summaries highlight key design elements like mastheads, main images, headings and captions that identify the main stories and allow readers to navigate to articles. Color choices and prominent placement of articles are described as ways to attract readers' attention. The use of quotes, questions and responses in interviews is examined to clearly distinguish between the interviewer and interviewee.

1. LESSON
4
MUSIC MAGAZINE
ANALYSIS

2. Front cover; 1
Masthead- This is coloured in
bright blue to maybe give the
hint that this magazine is
targeted for boys. It is also
bold to be able to stand out a
lot more compared to other
magazine titles.
Web address- This allows
people to be able to look
on their website and any
new information they have
or different articles or
exclusive face to face
interviews.
The main story- This
is what the main
article is based on in
the magazine. Also
the colour opposes
the colour of the
masthead so
therefore the pink
and the blue colour
used across the front
cover can show that
the magazine is for
both male and
female.
Secondary story-This is
the story that is also
going to be featured in
the magazine but it isn't
going to be as big as the
main story.
Strapline- this is like a secondary
story of the magazine. Its an extra bit
of ‘gossip’ in the magazine that
makes people want to buy it more.
A list of other
artists which are
also going to be
shown in this
magazine, allows
the reader to know
what they will be
reading about in
this issue before
buying. A way of
hinting the
secondary stories.

3. FRONT COVER; 2
Synonym- They
have used the
Christmas
magazine to be
able to refer
Cowell’s personality
to the Grinch.
Masthead-They have
used a red title which
could infer that this
magazine is aimed at
both genders because
this is quite a mutual
colour.
Snow on the
title which
shows its
Christmas.
Give away- This
bribes people to
buy the magazine
because they are
getting something
out of it.
Showing that
because its
Christmas they are
adding more into
the magazine
because this is an
event
Date, time
and issue
number
Main story – This
is why it is bold
so it stands out
more and they
can see what
most pages of the
magazine are
going to be
about.
Barcode- This
means this is a
product in a shop
because it means

4. Masthead- Red to show that it is for
both genders because red is a unisex
colour so it is targeted for both male
and females. It’s also big and bold so
that the title stands out compared to
everything else on the front cover.
Give away- Gives each
customer a NME Euro
festival guide and also the
chance for them to win
tickets. This encourages
customers to buy this
magazine because they
would want to go to a
festival if they bought a
magazine about music
because it shows they are
interested in it.
He is wearing a lot of
‘bling’ which shows he
is very wealthy. He
also wearing a crown
on his head and
around his neck and
also has a bouquet of
flowers on his wrist,
which infers he is
going to a wedding.
They use a different
colour font to
advertise that this
bit of information is
important, such as
his opinion.
Date, price and
issue number, so
then people know
how old this
issue is.
The barcode shows that this magazine is a product and
needs to be bought in a shop, it is not given away for
free. This magazine is made to create a profit.
Straplines-
These are used
as headings or
captions and
tells us a little
more of the
magazine
Front cover; 3

5. The main image is of
Kanye West and this
normally shows us what
the main story is going to
be about. Also the black
and white gives it a
dramatic effect as
someone is holding a red
love heart against his
chest. This could suggest
that the mains story is him
talking about something
he loves or is passionate
about or something that
touches his heart.
The contents page is
written in bold so that
people can see that it is
clearly the contents
page and cannot skip
past it easily.
It gives two
different headings
so people know
what section to
look at if they are
looking for a
specific story.
Page numbers-
This lets the
reader know
exactly where to
go I the
magazine to
find the story
instead of
flicking through
the pages. The
stories in the
contents page
are usually the
most important
stories as in
some
Contents
page; 1

6. Contents page;
2
The main image/ focus point on this
contents page, this is probably
because this will also be the main
story of this magazine!Index- This
means that if a
reader was
looking for a
specific band in
the magazine
they can just
look here to see
if they feature
in this
magazine. It
also shows
readers where
to look for
specific bands
and can be a lot
of help as this
means they
don’t have to
go through of
all the pages.
Adverts- so that customers are able
to sign up to the magazine and how
they are able to do this! Free
advertisement as it is in there own
Splits the contents
into separate
sections to divide
the different stories
so it is easier for the
readers to find what
they are looking for
example some of the
categories are; news,
live and reviews.

7. Contents page; 3
The title of
the actual
magazine
is also
presented
in the
contents
page so
that it is
clear of the
magazine!
The main focal
image, this shows
us that this will be
the main story as
it is the main focus
on the contents
page. It also
comes with the
page number and
a little bit on the
story itself in the
bottom left hand
corner.
Pictures, these usually link to
secondary stories in the magazine
which also shows people what else
is in the magazine.
Stories and page numbers
which we can see have
been split into two
different categories as
they differ from each
other. They also come
with page numbers and a
little bit of writing to say
what the story is.
The date of the
magazine release, so
that people can see how
recent the information in
this magazine is. For
example this magazine
was brought out in
2008, therefore the
information inside is
very outdated and is

9. Artist name- In
big and bold
writing which
stands out and
shows the
reader who its
about.
Double page; 1 The main image is the artist
there self! As we can infer
from the image is that Minaj
lives a very high up and
expensive life, we can infer
this from the giant ring she
has which covers all 4
fingers and also from her
big necklace to match the
ring.
You can clearly tell the difference
between the headings and the parts
Minaj is saying. We can see this from
bold writing to non-bold writing.
This helps the reader know what she
is responding to i.e. the heading.
The background is a bright
colour therefore really
stands out and also helps
the main image to stand
out a lot more. Also the
main colour for this double
page spread is pink which
could suggest that this
Floating quote-
This stands out
more than any
of the other
text. This is
usually a key
point she has
mentioned or is
something big
and something
people need to
remember.
Page number-
this would be
found in the
contents page
to show to the
reader where to
find this article.
Article introduction- this gives the
reader a short insight in what they
will be reading. It describes the
interview and what it is going to
be about.

11. Double page; 2
Main image is Davey Havok himself. He
is one half of the double page spread
which makes him stand out a lot
compared to the text on the second half
This tells us what part of
the contents page it is,
as we know contents
[ages are split into
sections and from this
we can see that we
would have found this
interview under the
‘news’ section.
Floating quote and main heading of the
article. The floating quote and writing
underneath explains and gives us a
rough idea of what would be in this
article.
Artists
name- it
isn’t big and
bold and
doesn’t
stand out
from the
heading,
however it is
a bright
colour and
stands
compared to
the rest of
the text.
Here we can
see the
difference from
the interviewer
and the
interviewee. We
can see this as
the interviewer
parts are
highlighted in
white
compared to
the ones which
are not
highlighted.
The main colour of this double page spread is grey
which does not really stand out that much, however
they have added a boarder which they have made look
like headlights all the way round the page which makes
the page stand out a lot.

13. Double page; 3
The main image on this double page spread has
been put on one half of the double page spread
which has made it perfectly clear who this article is
about. Also the artists name has been written in
capitals and stands out compared to the rest of the
text.
Caption- This gives us a
little bit of information
about the photograph and
what the photograph is.
Tells us about the article, what its
about, in this case people have
demanded to ask question Rihanna
and she has responded to some of the
questions. Here the text has
been divided into
3 different
sections. The
black bold writing
has been split
into the question
someone has
asked her, the
mauve colour is
the person who
has asked this
question, their
age and where
they are from.
Finally, the plain
black text is
Rihanna
responding to
this question.
They have done
so this so that it
is easy for people
to know the
questions from
the response.
Introduction to the interview
which puts more information to
what this interview is about
compared to the heading. This
is so that the readers will know
exactly what they are reading
The article is
about Rihanna
having a lot of
money, too much
infact. To portray
this in the image
they have given
her a megaphone
which has been
made from
crystals which is
their to portray
her wealth and
links on to the
article as well
about her and
her wealth.