I have analysed the front cover, contents page and double page spread of BBC Music magazine.

1. Analysis of BBC Music ~ Front
Cover, Contents Page and
Double Page Spread

2. Similar to Top of the Pops magazine, the BBC logo is
in the top left corner so as to indicate which
company owns the magazine. This is quite
conventional, given that logos are often placed in
the corner so as to make it blend into the magazine,
and allow for the readers to focus on the other
features, however, it is still quite noticeable due to
it being a bright gradual shade of purple,
contrasting with the dark, mahogany colours of the
rest of the colour.
The masthead – the title of the publication – is at
the top of the cover, which conforms to the
conventions of many magazines. However, they
develop this slightly by making it go across the
entire width of the cover so as to emphasise it
further and the fact that it is in white text, which
contrasts with the dark background, further
emphasises name. The centre of visual interest,
being the portrait image of the musician, covers the
masthead in the middle, but due to the popularity
of the magazine, readers are still able to make out
what it says.
A tag line is used at the top of the magazine to further
indicate the magazine’s significance and popularity, by
informing readers that it is ‘the world’s best-selling classical
music magazine’. This encourages potential buyers to also
buy this magazine if they are interested in this genre of
music as it makes them curious as to why this magazine is
so big. In this way, the magazine is both niche and
mainstream; niche in the sense of its ideology, as they
focus solely on classical music, which is rather a unique
taste for most people, and mainstream in terms of the
circulation they must receive – which can be inferred by the
statement in the tagline.
A puff is used on the cover to promote a feature
which is inside the magazine, and given that it is in
red and white, creates a sense of urgency for
readers to flick through the magazine immediately.
The centre of visual interest lies with the image of
the woman, who is clearly the subject of the cover
story in this issue. In terms of mise-en-scene, the
prop she is holding is a violin, which further
indicates that the magazine is solely about classical
music. Moreover, the musician appears calm and
friendly, and extremely respectful with her hair
done up beautifully, wearing a rather formal dress.
This suggests that she must be of some relative
importance with the world of classical music,
which may encourages people to buy it. She is also
looking directly into the camera which suggests
confidence, but also in that she is trying to create a
connection between the reader and herself.
The splash consists of the name of the musician,
which accentuates that she is a big feature within
the magazine, encouraging people to find out more
about her.
There are sub-heads along the right margin
of the cover, which indicates the variety of
features the magazine includes. The
headlines themselves are in capitals, along
with additional information below.
The bar code has been placed in the bottom
right corner which helps to blend in with the
white box which contains another major
feature which appears inside the magazine,
given that the box Is also white.
The picture boost has been used to promote another feature
which is inside the magazine, to encourage the readers to
look through the magazine.

3. The main three images take up just over half of the page
and appear to be within the centre of visual interest. They
also appear to have used a grid to position the images
neatly and in an aligned fashion. The larger of the three
images is in a black and white fashion, as with the third
one below, and this suggests that these images are rustic
and from a time before now – they appear old fashioned.
Indeed, the people in the photographs are wearing
clothing from another era and may relate to an older
audience. On the other hand, the other image is in colour,
and appeals to have been taken only recently. The
significance of this is that perhaps the magazine is trying to
link the past and present together through music, not to
mention, uniting the target audience between young and
old together.
Each image consists of a caption so as to inform the
reader on what is happening in the scene so as to
help them understand more. This conforms to the
conventions of many magazines in general.
The title of the page is called ‘CONTENTS’ which is
noticeable as it is the largest text on the page.
However, due to the positioning of the images, it
means that this title is towards the centre of the
page, which is rather unusual, therefore it is a
unique feature to their own magazine.
The contents of the magazine has been divided
into two main categories: ‘every month’ which are
what appears regularly in the magazine, as well as
‘features’ which are not regular at all. This
conforms to some of the conventions of existing
magazines as they often separate their features
according to what their magazine usually offers or
not.
The list of contents have also been split into three
columns, and one could argue that the editor has
used the golden ratio here, which is typically 1:1.6.
This allows for an optically pleasing result as it
enables reader to scan the contents with ease; it
doesn’t appear too overwhelmingly. Moreover, this
layout makes the text appear neatly aligned.
The magazine appears to have at least over 120
pages which is rather a lot for a music magazine,
thereby they are developing this convention. This
may confirm the tag line on the front cover in that it
truly is the biggest classical music magazine in the
world as you can suggest from the number of pages
it consists of, it will cover a lot of news, reviews, etc,
in depth. Therefore, consumers are getting a good
value for money.
The font appears to be similar to the ones used on the
front cover, which demonstrates their consistent house
style. Moreover, the colours used, which are black,
white and burgundy reflect the colours used on the
front cover also, to further indicate its professionalism.
These colours, particularly burgundy, connote prestige,
class and sophistication which are the values clearly
reflected in the magazine.
The name of the magazine has also been
written in the footer, so as to remind the
reader that this a professional product.

4. The main image takes up the
entire recto (right page) and
bleeds onto a fraction of the left
page. This is the centre of visual
interest as it is the main visual
aspect across the double page
spread, which makes it instantly
recognisable who the subject of
the article is. He is wearing a smart
looking shirt and blazer which
represents sophistication, which is
what the magazine wants to
capture him looking like, as that is
their ideology.
The deck is disguised as a quote from
the subject himself which actually
form part of the headline. This
makes it even more engaging
because it means that the headline
consists of his own words, which
makes it more personalised and
encourages the reader to read on.
The overline above the headline
gives a brief mention about who and
what the feature is about, and this is
instantly recognisable as it has been
highlighted.
The stand first is on the same line as
the by line. The stand first gives a
little more information about the
article and the artist, and this is
somewhat common for most
magazines. The by line is simply the
name of the journalist who wrote
the piece to give them recognition,
and the fact that they are both
underneath the headline makes it
extremely noticeable.
The article itself has been separated into 3 columns, so as to make it
somewhat easier to read as it is more visually pleasing. The WOB – white on
black – effect further enables the reader to understand the text as the white
contrasts well with the black. The article is generally about the musician’s
talent in playing the violin, and how his life has now become revolved around
it. This will interest people who are fans of him, not to mention those who are
simply interested in violin music.
There is a unique feature on the
recto, which is the ‘CV’ feature,
which is simply a brief fact file
about this violinist. The fact that it
is meant to look as though it has
been ripped out of a notebook
allows for a humorous, light-
hearted, informal feel to it, which
shows that the magazine itself
doesn’t want to be flaunting its
sophistication and class in order to
belittle readers, but rather to
project their familiarity and
relatability.
There doesn’t appear to be a caption
to provide more information about
the main image, however, there is
one below the image of the violins
which is used to illustrate the article,
but also break it up into readable
columns.
There is a pull quote in the centre of the
DPS, which is part of a sentence taken
from the chunk of text, and is
recognisable due to the emphasised
speech marks. This is meant to be
interesting, in order to engage the
reader, and encourage them to read on.