1. Primary optical Area House Style
Imagery
Main Image
Design Symmetry
Design Balance
Header
Primary Optical Area
Design Symmetry
Image
ry
House Style
Design Balance

2. Header
Primary
Optical
Area Design
Symmetry
Design Balance House Style
Main Image
In this essay I’m going to be comparing three magazine covers, comparing how their genre affects
their layout and design. I will be looking at three magazines, Mixmag, Rolling stones and Vibe.
Mixmag is a house magazine, rolling stones is an alternative rock and vibe is r&b and hip hop. So
their House style and imagery will be different. I will also be looking to see if design balance is used,
and is the rule of thirds is applied.
The first magazine I will be looking at is Mixmag. This is a dance magazine, so you would expect to
see bright, vibrant colours. The house style of this page is black, yellow and white. The black and
white both contrast against each other, and also give the magazine formality. The black signifies
power and death; whilst the white connotes innocence and purity. The yellow stands out, and
attracts the attention of the audience. Yellow also symbolises energy which reflects the genre of
music being dance. The house style is incorporated into the image also, as the blond girl is wearing a
white and black top, and is dancing which is stereotypical of a dance magazine. The primary optical
area is the first place that the reader will look, and the magazine has cleverly got the girls head in
this area, so this is the most eye-catching part of the contents page. In the terminal area, there is a
page number, this is to show the reader any extra information that they want to see about this
picture. The main page numbers for example ‘109’ is in a style which connotes a DJ deck as the 0
looks similar to one, which is stereotypical of a music magazine. The magazine design seems quite

3. balanced. The text seems to frame the picture, and is not too heavy; this is a good thing as the target
audience is a younger audience, so the writing is simpler. The vocabulary used is colloquial and slang
which reaches out to the audience. The right hand side is less compact and easier to read than the
bottom of the page. This is most probably because the reader will look at that straight after looking
at the primary optical area. The black bold and larger headings separate each individual bit, so that
the audience can pick out what they want to read about and also it is eye-catching so that they are
motivated to read on. The contents page has design symmetry vertically. The picture is informally
symmetrical with the writing to the right of the page. Also, the two images at the top of the page
could be considered horizontally symmetrical to the writing at the bottom of the page.
The second magazine contents page is the rolling stones. The rock magazine follows a stereotypical
house style as the formal black red and white colours are used. This is to show the maturity of the
magazine, the red connotes energy, danger passion and love. The black and white similarly to the
first magazine contrast against one and other, making the red stand out. It also makes the three
images bolder. The black headings are larger than the other text because it captures the reader’s
eye, so that they can choose what they want to read about, giving them an idea of what is in the
magazine. The most vibrant image is the top image. This is because the person in the image is in the
primary optical area of the magazine, also the person has a direct mode of address which draws the
reader in. The second image follows the house style of the magazine as its main colours are black
and red. The magazine design is balanced as it has three images on the left side and is quite word
heavy on the right. This is because the magazine is aimed at an older audience, so the articles are
much longer and have more information in them. The composition of the design is horizontally
symmetrical, which makes it easier to read for the audience and makes the page look more formal.
The third magazine is Vibe. This r&b and hip hop magazine similarly to the rock magazine follows a
formal house style. The black red white and also grey colour scheme is used, giving the magazine a
mature feel to it. The Large V in grey behind ‘Kanye West’ (the person in the image) head is in grey
which makes the image stand out. The ‘contents’ header overlapping the V stands out, as it is in
black and is bold. This also frames the image of Kanye, in the top corner. The red in the image is
where Kanye heart is, this is to symbolise love and passion and reflects r&b music. The page is
composed so that it has horizontal symmetry which shows that the writing is on the right whereas
the image is quite large on the left. The balance of image and text is informal, as the image takes us
most of the page, whereas the writing is less heavy, which is an indication that the target audience is
younger as the text is simpler. Kanye’s head is in the primary optical area, and he has a direct mode
of address which is eye-catching to the reader, and draws them in. The picture follows the colour
scheme and house style of the page, therefore making the page balanced. The music icon in the
picture also shows that it is aimed at a younger audience as his music is aimed at a young, urban
audience.