2. Clash Magazine
Readership:
Clash’s Mission Statement:
188, 940
‚Clash Magazine is the flagship product in the Clash
portfolio. Award-winning and widely revered, Clash Circulation:
provides in-depth features and stunning shoots 47, 235
alongside informative news, exclusive interviews and
respected reviews. Our opinion-forming audience is Gender (approx.):
treated to a premium print product which challenges 50/50
convention like no other across twelve monthly
issues, many of which are themed specials..‛ Average Age:
21 – 31 (71%)
The average Clash reader is ‚in employment and follows
music, films, books, gadgets and clothes. When they choose to spend their
hard- earned cash, it’s well considered and based on recommendations from
the sharpest sources. They are gig-going, fashion conscious, tech hungry and
consider the Noughties the decade of cheap money, and ‘nothing’ politics. The
30+ are settling down to laugh at the days of Acid House with the 18+ creating
what’s new.‛
Clash magazine is published by Clash Music Ltd twelve times a year. Clash magazine is a trademark of
Clash Music Ltd. Clash Music Ltd originally extended to live events and festival partnerships, until the
magazine was founded by publisher John O’Rourke in 2004.
3. Clash Magazine
The colour scheme used on the front cover of Clash
magazine is very simplistic and pale mostly made up of
brown and sepia tones which helps to compliment the
clothing Bobby Womack wears in the main picture and
also symbolizes the indie genre of music. Clash
magazine’s readers are typically aged between 21 and
31, so this colour scheme helps to connate a very
calm, mature feel to these readers. Typically, magazines
would use bright colours to stand out to readers in a
shop, whereas this magazine does the opposite in order to
stand out against these other stereotypical music
magazines.
Again like the front cover, the colour scheme of the
contents page has been kept to a minimal black and
white theme in order to fit in with the general house style.
Using these two basic contrasting colours allows the text
to be easily read by anyone. The use of black and white
colours also connotes a modern, retro feel to the
magazine, which fits in with the quirkiness of the genre of
4. Clash Magazine
To follow this house style, the double-page spread
with Bobby Womack featuring in it continues to use
the black and white, simplistic theme seen on the
contents page. This helps to give a nostalgic feel to
the article, which is appropriate as they are
interviewing a „music legend‟. On the page,
everything is completely black and white, apart
from a small block of orange which has been used
to list the photographer, the writer and the director
of fashion for this particular article. Clash magazine
is famous for it’s writing and house style, so the use
of a bright colour enables readers to know exactly
who is responsible for the article. The colour orange
also symbolises something quite warm and happy,
which tells the readers what the overall tone of the
article should be like. The follow-up pages to this
article follows the same colour scheme but
alternates between black and white and sepia
photos to link in with the house style of the
magazine.
5. Clash Magazine
The general house style throughout the magazine is
really varied – every individual page more or less has a
different layout in order to suggest how modern and
fashionable the magazine is. The general layout of text
is used effectively in order to frame the different
images, such as on the double page spread, where
the text is altered and varied to „fill‟ the empty space
on the page. The unusual combination of different
fonts throughout all pages of Clash magazine actually
looks quite effective and quirky, which well-suits the
indie/independent style of the magazine. The more
decorative fonts connote quite a fun, fashionable
message about the magazine, whilst the simpler, sans
serif fonts show that the magazine is also very
informative and mature. This idea is shown on the front
page, in order to get the main headline to stand out;
on the contents page, to inform readers what page it
is; and on the double-page spread to distinguish
between the title of the article, the featured
artist, subtitle and a snippet of the text.
6. Clash Magazine
In general, especially where there are pictures
present on the front cover and the double page
spread, the magazine uses the rule of thirds as a lot
of the images take up the whole page. The rule of
thirds needs to be present in the images to allow the
reader to engage with the artists featured – the eyes
are always positioned near to where the vertical
lines intersect with the top horizontal line, as this is
where the eye is automatically drawn to, and the
eyes of the model/artist can give a lot away about
the image. Bobby Womack, who features on the
front cover and double page spread, is pictured
smiling in order to appeal to the audience and
connote a warm, happy tone to the magazine. The
indie music genre is very unique, and typical
listeners of this genre of music also have very
bold, extravagant tastes in fashion, which is why the
main image features the artist with very unique, out-
there fashion in order to appeal to the target
audience.
7. Clash Magazine
Only one main image of Bobby Womack has
been used on the front cover to reflect on the
main content within the magazine. Many
magazines will often feature more than one
image on their front page to entice readers with
the content, but I think the simplicity of just one
image makes this magazine look more mature Maslow‟s Hierarchy of Needs
(1954), stated that, “magazines
and stylish. Bobby Womack is not seen as a
and advertisements promise to
particularly attractive figure (especially not to fulfil many of our needs to be
Clash magazine’s target audience), but he accepted into social groups
could be seen as someone who young and our need for self-esteem
musicians aspire to be. and self-respect.” The main
image on the front cover is
styled to allow readers to really
The photo itself and the pose is quite natural; connect with the indie vibe and
having him smile connotes a warm, happy allows them to feel like they
feeling to the magazine. His styling and make- belong to that particular
genre/group. Styling Womack
up is also kept to a minimal level to show the like this would also allow
simplicity of the magazine style and tone. Using readers self-respect as they see
a mid-shot also allows the reader to clearly see people with similar interests can
the model‟s facial expression, whilst also filling look ‘cool’ so allows them to
the page but leaving space for text. feel better about themselves.
8. Clash Magazine
The front cover for Clash magazine doesn‟t
give a lot away to the reader about what is
featured inside the magazine – there is a list
of the featured artists and just a couple of
the main articles, but nothing that really
gives a hint to the reader about what is
being said inside the magazine. In some
sense this could be quite effective as it may
intrigue readers to read and buy the
magazine, whereas it may also put
consumers off from buying the
magazine, as there is no clue as to what
they will read about – if there is noting
interesting, they won’t continue to buy it.
However, what is actually written on the
front cover is very clear and easy to read
from a distance, and the minimal use of
text could also entice a reader to buy the
magazine, as it is not too overwhelming.
9. Clash Magazine
The contents page actually
has no images apart from
two of the alternative front
cover designs to inform the
reader of the issue they are
reading. The use of no other
images actually makes the
magazine look more
organised and professional,
but arguably looks more
like a high-profile fashion
magazine such as Vogue
because of the way it has
been structured. This
doesn’t help the reader at
all as it makes the page
look boring to look at, and
doesn’t give any clue
away about the content of
the magazine.
10. Clash Magazine
Overall, the front cover has been designed quite
well in the sense that the magazine has created
its own identity, being one of the few indie-music
magazines published. It would stand out really
well against most other magazines because the
overall design is so unique and different, but
really the actual language and text may not
necessarily be enough to entice a reader into
buying the magazine, as very little information is
given away about the magazine’s content. The
magazine front cover also does well to “include
both a categorisation and an evaluation of the
group being stereotyped,” Branston and Stafford
(2010). The indie music genre is something that is
slowly becoming more popular in British
culture, and just like any other genre of music, the
people who listen to it are often stereotyped. The
front cover does well to create and hold a „style‟
and „title‟, which stereotypical indie fans would
relate and conform to.
11. Clash Magazine
The layout of the text is really well
structured and is appropriately
organised according to the type
of article to make locating page
numbers/articles easier for the
reader. The use of lines across
the page to section text also
helps to effectively give the
magazine identity, as it is
something which is repeated on
a lot of the pages throughout the
magazine. These lines also help
to fill blank spaces and creates
an interesting design/pattern for
the page. A lot of the fonts have
also been made bold in order for
the numbers and the titles to
stand out better against the
regular text.
12. Clash Magazine
The language style, which is particularly
evident on the double page spread, is
quite formal considering, the fun, quirky
design of the magazine. As Clash try to
target quite a few students, the
language style is very intellectual and
uses a wide range of advanced
vocabulary – the text talks to the
readers and treats them like adults. The
text also features some examples of
rude/adult language here and there
within the article, but this just makes the
whole magazine seem much more
grown up and perfect for adult readers.
The language used is also fairly genre-
specific, it uses a lot of music
terminology in order to connect directly
with the readers, who are more than
likely to be big fans of music.
13. Clash Magazine
Overall, Clash Magazine gives off a very grown up feel
which is well suited to its target audience, and has a
very professional and stylish look to it. Every single page
is well thought about and the style and design is kept
consistent for that professional look which is what
makes the magazine so popular. However, some
readers may argue that a few pages, such as the
contents page, are too simple and do not live up to the
design of the rest of the magazine. I really like how ‘real’
the magazine is, everything from the colour scheme to
the writing style is kept very natural and realistic, and
helps to bring out the indie vibe. With my magazine, I
would like to use Clash‟s language style and page
design and layout for inspiration.
