The front cover of Mixmag magazine follows conventions of magazine design through placement of elements like the masthead, sell lines, and date. This cover features Calvin Harris and uses vibrant colors and his cool image to appeal to the target audience of young males interested in dance music. The layout and design elements like fonts, placement of text, and color scheme maintain Mixmag's brand identity while drawing in readers through an exciting cover image and enticing sell lines written in a casual style.

1. The front cover of Mixmag follows general and layout conventions
of a standard magazine front cover in the placement of things
such as sell lines, the strapline and the masthead; the strapline
being located directly above the masthead, the masthead being
located at the top of the page and sell lines being located on the
left and right hand side, going downwards in columns. The cover
also looks similar to many of Mixmag‟s other magazine covers,
reinforcing and maintaining Mixmag‟s brand identity in its layout,
the use of vibrant colours and sell lines in the same font. Although
it looks similar to other Mixmag covers, this particular front cover
has an individual and unique look to it; the sell lines are placed at
an unusual angle (they look slightly rotated to the left angle
whereas on other Mixmag covers they are normally straight) and
the colours are extremely vibrant - although they usually stand out
on Mixmag front covers, the pinks, yellows and whites catch the
eye and will differ to any other magazine on the stand at a
newsagents.

2. o The masthead is the Mixmag logo, and is always on the
front cover of Mixmag as the masthead, helping to create
a symbiotic link between all the Mixmag covers and the
Mixmag franchise. The masthead is also covering the artist
on the front‟s forehead suggesting that the magazine isn‟t
very established, however, it may be due to the 2006
revamp that Mixmag had, which would have been recent
when this particular magazine was released, therefore it
suggests that Mixmag is trying to re-establish themselves,
and create a new representation to the magazine. The
name „Mixmag‟ suggests that the magazine focuses on
dance music – the idea of a DJ mixing on turntables
spings to the audience‟s mind and as they like dance
music, they will be interested as to what the magazine will
have in it. The masthead is also written in display font, with
a curvy typeface in a large size) making it look
sophisticated yet simple, thus appealing to the audience
of males in their late twenties. It is clear and bold making it
stand out – this is added to by the use of bright pink as the
colour of the font. The font used for the masthead reflects
the fun, euphoric freedom of dance music and dance
culture. The „dot‟ on the „I‟ also resembles a CD or vinyl
disc.
The main image is of Calvin Harris – the featured artist – who is a
internationally successful dance music artist; the audience will
know of/about him and will know the majority of his songs. He is
represented as being very cool and slick through his use of
costume. He‟s wearing red sunglasses, a yellow t-shirt and a white
blazer; an odd combination which, in everyday life would go
together and wouldn‟t look cool yet Calvin seems to look
effortlessly smooth. The image reflects the genre that it celebrates
(dance music) through its use of colour scheme; the fun, light and
vibrant colours reflect a party/summery atmosphere, whereas if
the magazine were to use dark colours such as black and grey,
the reader would assume it was a rock music magazine. Therefore
the colour scheme helps to make sure that Mixmag attracts the

3. correct target audience. The way Calvin Harris also looks
extremely cool, trendy and slick would attract the audience too –
as males, they may find they desire to be like him and so, if they
buy the magazine too, they may feel that they will be able to fulfil
this desire. The image also helps to influence the readers musical
preferences as it is an image which not only dominates the page,
but, an image that is memorable and will stick in the readers mind
for a while, therefore, even if they don‟t listen to Calvin Harris
usually, they could remember that, as he is on the cover of
Mixmag, it means he is a trendy and established artist and of
course as the audience is young males, they will have a natural
desire to want to fit in and be on trend. Although there is no clear
genre specific iconography on the cover, we can see through the
reflection of Calvin‟s glasses that he is stood above his
turntables/decks, so iconography signalling genre is subtly hinted
on the cover, making sure again that the right audience will be
attracted. The way it is subtly hinted also suggests Calvin Harris is a
big enough artist who doesn‟t need to have blatant iconography
signalling his genre of music on the cover; the audience should
know and recognize him, therefore it makes Mixmag look more
appealing – they haven‟t just got a random underground DJ on
the cover, they have infact chosen an internationally known chart
topping DJ to be on the cover, attracting more readers. The cover
also follows Mixmag‟s own front cover conventions; it has no
feature article photographs and the sell-lines are presented in a
column format on the left and right hand sides of the page, giving
the cover a more sophisticated edge and maintaining Mixmag‟s
brand identity.
The sell-lines are also key in attracting and enticing the target
audience of Mixmag; they will make the reader want to purchase
and read the magazine as they will want to find out the story
behind them. In this instance, the sell-lines use mode-of-address to
draw in and entice the reader. This is seen through the use of
slang/colloquial language which the target audience will

4. recognize and understand, for example, phrases such as „mouth
to mouth‟ or „go ga-ga in ZaZa land‟. By using expressions like this,
the audience will feel as though the magazine is on the same
level as them, a bit like a friend that uses the same vocabulary
and phraseology as them; this will lead them to recognise a
shared affinity with the magazine and to be more likely to
purchase it. In addition to this, the readership will experience a
feeling of pride and accomplishment upon identifying and
understanding the terms that appear on the front. Target
audiences can feel clever knowing that they „get‟ the references
that are made, and may even feel they belong to an exclusive
club of „in the know‟ readers. The sell-lines are also presented in
Mixmag‟s signature layout; with alternating colours for each
individual sell-line and a bold font. Although this cover doesn‟t
feature the common convention of direct address, it features
many other key language devices such as the rule of three (“how
to get there, where to stay and how to loose it in style”), rhyme
(“go ga-ga in ZaZa”) and alliteration (“Berlin to Brazil”). This will
help them to stick in the readers mind as they are catchy, fun and
make the magazine appear friendly. The colour of the sell-lines is
also important as it helps to draw the readers attention to the
magazine; each sell-line is the colour pink with small text
underneath being black, and it follows this routine throughout. This
helps to create the colour scheme on the front cover and also
acts as a magnet to draw in the audience; rather than the sell-
lines being a plain, boring colour such as black or grey, the sell-
lines bright colours help to catch the readers eye, maintaining the
focus/attention of the audience. The bold typography and block
capitals add to this, as they also help to make the sell-lines stand
out, especially against the white background. The typography of
the sell-lines also reinforces the brand identity of Mixmag, as this
same serif font appears to be used on all the sell-lines on Mixmag‟s
covers.

5. The layout of this cover specifically, follows key conventions that
Mixmag have created with the layout of their front covers, so that
the magazine upholds brand identity. It has a similar look to all
their other front covers; this is due to the fact that all the sell lines
are placed in lengthy columns on the left and right hand sides, in
the same font, with the masthead being at the top of the page,
again in the same font. The date-line and the barcode are also in
the same position as on other front covers (bottom right hand
corner); the main sell-line is also placed in the top left hand side of
the page, slightly near the centre; a convention once more that is
commonly featured in Mixmag. The audience will recognise these
conventions and so will know without even looking at the
masthead that the magazine is Mixmag – it will make them feel
comfortable and secure; they are familiar with the magazine and
know it won‟t change the layout/confuse them, thus putting the
reader at ease. The simplistic aspect of the layout also draws
in/reflects the audience; young males do not want a front cover
which is confusing or tacky as it could make them feel ashamed
of their favourite genre. They will want a simple yet sophisticated
layout which is clear and readable, and Mixmag demonstrates
this. The layout also appears spacious, appealing to the reader as
it isn‟t bombarded with information on the front cover – they won‟t
feel intimidated by the magazine, therefore they are more likely to
buy it.
Various fonts also appear on this front cover; the masthead is also
seen as the Mixmag logo which is conventional of music
magazine front covers. It is a display font and so this also adds to
the magazines eye-catching elements on the front cover,
however the bright pink colour exaggerates it that little bit more.
The curvy font that the masthead and main sell-line appear in
almost give the front cover a fun and youthful feel, however, this is
contrasted highly by the block capital serif font which appears on
the smaller sell-lines beneath them. The fonts, therefore, are used
on this magazine cover to reflect the audience that will be

6. reading it; they like to have fun but when it comes down to the
nitty gritty in dance music, they take it seriously. They also maintain
brand identity too, as extremely funky fonts tend to be used for
the main sell-line, with the smaller sell lines in the same, normal
font.
In conclusion, the Calvin Harris front cover of Mixmagis effective in
drawing in the audience, as it has many elements such as a
vibrant colour scheme, a dominating main image and effective
use of mode-of-address to appeal to the reader and make them
want to purchase the magazine. It will be successful in drawing in
the target audience as it has created the front cover with them in
mind; every inch of detail on the front cover somehow appeals to
the audience in one way or another. Also, the elements stated
above as well as many other elements on the front cover,
combined together means that the audience will definitely be
attracted to and interested in the magazine.