This document analyzes the layout conventions of various music magazines, including Q Magazine, Musical Theatre Magazine, Top of the Pops magazine, We Love Pop magazine, and Musical Theatre Magazine. Key conventions identified include placement of coverlines, use of primary and secondary images, section names, fonts, and color schemes. The document also analyzes sample double page spreads from Top of the Pops and Musical Theatre Magazine to identify their adherence to magazine layout conventions like headline placement, use of columns, and inclusion of a block quote.

1. MUSIC MAGAZINE ANALYSIS
Vicky Addis

2. INTRODUCTION
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I have decided to analyze music magazines in the genre of pop or musical
theatre as these are what I want to base my magazine on. By analyzing
magazines in genres I want to base mine on I can find the conventions for
the layout, pictures and types of stories they use in their magazines and
interpret and adapt these into my magazine.

3. Q MAGAZINE
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MASTHEAD
MAIN IMAGE
FOOTER
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PUG/PUFF
SKYLINE
BLOCK QUOTE
PUG/PUFF
COVERLINES

4. Q MAGAZINE
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The genre of Q magazine is charts/R&B/ Rock. This can be identified
as the artists fit into the above genres. Tinie Tempah also fits this
genre.
The iconic sign of the masthead Q in the red box is used as it is
reoccurring in all editions of the magazines. It is Iconic as
there isn’t any symbolic meaning behind it. The colour red is a
symbolic sign as it can signify love or sometimes the indexical
sign can be danger or warning. The colour red also is seen as
sophisticated. The preferred reading of the colour red is
probably for the sophisticated look and for desire, the
oppositional however is danger.
Tinie Tempah is superimposed infront of the Q logo as it is a very popular magazine
and you can cover the logo as people can tell which magazine it is, this also makes
Tinie Tempah the main focus of the magazine. The close up of Tinie Tempah shows
him looking focused and firm, the preferred reading of this is to make him seem
dominant and powerful which the target audience would feel however the
oppositional reading of this could be that he is intimidating and would then
possibly put a reader off the magazine. Tinie Tempah was used as the main image
as he is iconic to the genre the magazine is.
The typography styles vary on the front cover from
the quote at the top and coverline on the left in a
Serif font making is stand out and look professional,
however the signature is in a script font to make it
look hand written. The preferred reading of this is to
make it seem personal as if he signed it for them.
The script/ san serif font listing the artists is used
also possibly for a signature vibe. The font is also
quite appealing to its target audience of teenagers
and young adults.
The colour scheme for the magazine is mainly pastel blue and
pink. The symbolic signs of these colours are innocence and
naivety however the colours also are appealing to a female
audience. Tinie Tempahs shirt is also the same colour to keep
the magazine look organised and the layout consistent.
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Tinie Tempah, being superimposed makes him the main focus of the
magazine therefore the rest of the parts to the magazine tend to
revolve around him. The pug/puff is also behind Tinie Tempah but
because of the boxing and typography it still stands out. The names of
the artists are down the right hand side and do not overlap over or
under Tempah so that you can still see them however the signature is
on top of Tinie himself which makes it seem like he himself signed the
magazine. The second puff on the left fills most of the left as it is the
only thing on that side, being no.1 too also makes it stand out and
that is why it is also boxed.

5. MUSICAL THEATRE MAGAZINE
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MASTHEAD
MAIN IMAGE COVERLINES
FOOTER

6. MUSICAL THEATRE MAGAZINE
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The genre of this magazine is musical theatre.
This can be seen through the font for the masthead as it is like the bulbs on
the show signs and dressing rooms. The image of the stage also gives this
away and the red colour is stereotypical for theatres.
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The main image on the magazine is of a man on stage. His
body language is very casual making it seem like the stage
is his home. His clothing also is very casual. The preferred
reading of this is to make it seem like the stage is his
home and he is comfortable where he is however the
oppositional reading of this could be that he doesn't’t care
for his appearance or career. The picture is an extreme
longshot so that you can see the background of the
theatre. Him in the foreground however makes him the
centre of attention. This image was chosen as its preferred
reading is that people interested in musical theatre would
want to be in this guys position and you can immediately
tell that the magazine has something to do with theatre.
The main colour of the magazine is red. The symbolic sign of red is love and
passion. The red in this case, I think has a preferred reading of passion
however to some people who find performing daunting, may see the red as
danger and threatening which is also an indexical sign of red.
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The coverlines on the magazine are very specific to musical
theatre. The Tony awards are awards given in New York to
plays and musicals so an article on this would appeal to an
audience with an interest in musical theatre. Another
article in the magazine is Acting as a Business which is
appealing to people who wish to get a career in
performing and also there is an article on hormones and
how they effect your voice which would also appeal to
people training in singing and want a career in Musical
theatre which is the primary target audience of this
magazine. The magazine also has articles on new musicals
such as Forbidden Broadway and musical theatre stars
which the target audience would be interested in.
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The layout of the Musical Theatre Magazine is quite alike to the Q
Magazine as the cover lines are on the right hand side of the front cover to
not detract from the picture. However having looked in more detail at the
musical theatre magazine they always put the coverlines on the right hand
side whereas for Q magazine this is a one of. Like all magazines the
masthead is at the top on both magazines. The musical theatre magazine
is more dull and unprofessional. From searching online, I couldn't’t find
anymore musical theatre magazines so they do not have to be as
competitive as Q who have more competition. Musical Theatre also do not
superimpose anything on their name is not very well known however Q is
a well known magazine so can afford to superimpose.

7. TOTP CONTENTS
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HEADLINE
MAIN IMAGE SECTIONS
SECONDARY
IMAGE
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SECONDARY
IMAGE

8. TOTP CONTENTS
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The headline of the top of the pops magazine is bright pink and the font is a san serif font. Both
of these have been chosen as the magazines target audience is teenage girls. The colour pink is
stereotypically feminine and pinks symbolic for beauty and friendships- topics that the
magazine are likely to cover. The san serif font is appealing to the audience as it is more
informal and that is why most of the magazine is in this font. The contents page overall has
more pictures than you usually see on contents pages and more sections. The sections also are
appealing to teenage girls as they are quite juvenile such as we love boys, we love shopping
(fashion being a subgenre), all about you and celebs and gossip. Certain articles have been
highlighted. I presume this is to draw the audiences attention to them as they are the more
interesting articles- this is a iconic sign. The iconic circled secondary image of one direction
stands out as it is circled and one direction obviously, are appealing to the teenage girl
audience. The secondary image of the clothing gives you a visual representation of what will be
in the magazine.
One thing I like that this magazine does, is use a picture of the front cover and showing you where the articles are. I do however feel this is
more appealing to a younger audience as they prefer visual representations. I also like that the sections have a re-occurring “we love” although
the we love is very juvenile and childish, I shall consider having re-occurring names for section for my magazine as it gives it more structure
and makes it stand out to other pages.
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The 3D giveaway also appeals to their teenage audience as they do not have an income to spend as having free 3D things within the
magazine ,appeals to them. This is also apparent in the Wins and Offers section as they do not have an income. The house style for this
magazine is yellow and pink, the symbolic signs from these colours are friendship, passion, beauty and in yellow, joy, friendliness and
warmth. The indexical sign and oppositional reading of the colour yellow is caution.

9. WE LOVE POP CONTENTS
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HEADLINE
MAIN IMAGE
SECTIONS
SECONDARY
IMAGES
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FOOTER
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EDITORS
LETTER

10. WE LOVE POP CONTENTS
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We Love Pop have the same target audience to Top of the Pops
however I think it looks more grown up. The We Love Pop
magazine has an editors letter which makes this contents page
look like it has more writing on and therefore appeal to older
teenagers. However, We Love Pop has more secondary images
so there is an even balance. Being a Christmas edition of We
Love Pop they have used the colour green that we associate
with Christmas and a tinsel piece of clip art. In the main
image, Olly Murs is wearing a jumper to also show the season.
To link to the name of the magazine, ‘ We Love Pop’ their
contents page is called ‘We Love This’… although the choice of
language is very juvenile, I like the link to the name of the
magazine and name of the contents page. We Love Pop does
not have sections for the magazine, having the sections helps
structure the contents page and I find it easier to read the
contents page with the sections. On the bottom of this
magazine is a footer of a sneak peak to all the boyband posters
that you can get in the magazine. When I was younger, I used
to stick up all the posters from magazines therefore this is a
good touch to a contents page to appeal to a young female
audience.
The main font on the magazine is San Serif but bold which
makes it stand out and still appeal to a young audience. The
signature of the editors letter is script to make it seem signed.
All the sneak peak quotes to the articles re in a san serif italic
blue, being blue and italic they are different to the sections
and articles and therefore stand out more. The magazine also
have blocked out O’s and 0’s and used this as a house style.
The secondary images on the contents page also give you an insight
to the content of the magazine. The images include One Direction,
The Wanted and Union J. Boybands primarily appeal to the young
teeange girls therefore that is why these were picked. The
oppositional reading of the boybands is that teenagers become too
distracted by boybands and fantasizing about perfect boys. You can
separate the images by their size.

11. MTM CONTENTS
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HEADLINE
MAIN IMAGE
SECTIONS

12. MTM CONTENTS
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The main image on the MTM contents page is a picture from
the strip of Broadway with all the musical posters. Some of
the musical posters are mainstream but a few are very
obscure- this shows me that the magazine is targeted at
people who have a big interest in musical theatre and more
likely want a career in it or are very passionate/ have a big
interest in musical theatre, not just people who have seen a
few musicals. The pictures coloured filters give it more life
and stop it looking plain. I think the filters are a iconic sign
as they are just a variety of colours however the rainbow
could portray happiness and joy. MTM haven’t used any
secondary images as they would block and detract from the
main image.
MTMs contents page overall is
very plain however only having
released 3 volumes of their
magazine they are still
experimenting with their layout.
The left hand side of the contents
page doesn't’t have anything,
they could have used a
secondary image here or an
editors letter.
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The headline for the contents
page is the copied masthead.
This is a common convention
for magazines, they tend to
copy the masthead or use the
same typography that they
used on the front cover.
Therefore the the musical
theatre magazine conforms a
magazine convention. The
preferred reading of this is
that the magazine is very
themed however the
oppositional could be that
they lazily just copied it. Like I
mentioned before the
masthead is an iconic sign
however its background of
the curtains, and the light
bulb font are associated with
the theatre.0
The sections in MTM are related to musicals, tips and stars. For example The Tonys, noticing
changes in your vocal range and Kinky Boots’ star Sam Zeller. These appeal to people with a
passion for musical theatre or people who wish for a career in Musical Theatre.

13. TOTP DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
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HEADLINE
MAIN IMAGE
SECONDARY
IMAGES
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BLOCK QUOTE
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COLUMNS

14. TOTP DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
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The TOTP Double Page Spread conforms the DPS
conventions. This is noticeable as the Main Image
takes up half the article, and the typography is in
columns. The article also uses a block quote that has
something to do with the article and is inspiring.
SECONDARY
IMAGES
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The colour scheme on the magazine is pinks and purples,
appealing to the female audience. The article is also
about dating and the colour pink has a connotation of love
and that is also why it is used. To link to the theme of love,
they have used hearts on the background to the front
cover. The article was also an interview, this can be seen
through the pink typography at the start of each section.
The headline of the article, which is also a quote “NO
MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS, IM NOT DATING ANYONE’
shows the audience about the gossip and rumors that leak
in the industry, this choice of language however, could
have an oppositional reading and could be seen as quite
rude and abrupt. However the preferred reading of this is
to show Taylor Swift as a strong and independent female,
and the preferred reading is to empower the audience to
also feel this way.
The secondary images used on the double page spread link to
the story as the one is of pop star Ed Sheeran she was
rumoured to be dating. The preferred reading of this is that
she is focussing on her career as although she dueted with Ed,
doesn’t mean shes dating him. She instead is focused on her
music career, however the oppositional reading of this is that
Ed is portrayed as a really nice guy and it is not
understandable that she would turn him down or not want to
be in a relationship with a nice guy, it makes Taylor out to be
looking for bad boys however this is more of an indexical
reading.

15. MTM DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
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HEADLINE
MAIN IMAGE
SECONDARY
IMAGE
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COLUMNS
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COLUMNS
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MAIN IMAGE

16. MTM ARTICLES
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The article on the left hand side of the double page spread is about musical theatre star Sam Zeller titled ,” Sam Zeller- on the road again” Sam
Zeller is popular for his part as Valjean in popular musical, Les Miserables and many others. Back on the road again shows he is back as he takes
part in musical, Kinky Boots ( seen in the secondary image). The article on the left is about Chris March and her appearance in musical,
Spamalot- being a very obscure and strange musical links to the title of this article being ‘ Larger than Life’ not only, describing Chris March’s
personality and size but also describing Spamalot. You can easily identify it is about Spamalot due to the ridiculously eccentric costume. This is
the same for the Sam Zeller article, Valjeans costume is always the same and the target audience ( very passionate about musical theatre)
should be able to identify that it is Valjeans costume.
Chris March’s facial expression on the image on the right hand side is used to show her character however if you were not aware of her
characteristics, you would see the image with an oppositional reading that she is shouting and you would see the image and the costume she
is earing as outrageous and would possibly therefore not read the article. Unless you had a big interest in musical theatre you would possibly
not know the two stars in this article, also as this is American they are Broadway stars, not west end stars so an audience in England may also
not know them and not be interested in the article. The MTM magazine therefore is for an American audience with a large interest and want for
a career in musical theatre rather than people with the same psychographics but in England.
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