This document provides an overview of the codes and conventions used in Mixmag magazine. It summarizes that the front cover typically features a large masthead with the magazine title, date, a colorful main image to draw readers' attention, cover lines advertising stories inside, and standard elements like the barcode. The document also notes that the average Mixmag reader is a 26-year-old single male with disposable income interested in music, clubs, and going out.

1. Hashim Pervase
Unit 50 LO1
In this unit I will individually produce a double page and front cover feature spread article for
MIXMAG magazine. Within these various tasks we are asked to conduct research which will help us
develop our original ones. Within this report I will include a biography about Adam Who, Produce a
detailed profile of the Mix mag reader and then finally outline the codes and conventions of the Mix
mag magazine.
Biography:
Adam Who? Born Adam Ervine (21/9/1992) is a dance music artist hailing from
Birmingham, England. He was born to Leonard Ervine and Christie Monteiro and was
raised in Balsall Heath, Birmingham.
From a young age Adam Who? Was interested in music, more specifically garage
(having grown up in the 90’s) his favorite artists were Craig David and the Artful
Dodger. Adam’s Parents met at a Spandau Ballet Concert, and were keen music fans
themselves. With all these influences Adam started to play an electronic keyboard ages
5; and excelled at music early on. Adam was also a keen martial artist; he started
training at 14, and competed in mixed martial arts events. He competed in the infamous
Cage Rage at age 18 but was unsuccessful, it was later revealed that he developed
scoliosis; ending his martial arts career.
A relatively dark period of Adams life, he was distraught at the loss of his career; he was
set on becoming a UFC champion. However he did earn the respect of famous martial
artist and minor celebrity Alex Reid, who has given Adam tips of living in the limelight.
Adam lives with his parents who recently moved out of Balsall Heath into a much
greener Hall Green. Christie – Adams mother has said that Adam loves Italian food; and
he loves eating out.
Since his release of the Abyss; Adam has played remixes at the Custard Factory, as well
as playing his track underground to get some more income into his household. He is
currently planning collaboration with infamous rap group; Spark hill Rangers, hoping to
create a rap meets dance music track.
Adam who is often seen keeping in with the latest fashion, sporting casual and formal
wear. His single The Abyss had its rights bought by the Sixth Form College Solihull and
was used to create music videos.
As his martial arts career was ended abruptly, Adam often finds himself frustrated, as he
is no longer able to train like the athlete he once was. This has lead to anger problems,
and issues with the police.
The young artist holds high aspirations, he wants to be playing across all the hottest
clubs in Britain, as well as touring islands such as Ibiza, Gran Canaria and Tenerife. He
also wishes to play music at his mother’s homeland of Brazil, and make it big in the
states too.

2. Hashim Pervase
Profile of the Mixmag Reader:
Mixmag is a British Dance music and clubbing magazine; and is the largest selling Dance
magazine globally with sales of 20,053 in 2011 alone (Source: ABC). It launched in 1982
when dance music had just become a worldwide phenomenon; and the magazine looked
to capitalize on that. Soon after the magazine was started it was bought out by EMAP,
then later bought by Development Hell. Since 2009 Mixmag have released another
magazine, which is based in Brazil; it is very similar in style but appeals more to the
clubbing demand of South Americans.
Originally Mixmag wanted to ‘Focus the magazine very tightly on a young clubber, a
very committed hardcore nutter clubber…’ but after a long review of the audience
Mixmag ‘…thought that wasn’t necessarily the way to go’. Mixmag now appeals to a
wider audience, from the old hardcore, to more chilled out types of music, as well as the
alternatives we find today.
The modern magazines are stylish, they are written by well respected music writers,
and they articles feature new music and artists who are emerging on the dance music
stage. The variety of music stretches from Urban to House to Electronica, and the focus
isn’t just on music. There are guides to planning a night out in different cities, the best
clubs, the best festivals and concerts. There is a more sophisticated and sexy appeal to
the magazines, it draws in audiences through appeal.
The language within the magazine is well constructed, many of the writers are well
versed in journalism thus create almost broadsheet-news standard articles in terms of
language and structure.
The average age for a mixmag reader is 26 years old, with the majority of readers being
male – 72%. Readers would describe themselves as single and with a high disposable
income; we can see that we have a young affluent readership. 80% of readers claim this
is their only magazine; and the majority of readers spend little time watching TV. From
this we can evaluate that these readers are often out and about, spending their money,
and they want to know where the best places to spend it are.

3. Hashim Pervase
Codes and Conventions:
Front Cover (Using may 2009 example)
Masthead - The title mixmag is a brand; It also tells us what kind of category the magazine
would fit. The Masthead is a large white title, with a thick font; which contrasts with the
very colourful background. There is a distinctive font, with small patterns i.e. a swirl shaped
dot on the ‘I’. This is the same masthead that has appeared on every Mix mag magazine
cover, people associate the name mixmag with the genre of the magazine, which entails a
dance music and clubbing style magazine
Dateline - The date is in the bottom right corner, in smaller white text. It is out of the way,
allowing more information to grace the front cover. It tells you the date when it was
published date, month and year, monthly magazine, got to include it. It shows us when the
magazine was published so people have an option of which addition they want to buy.
Some subscribe to the magazine and pay monthly, they usually get it through the post, they
can easily check to see if the right issue has come through.Month and year of publication,
often with the price. Note that a monthly magazine usually hits the news-stands the month
before the cover date.
Main image -
The main image is very exciting; it does have an appeal seeming that a young attractive
female is one there. This in turn may provoke sales being that it is a largely male audience.
She is lying on a bed of grass; this ties in well with the magazine issue as festivals are a
prominent theme within articles.She is placed in the centre of the magazine with the focus
on her, this is because she is the artist being featured in the magazine. The text seems to fit
around her, being that she is the main feature of the front cover this would make sense.The
image stands out on a newsstand, because of a successful combination of both bright
clothing and bright make up. This collage of colours seizes the eyes of passers-by, only
playing into the heavy marketing strategy set forth by the company.
Model Credit - It is unusual for such a credit to appear on a magazine front cover, but it is
done when artists who aren’t as well known are featured. The photographer and model
credit is usually on the contents page, unless they have an article it isn’t mentioned later.
Cover Lines - This magazine edition was done in the peak of recession, thus a lot of articles
are promoting cheaper music concerts, tips on saving money at festivals etc. Cover lines are
contents on the page. Cover lines will let the reader know what is included within the
magazine; it will also help some people follow where certain information is that interests
them. A Mistake often made with cover lines is that they run over an image that has a lot of
colour changes, rendering the words difficult to read.

4. Hashim Pervase
Main Cover Line - The main talk is about festivals, as it was festival season that time of the
edition. It also features the cover artist who is performing at one of the festivals. The main
cover line ties in with the main theme of the magazine, which are festivals. The line
‘Festivals are go’ only emphasises the whole theme. The main cover line has to be relevant
with the other cover lines what I mean that the people reading this will have interest
throughout from start to end. If you ensure this then the reputation and popularity of the
magazine will rise. This in my eyes needs to be included because it promotes and catches
the audiences’ eye.
Left Third - Cover lines that are advertising a Free CD with the Mag, as well as talking about
fashion and music events. Leave a section for the cover lines; this might involve what is in
the magazine and other relevant information. This means that the lines are very square and
that neatens up the image. The cover lines within the left third are ‘bold’ this will interest
the reader and it will appeal to them more. In this magazine, the words overlap the image,
however they are a different colour to the woman, so it is not very difficult to read.
Bar Code - Barcodes are needed on most products; reason being is that they are required
for identifying cost upon the customers purchase. It is also used for identifying batches of a
product as well as shipments. Nowadays there are 3d barcodes which can be scanned by
android phones, a commonality with today’s youth. Barcodes are used for security tracking,
theft deterrence and an evident reduction in losses to the company. This is good if there is a
major theft of a product at transport, here we know we can stop the sale by putting a close
on all products with that certain barcode. Standard bar code used by retailers, displayed on
UK magazines since 1988.
The selling line is at the top, and it is the distinctive and familiar phrase ‘The world’s biggest
dance music and clubbing magazine’. It also provides customer reassurance that they are
purchasing this household name. It can also be seen as creating customer pride, how the
customer purchases the best magazine of that genre around. The trio ‘Fields, Fun, Filth’ is
used near the top of the mixmag page, describing the theme of that magazine edition. It is a
familiar set for festival goers, and they will understand what it means. The catch line is short
and sharp, it follows the magic three rule, and is also and alliteration which makes it all the
more memorable. They are all words people who go to festivals can relate too; and those
are the things people remember about music festivals.

5. Hashim Pervase
Double Page Spread: (Using October 2012 example)
Topics and Subjects discussed Firstly, the recently released album is discussed; this is a
textbook way to start a musician interview as you want to feed their ego by stating their
accomplishments. Secondly, the genre of music, and more importantly the evolution of their
genre of music are discussed; this gives somewhat of a summary of the artist. It allows the
readers who aren’t aware of whom this artist is, to understand the artist a little more. There
are often follow up questions in regards to performances, what type of music they would
perform at a concert. More often than not a few questions are asked, in regards to the type
of crowd, the city they performed and possibly about the tour. This opens up the artist’s
opinions and it gives a personal feel to what it’s like performing in front of a crowd, and
what it’s like. Sometimes, the interviewee may delve into the past of the artist, if they feel
it’s necessary and that it has greatly affected the career, sometimes they may talk about
their personal life. If musicians become public figures, it is imperative that some information
about their personal life is disclosed, but to set this up, there are often friendlier questions
beforehand. Closing questions seem to be directed at further ambition, coming events. It
has been proven that when presented with information, the first and last pieces of
information stick better in the memory, for this reason talk about the artist’s upcoming
events, or recently released albums, are placed at polar opposites of the article.
Images play a big part in the double page spread; There are two images in this double page
spread, the more prominent being the medium-close up picture of the artist featured, which
takes the entire right page. Because the artist is into dark trance music, the image itself is
set in a dark room, and the artist wears dark clothing, the only lighting is focused on the face
of the artist. This may be because in the article he is described as the ‘Unicorn Trance Slayer’
a type of music hated by true dance musicians. Thus he may be shown in some form of
divine light, as he is depicted as the saviour of dance music. The second, and smaller image,
is a thumbnail like photograph of a model featured in a music video by the artist. The model
is famous for her large assets, and they are displayed in the picture, the corresponding
paragraph also addresses the models appearance. As it is a point of contention the article
features her picture, also the picture itself is a snapshot from a music video recently
released by the artist which co-incidentally is talked about later in the article.
Colour Schemes Used, The Q&A page is a plain white, with black writing, his name is written
in red but, besides that it is a plain designed page. This is a very structures format and the
colour scheme is not really anything special. This may be because of the depth of lighting
and colour displayed in the right hand picture. The right page is very dark, predominantly
black, with a contrasting white for the quote taken from the article. And another light is
shone on the artist in the picture; this creates a contrast and may also play in with the
saviour image. A possible link may be the pure white colour used, also the word white crops
up again in regards to his teeth, so this may actually be linked, or be a theme.