Research - Magazine Front Covers

We know this is a dance music magazine because the model looks glamorous and her hair and makeup style look quite ‘disco’, as the title says next to her. Also the hot pink colour dress she is dressed in looks very dressed up and a lot like party/disco wear. She stands out from the background as her brightly coloured dress s contrasts with the dull purple background. She immediately catches our eye as there is light shining on her face to focus our attention on her. The prop next to the model is a retro tape player with a speaker underneath, this piece of equipment is also associated with disco and dance music. The layout here is busy, there is a lot going on and many different heading and subheadings to keep the reader interested. Limited colours are used; white, purple and pink, to keep colour scheme of the layout simple yet effective, as these colours are quite bright. Only 2 different styles of font are used which also keeps the layout simple and not too messy looking. A slogan is used “The world’s biggest dance music magazine” to let the reader know this is a good quality magazine and make them more likely to buy it. Also there is a pink circle with the words “new look mixmag” in it to tell us that improvements have been made and the magazine is now even better. We can tell this magazine in aimed at a more female audience than male because the colours pink and purple are connote femininity. I think this is aimed at young adults, around ages 16-25 as it promotes ‘nights out’ which would be unsuitable for a young audience, but unappealing to an older audience.

This cover uses similar colours to the previous one and also tells us the magazine is more aimed at women than men. The model’s clothes are quite different on this cover, as she wears a quite floaty, white, more casual dress. Use of illustration is shown on this to catch the reader’s attention; it frames the model making us immediately focus on her. There isn’t as much going on on this cover; there is a lot more white space shown as it isn’t as busy. Each subheading is in a larger font and a different colour to make it stand out, with a smaller caption underneath to provide extra information. This cover only includes two different types of font to also keep the layout simple and not too busy.

The model on this cover is again wearing bold colours and also bold prints which reflects against the busy layout. It also looks quite loud and dance like which is the theme of the magazine – “The world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine”. She is also lay on grass as a feature of the issue is festivals which are located on fields. Bright colours are used like orange, white and to make it stand out from the background. We can also see a free CD and competitions are included on the front to attract the reader, these are put on coloured backgrounds to make them eye catching. The title “mixmag” is always the biggest font on the page to show that this is what the magazine is called. Again, only two different styles of font are used to keep it looking organized as the cover has so many different things going on.

Orange and white are used again on this cover which stand out a lot from the black and white background used and focus our attention on the headings and subheadings. Also another free CD features in this issue which suggests they do this every issue. The model on this cover is dressed in black to make the orange writing stand out over her dress. Light is also reflecting off her gold chain to make it eye catching. The white pole she is holding also is lit up which attracts our attention towards her. I have also noticed on a lot of these dance magazines there is a small box in the top right hand corner advertising nights out. This has a different coloured background and is framed to also draw our attention towards it.

The model’s make up on this cover stands out the most, it reflects the magazine’s dance music theme as it is bold and gold which is a loud colour. Her hairstyle also reflects this ‘loud’ look as it is very different from what you would normally see. It is also in front of the “mixmag” title this time to draw our attention more towards the hair rather than the heading. The colours on this magazine are also loud; orange is mostly used like some other issues and black and white stands out against the paler orange background. The name of the artist on the cover is also as big as the magazine title, which tells us she is a very important feature in this issue. Only two different styles of font have been used so the reader isn’t confused with the already busy layout.