Analysis of Existing Media Texts

Music Magazine Front Covers

Mixmag’ is a very successful dance music and clubbing magazine and is very effective in delivering to its target audience.

The masthead is in a rounded and youthful format that is generally more attractive to its target audience. The font type is interesting, easy to read and relevant for its target audience because of its style and colours which appear youthful and fun.

The font consists of all lower case letters which give the magazine a more relaxed and youthful feel about it. The fluorescent colours are very typical of a dance magazine and the bright pink is a classic example. It seems very casual and the fluorescent pink stands out significantly on the page to its target audience.  

The main images on this front cover are both the deadmau5 symbol with the black mouse as well as in the bottom left hand corner with the album cover for “Bestival 2009 mixed by Rob Da Bank.” Both of the images are eye level shots. The symbol or mouse is very distinctive to all deadmau5 fans and can be easily recognised and is very popular with the target audience. The symbol appears black but it seems stylish with the shine on the mouse’ eyes as well as the mouth with an image within it. The image is very effective in its purpose as it can be easily recognised and identified by its fans and target audience and it promotes them to read the magazine. The image in the bottom left hand corner very clearly represents another artist with their album which is presented with an interesting font and image which is likely to appeal to the target audience as it seems like something new and therefore promote more of the target audience to read the magazine. This particular cover mount is effective with its use of images in luring in the target audience. The two distinctive images of both the deamau5 symbol and the new album cover are effective in capturing the target audiences’ attention because they produce the music in which the target audience want to read about therefore more people will read the magazine. The balance in which the magazine has used the images in this front cover is also particularly effective as it shows a well recognised, powerful symbol in dance with the deamau5 symbol with a new producer promoting their album as well which is a good contrast and backs up the magazines aims that they consider all dance music whether it be an experienced producer or new. Overall the images show both a symbolic dance symbol that is globally recognised being the “deadmau5” symbol as well as the album front cover from a new producer. The contrasting images are effective in attracting the target audience because they represent there interest of musical talent.

The sell lines on this magazine are very clear and effective in attracting the target audience. One sell line says, “Tour bus terror with the hottest talent in Dance!” This content or sell line is very effective in attracting the target audience as it says that the hottest talent in dance will be within the magazine. New, hot talent is another main interest in which entices the target audience therefore this is a successful technique. The magazine is using the sell line to influence the readers’ tastes by using words such as “hottest” which is what appeals to the youthful members of the target audience. The sell line grabs the attention of the target audience as it once again uses the fluorescent pink over the dark background. This seems to be a common use of attracting the target audience with the use of colour. In relation to front covers language used for the sell lines known as the mode of address language it is very casual and the text is relevant to a relatively young target audience. Also the colours suggest the sell lines are linked to high energy and positive experiences which are two strong believes in dance music.

The cover lines on the front cover are situated down the right side of the page which are in upper case letters in a mixture of colours to make them seem important and significant features on the page. There is the illuminous colour of pink, the bright white and black which is a significant contrast in colour use. The variety of colour does make the text more obvious and interesting and the use of black almost mirrors the use of bright fluorescent lights in a dark club. Too much of the illuminous pink could put of the male target audience therefore the use of black is effective in neutralising the colour to make it seem more attractive.  The use of upper case letters in all of the cover lines demonstrated the fact that they are important and it is an effective technique in enticing the reader to want to read the magazine. However the text size is not huge for the cover lines whereas the main sell lines such as deadmau5 are huge and take up a big percentage of the textual part of the cover. This signifies that they are not the most important feature of the cover mount. This front cover has a lot on it however would not be classified as clattered as everything is separated well and it makes it easier for the target audience to identify what is in the magazine. It is presented in an attractive manner which is effective with its contrasting use of image, colour and text. The front cover seems to have a conventional layout for a dance magazine which therefore doesn’t over complicate or confuse the reader. Its conventional layout consists of the traditional cover lines down the right, the main image in the middle, a clear selling line under the masthead and a very non complex font and colour choice for the content of the front cover.