Analysing of Magazines, what it takes

When analysing the magazine, there are many areas which need to be included: 

-target audience, who the magazine is aimed at and from there age to their gender and what political views do they stand for and the reason for buying the magazine, so this would be for a music magazine the genre of music which the magazine is aimed at, it wouldn’t then include something completely different to what the customer wants, also with aiming the magazine at a target market, the adverts will have to be included, and they have to be related to the readers, if you take the music magazine, ‘mix mag’ a more urban drum and bass, Djing magazine, it would include music technology for mixing desks and headphones, and the latest music tech. But if the magazine was for guitar weekly or something, then it wouldn’t include the same kind of adverts, it would be focused on the readers and why are they reading the magazine, for guitars, so the adverts will try and sell guitars, it wouldn’t have drum and bass music included.

 When meeting a target audience needs, it will also include the content of the magazine, so for a hip hop magazine which I am going to do, I will have to include interviews and back to basics, so to get to know the people,  because the hip hop scene is very close and the target audience want to know more about ‘their’ artists,  this would be different to a pop magazine, where people would just like a song, but not like what the artist is about and the meaning of the music and they style which they represent there music, i.e. Pharrell Williams, who brought out a fresh clothing line, and it appeals to the market and the style which he has created for himself. You don’t see this much in main stream music, but in rock and grime, it occurs often and means the target audience can get closer to their icon.

The  next area my research needs to cover is colour and style, so what I will have to do is focus my attention on the front cover and see how it is used and how it flows, looking at the cover can really get a grasp on the audience and who the magazine is for, and magazines sell on first appearances not just on the content, if a magazine had a really good front cover, and a good double page spread, then it will sell regardless of the overall content, so getting the main focal point of the magazine correct means customers will buy the magazine, this includes the picture which is used, so if it was a main picture of  Lupe fiasco, then it would appeal to fiasco fans straight away, regardless of what magazine it was, then this would follow onto the magazine audience, then people who liked the look of the magazine, so the first appearance can mean a loss in customers or a gain.

Colours which are used on magazine also included in the overall design of the magazine, so many magazines use red black and white, this is because of the ease of the read, people will be able to read it easily and it doesn’t really make any stereotypes, the only time this is used is when its in a heavy metal  magazine, because then it is seen as emotion and feeling.

Genre- the genre which the magazine has been catered for will totally overrule the design of the magazine, a pure hip hop magazine, with its quirky flamboyance and different attitude to music, compared to a indie magazine which have there own individual style and scene, the two magazine would be completely different and the whole magazine wont share any similarities because of the fact neither do the readers, of the magazine, so this is a major area which needs to be taken into consideration.