Magazine Front Cover Analysis

The name of this magazine is ‘Maverick’ it is positioned at the top of the magazine front cover, it is written in capital letters to make it bolder and stand out. The M is Maverick is written is red while the rest of the name is written in white, this makes the M stand out more and it will also catch the reader’s eye due to it being the only red on the whole front cover. The word Maverick means an unorthodox or independent-minded person. This can relate to the magazine because they are the UK’s leading independent country music magazine. The name of the magazine can suggest that the audience is independent and also that they are of an older age range such as 25 to 40 years old.The colour scheme of this magazine is earth colours such as browns and greys. This colour scheme emphasises the country

music magazine, the background is of a cliff top that’s dirt and rocks around the edge, and this is a traditional convention in country music magazines. The use of a natural background follows through the country music conventions. The colour of the writing is mainly white this makes it stand out of the duller background. The colour white is traditionally seen as innocent and free, it can relate the country music because most country songs are innocent and natural. White can be seen as sophisticated as well, the whole colour scheme of the magazine cover gives off a sophisticated look telling you that the audience are adults and not young children. We can tell this because the colours are more sophisticated there is no fun blue or bright pink which would be seen on a magazine for young children. The positioning of the price and issue date is different from other magazines as they are both positioned directly under the strap line they are also written in a smaller size to make them less noticeable to the eye of the reader. The font for the price and issue date is different from the fonts for the sell-lines; they are in white as well as all the sell-lines. The sell-lines are all related to an artist within music and there latest releases or are about country music festivals. The sell-line under the price and issue date of the magazine is ‘EXCLUSIVE MIRANDA LAMBERT PLATINUM’ this is using a buzz word, which catches the audience’s attention The photo of ‘Miranda Lambert’, the artist, is natural; she is in a general standing position in the centre of the magazine making her the main focus of the magazine. She is holding a guitar which is another code and convention of country music; we generally stereotype that all country music artists play the guitar. Her dress is black following the sophisticated idea of the magazine. This

can suggest that the article on Miranda Lambert is different and she is stepping out and being sophisticated like her star image shows her as. The article is on her platinum album which holds the song ‘Somethin’ Bad’ a duet with Carrie Underwood, the black dress can give an insight about the album and the song ‘Somethin’ Bad’. There is a white rectangular shape which is positioned bottom right side of the magazine, just above the barcode, it holds words such as ‘New releases’ which are sell-lines that will catch the audience’s attention as the will be interested in what the new releases are and also they will be interested in what ‘Dusty Relics’ is, it sounds like a country song and that will make the readers wonder what it might be about and who sings it. These sell-lines are written in black on the white background of the shape, this also makes them stand out to the reader because most of the other sell-lines are written in white. The font used is similar throughout the front cover of this issue of Maverick. The title is in a Georgian font in capitals. Where the sell-lines are in Arial or New Roman font. The use of these fonts show that the target audience is sophisticated and elegant, which can be told through the use of the sophisticated fonts that are used on the front cover. The mode of address that is shown through the sell-lines as bold and with slight use of slang when talking about a song name.The overall layout of the magazine front cover is simple and traditional with the artists in the centre third of the front cover with the sell-lines on the left and right thirds of the front cover. Also the masthead and strap line are in capitals meaning that they stand out against the main image. The layout emphasises that the target audience needs to be fulfilled within the magazine.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Country Weekly is a music magazine promoting country music. The name is positioned at the top of the magazine front cover and is written in capital white letters. Making it stand out from the sell-lines and main image of Miranda Lambert. The colour white can emphasise the simplicity that country music has as the lyrics and musical instruments that are used to accompany the lyrics. The colour white symbolises innocence, hope and perfection. There is a banner saying ‘NEW LOOK!’ covering the tops of the ‘coun’ in the word country, this is written in a turquoise green colour. It attracts the target audience and draws them in because they want to have the newest country trends and the gossip on the country singers. It draws attention due to it being positioned in a unique place over the magazine name.

The skyline of the magazine is green and has three artists’ names written in yellow and two lines saying the article title which is written in white also. By the skyline being green it stands out and follows the colour scheme. The whole of the magazine front cover colour scheme is white, yellow and green; this is used in the text on the cover. By having three of the sell-lines in the skyline it allows more of the image to be seen. The image on this magazine is of ‘Miranda Lambert’ a well-known country singers, she is wearing big hooped gold earrings and her hair is styled to look naturally curly or wavy. She looks to be wearing a natural style of make-up; she has mascara on with eyeliner, and a small amount of bronzer on her cheek bones. This style of make-up and accessories makes her look wealthy in a simple way. The colours are gold and bronze which can be classed with wealth and success. The colours in image can also be assumed to represent the country feel because they are natural and most of the country singers grew up with nature. This image of Miranda Lambert suggests that the target audience want to aim to be like her and look like Miranda. The target audience will see Miranda Lambert to be beautiful and successful with her music which most of the audience aim to achieve. The use of a medium close up shows her makeup and also her facial expression, that tells us that she is strong and elegant that many of the target audience want to achieve or see themselves as. Through this image of Miranda Lambert she is being represented as successful and beautiful which will appeal to the target audience as this is what they aim to achieve.Just above the main sell-line there is a small thin rectangle coloured a see-trough green with the words ‘EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW’ the use of a buzz word ‘exclusive’ will entice the audience because they will not be able to find this

interview with Miranda Lambert in any other magazine because she did it for country weekly readers. It also draws attention to the knowledge that they can find about Miranda Lambert through reading this interview. Underneath the artists name is two lines written in yellow briefly explaining the interview article. These two lines are telling the audience that Miranda Lambert reveals her life before she became a country singer and secrets on her favourite things that she enjoys. In the bottom right corner of the magazine front cover there is another rectangle coloured green, with a ‘+’ to reveal that there is more country information in the magazine, there is also an image of ‘Julianne Hough’ another country star. This sell-line is telling you that you can get Footloose a country music dance film. This is effective because the audience will be interested in how they can receive their own copy and will buy the magazine to find out how. The target audience will be interested in the video of footloose to learn some traditional country dances. This may appeal to the target audience as they may want to achieve success within country dance and country music. There is a puff just under the ‘weekly’ of the magazine with the word ‘win’ written in yellow capital letters; this also attracts attention from the audience because everyone loves to have the chance to win something. There is a small few lines underneath written in white that reveal what they can be able to win, this puff relates to the main image because they can win signed luggage by Miranda Lambert. This issue is dedicated to Miranda Lambert because the main article is an interview with her and there are chances to win signed items by Miranda Lambert. The whole magazine cover is effective because the colour scheme works well with the image and the readers are able to read all the sell-lines and puffs without any difficulty, also through the colour scheme and image we can see that this issue of country weekly is aimed at females who love country music and Miranda Lambert. The font used on the front cover is Arial for the masthead and also the main sell-line. This font shows the simplicity of the magazine as well as the modern take on country music magazines. Country Weekly are making a difference within the country music industry. This type of font will appeal to the target audience because they want a gossip based country music magazine.The overall layout of the magazine is simple as the sell-lines are in the bottom centre third of the front cover, as well as a puff in the top right third of the front cover just under the magazine name. This layout attracts the target audience as it follows a gossip magazine type of layout where the sell-lines are simple and bold and the main image is the focus.