My magazine and double page spread

How my knowledge of existing magazines relate to my double page spread & the featured angle of my article

My magazine appeals to an audience of young materialists as the theme of fashion is prodominant throughout the front cover, contents page and double page spread. This concept is mirrored by my careful selection of clothing and styling. The double page spread concerns rising funkyhouse/pop artist "Alice Worboyes" and the promotion of her new album "Wonderland" and the article conveys how the artist expresses herself not only through her music, but also through her clothing and fashion sense.

Our reasoning behind selecting "STROBE" as the title of our magazine is justified by it's contextual relevance to the prodominant elements of the funky house genre; strobe lighting is a common feature of the nightlife and clubbing scene but is also a prodominant element in the world of fashion. Strobe lighting is used in photoshoots and for showcasing catwalk collections for maximum impact and mezmorizing effect. My magazine emblematizes or incorporates our amalgamation between the theme of music and fashion.

For my Autumn issue of "STROBE" magazine I will focus the messages and ideologies conveyed through it on the compound genre of pop and funkyhouse with a matured outlook on the genre of bubblegum pop. The issue includes articles concerning important musical events such as the V Festival.

Semiotics are the main feature of my magazine, and these semiotics are conveyed by an artist that I have crafted and modelled using stylistic influences from the from the genre. "Alice Worboyes" conveys or represents the ambiguous yet intruiging aspect of our sub-genre mirroring the mysterious yet inviting expressions acquired by the computer generated figures prodominant on the covers of the Hed Kandi CDs; her warm, inviting and conventionally pretty aesthetic combined with her delicate clothing is contrasted with the masculine element of a top hat, conveying the idea that this artist is bold, enthusiastic and unaffraid of experimenting with fashion, and ultimately her music.

The idea that the artist is unaffraid of experimenting ensures an appeal to an audience of anti-authority rebels, whilst the clothing and general aesthetic of the artist appeal to an audience of lifestyle and pleasure seekers from middle and upper class audiences.

My double page spread adopts a colloquialised and informal tone to ensure a real connection with the readership. Young audiences would inevitably find dididactic tones teidious and boring, therfore I have adopted to write in a friendly and conversational tone to mirror the open aspect of socialising and clubbing. I feel the tone of the piece also helps to portray the artist as a figure that audiences can personally relate to, consequently I have presented the peice in a manner where nothing is fabricated. I depict it in a simple Q&A format which mirrors a transcribed conversation.

Relevance of fashion as a prodominant feature of our music magazine

The institutional magazines that initially appeal to young materialists and pleasure seekers are those such as fashion magazines i.e. Grazia, Vogue, Indie and Elle, Gossip magazines i.e. OK, Now, Closer, Heat etc and men's magazines. In order to broaden our target audience and generate maximum revenue, we would like to implement prodominant features of fashion magazines into our music magazine. Therefore our music magazine will not only concern upcoming events , rising artists/stars and typical aspects of the funky house genre but also how the fashions associate with the genre and how the features artists express themselves not only through their music but also their creativity and playfulness with their fashion sense/style. For example, the funky house institution of Hed Kandi brought out a range of clothing in the summer to mirror the computer generated images featured in the front covers of their CDs. Pacha also produces it's own clothing line. The social status demography of the magazine will therefore be middle to upper class members of society who are able to afford a lifestyle of clubbing, drinking and socialising.

Initial brainstorm of ideas

Genre: Funky House
Name of Magazine: Strobe

What is already around? What is popular?


-Rock magazines such as Rolling Stones, Q etc aimed at anti-authority rebels
-Pop magazines (bubblegum pop) aimed at a younger demographic of admiration seekers, security and stability seekers, materialists and achievers
-Indie magazines

Competition we might have


-Might have competition from existing pop magazines as they will also want to broaden their demographic of audience
-Other institutions will want to establsih and produce a similar genre of magazine for a continually evolving nation of clubbers/pop and funky house lovers

Unique Selling Point


-Sub-genre of magazine appealing to a broader demographic. More teenage/young adult clubbing audience. Includes prominent pop artists with a modern funky house twist.

For example:

• Calvin Harris
• Fedde Le Grand
• Arman Van Helden
• Dizee Rascal
• Pixie Lott
• Ellie Goulding
• Cheryl Cole

Evaluation of my research

I have understood that the conventions in the structure of magazines must be the unique selling point of my product, therefore it must capture the attention of my product, therefore it must capture the attention of my audience immediately. I recognize that the image must be the most prominent aspect of the piece and therefore the central focus of my magazine distinguishing and determing the theme of all the textual, visual and also the general ethos, ideas and attitudes that will be conveyed through my magazine.

I acknowledge that all the textual information must be placed around the central image and lack the same degree of prominancy, but must also conform with the theme and ideologies the magazine and the genre of funky house represent through the selection of font colour, type face and most importnantly wording.

Explanation of how we intend to work as a group

The working relationship I have with other members of my group is close yet professional. We are able to share and discuss our ideas and thought processes in a mature and organised manner, each of us making equal contributions and obtaining the ability to acknowledge, understand and evaluate each other's thoughts and opinions in order to ensure that our print task is of the highest quality. In our group we are each allocated an equal amount of tasks varying in topic to ensure each individuals work is unique, therefore there will be a substantial degree of variety and flair from each members personal perspective. Each of us have researched 3 different magazines of which we analysed the front cover, contents page and double page spread in close detail, commenting on the common denotations and connotations conjured by the pieces, the conventions and traditions upheld by the very institutions which produce these magazines, and the general graphology, form and structure of magazines in production today.

An explanation of why I chose the Print brief

Upon considering the reasoning behind our decision to choose the Print brief for my project I have come to the following conclusions; I believed the prospect of the Print task was more favourable than the video task as I felt we could express our creativity and ideas in a more controlled visual manner. Filming would essentially be more difficult as our ideas had to be certain and could not be changed or manipulated to the same extent as our work could in the Print task. With the Print task we have the ability to use Photoshop and image manipulation software to create a unique and interesting layout demonstrating the codes, conventions and general aesthetic of music magazines today. Through the Print task I believe we could also portray our consideration for our demographic of audience in an effective and conventional manner through the layout, design and textual information, demonstrating each individuals' personal understanding of music magazine production.

The Print task is ideal for creating a fresh and appealing outlook on the music industry; my group and I want to create a new sub-genre of music magazine for Funky House lovers to fill the crevice in the music magazine industry today - from our research we have acknowledged that the more dominant music magazines relate mainly to the genre of rock music or bubblegum pop. Therefore there is a wide gap in the market for a new, daring and intriguing product such as ours, upholding the common ideologies and connotations associated with funky house music appealing to a youth of party goers and ravers out to have a good time! Our personal experiences and interests are able to be successfully conveyed throughout the graphology and structure of the magazine where our thoughts and opinions will obtain a certain degree of prominencey throughout the 3 diverse issues of our magazine. Funky House is a very commercially orientated genre, as is the materialistic youth of today, it is clear that Funky House appeals to the youth in middle to upper class societies therefore we are knowledgeable of our target audience, but also what is crucial for our magazine to acquire in order to expand and broaden our demographic of audience.

Uncut Double Page Spread

The double page spread of Uncut magazine affiliates a considerably cluttered and unorderly layout to mimic and show the relevance and connection with the carefree and rebellious punk/rock genre. A "Rock 'n' Roll" theme is clearly adopted through an analysis of the graphology of the piece and the magazine is enthusiastic to convey the Punk ideologies through the varying aesthetics of the people featured in the images at the top of the page. The biggest and most prominent image is again featured on the right hand side of the page to emit a sense of immediacy upon the reader as their eye falls on the right page whilst turning through the magazine.

The mast head, images and captions are the more domineering aspects of the piece - the colours used are bright and the fonts bold to capture the essence of the punchy, daring and boisterous Punk rock genre and ultimately immerse the reader within the wold of Punk rock ideology. In it's original incarnation, the Punk ideology primarily concerned the subjects of rebellion, anti-authoritism, individualism, freedom of speech etc and were often expressed through the music, fashion and art which derived from the genre. Punk rock fashion, as seen in the images at the top of the page, are representative of the unconformative nature of punk rockers and their opposition to the apparent hippie counterculture during the time period. Punk fashion depicts rebellion, aggression and individualism.

The caption "Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn..." sounds like a fictional narrative style which mimics the telling of a story - this could connote that the magazine wants to tell the tale of the development of the Punk rock genre and the evolution of it's artists in an unconventional or rebellious manner to imitate the ideologies of the genre.

Through the Punk rock fashions adopted by the artists featured in the most prominent images at the top of the pages, it is clear that Uncut magazine aspires to appeal to an audience of demographies such as the anti-authority rebels, experimentalists and creatives through the thought provoking and intriguing attire worn, but also pleasure seekers and admiration seekers.

Uncut Contents Page

The contents page of Uncut magazine is laid out in quite an orderly manner; again adopting the conventional black, white and red colour scheme. The images used seem to obtain quite an archaic style which is evident through the black and white colouring of the images and also through the aesthetics of the groups featured within the images; they wear fairly outmoded/vintage clothing accompanies by "old school" hair styles. This connotes that Uncut magazine is keen to convey and provide readers with an insightful knowledge of established artists from antecedent eras, the music that they produced, and the most prominent ideologies and attitudes during the apparent time period; this is where uncut magazine is evidently contrastive to other music magazines such as Top Of The Pops where only current artists of the Pop music genre are featured.

All aspects and features of the contents page have their own allocated and sectioned areas; all information can be found in it's own specific place which is prominent in each issue, therefore readers become aware of the magazine's "house-style". The contents page also features a letter from the editor of Uncut magazine, which, along with the image, is the most prominent aspect of the page. The careful placing of the editor's letter on the far right hand side indicates it's importance or relevance to the ideologies presented by the magazine, connoting that the editor's personal opinion is extremely influential over the contents of the magazine and the ideas and attitudes portrayed by various features within the magazine.

Uncut Front Cover

Here there is an element of vivacity and stong contrast between the consistant colour scheme of red and white against the dark, black and white themed image of the artist Johnny Cash featured in the background, where a fairly serious, meaningful or thoughtful pose is adopted.

The tetxtual information conerning Johnny Cash is evidentley the most prominant aspect of the piece. When comparing the textual infomation and the image of Johnny Cash, it could be suggested that he is rendered as insignificant, or, ambiguous due to the neutral mid-tones used to portray him through the background image conflicting with the irrative and boastful nature of the bold red and pure white.

The other peices of textual information are patterned in a mainly montonous tone conveyed by the linguistic style of the peice. The wording is simplistic to ensure that the main focus and attention is drawn on the featured artist and all aspects in relevance to him.

Top Of The Pops Double Page Spread

The graphology and structure adopted within this peice is evidently more appealing or designed particularly for a demographic of female audiences due to the consistant pink, white and black colour scheme througout and the featuring of a prominant female celebrity; actress Kristin Stewart.

The image of the artisist is the most prominant aspect of the piece to capture the reader's attention and generate a sense of immediacy upon opening the magazine. The careful designing and structuring of the piece ensures that the largest image resides on the right-hand side of the double page spread as the right is where the readers eye instinctively falls as they turn the pages of the magazine.


The magazine asks the featured actress questions concerning her profession to provide insight into the advantageous and disadvantageous aspects within the world of the film industry, for audience of admiration seekers and acheivers who would most probably aspire to be famous. The magazine speaks to the actress in a colloquial and friendly tone to ensure readers are able to feel comfortable with, and confide in the advice from Kristen Stewart which is conveyed by the magazine. Ultimatley, the linguistic tools implemented here by the magazine help to broaden their demographic of audience from admiration seekers and achievers to an audience of security and stability seekers; whom of which are most likely to purchase the magazine for advice and help with situations occuring in their everyday lives.

Top of The Pops Double Page Spread

N-dubz are extremely prevalent artists at the moment hence the reason for their featuring in the magazine. The magazine is keen to convey the group's ideas and attitudes towards other established pop artists and events currently unfolding and evolving within the music industry.

The colour scheme adopted for the mast head , textual information and for the borders around the images on the page mirror the prominant and bold colours worn by the group. N-dubz are successful in representing a variety of demographies which are evident through this image. The pose and aesthetic that they adopt appears to be quite authoritive and veers slightly to a grime-ish/urban genre, therefore they appeal to an audience of anti-authority rebels among the teenage age group; however the genre of music that they produce evidently adopts the general theme and ideologies upheld by the genre of pop music.

The magazine ask fairly controversial and provocative questions in the interview with N-dubz to provoke a reaction from the group, for example "Is Lady GaGa really a man?" and "So guys, do you think the Sugababes should split up?" in a fairly colloquialised manner; this consolidates a close and personal relationship between the reader and the magazine, but also between the reader and the artist in question.

Top of The Pops Front Cover

It is evident that the graphology of the peice is dependant on the demographic of audience; in this case the target audience is clearly teenagers who in turn share an interest in the Pop music genre. The magazine reflects on the genre of popular music by implementing popular colours such as blue and pink; stereotypically blue appeals to boys, therfore pink appeals to girls.

Various fonts, differing in clour and size are used to make the front cover seem bustling and energetic, therfore it will successfully appeal to their teenage target audience whom of which are susceptible to gossiping concerning current affairs within the modern day music industry and consumer culture.

The demographic of audience seem to be rendered or distinguished as followers by the magazine, as if they should aspire to be like and live a lifestyle parallel to those of the featured celebrities, they are essentially viewed as "role models" for today's youth. The caption "Wanna be famous? Your instant guide..." is short yet efficient in provoking attention from it's audience; the colloquial linguistic syle adopted by the magazine mimics the vernacular of modern day teenagers. The celebrties features on the front of the magazine are current, meaning they are constantly within the public eye. The fact that they are features within this magazine provides readers with an up-to-date knowledge and supplement of the latest happenings in the world of pop.

Mojo Double Page Spread

On the left hand side of the page an archaic style is again adopted providing insight into the hsitorical context of the world of music production showing a list of significant songs throughout the decades. The textual information adopts a colloquial linquistic style implementing American slang such as "rock 'n' roll" and "love, marriage, booze and orchestras..." to appeal to a younger demographic. Colloquialism used, accompanied by images and other bite-siz segments of interesting facts and opinion such as "Together again..Mojo's top Americana couples..." prevents the reader from feeling bombarded with lots of infomation, and from viewing the piece as teidious. Here the image seems to be the most prominant aspect of the peice in order to create a certain ideology or imagery of the perfect American couple from a musical perspective.

Mojo Contents Page

The structuring of the textual information on the contents page is laid out in quite an orderly manner, however the strong contrast in images used on the page is successful in upholding the beliefs and ideologies the magazine is keen to represent. The images implemented into the contents page of the magazine differ in colour schemes, eras and mediums, consisting of cartoon comic books, for example " The Smasher" comic book and even an image of Julie Andrews with Kermit the frog - this is a successful tool in helping the magazine appeal to a initially broader demographic of audience; comic books and cartoon characters from children's shows such as Sesame Street will undoubtedly attract a younger audeince. The more archaic imagery used such as the images of The Go-Gos, Bluebeat and Bob Marley show that the magazine is enthusiastic to help younger audiences to become aware about the origins of music and acknowledge its social and historical context in a fun and intriguing manner.

Upon analysing the graphology, form and structure of the front cover of Mojo magazine it is clear that the featured artist, Bob Marley, has had a significant influencial impact on the colour scheme and "house style" adopted by the magazine in this particular issue. The deep earthy colours used in the background and textual elements featured on the cover are evidently influenced by the appearance of Bob Marley, for example his clothing, skin tone, hair etc. Marley's clothing is a deep brown colour, as is his hair and eyes. There is a substansial amount of vivacity and contrast between the earthy tones which are present in the background and features article hadlines and the bold white mast head.

The font used on the mast head and for the features article headlines initially differ in their style but the overall theme of the text used is representative of hand-written text. The font which appears on the mast-head denotes as a formal and sophisticated, yet scruffy and blase hand-written style; this could connate that the artists features in the magazine, the genres of music associated with and the demographic of audience which the magzine caters for are laid back, relaxed and easy going which is fairly representative of the genre of reggae music. The font used for the featured article headlines also adopts a scruffy and childlike hand-written style this could connote or convey that the magazine upholds a rather innocent and placid outlook on music, and even life in general. This is mirrored by the image of the artist laughing and standing in a relaxed pose. The childlike theme is again reinforced by the text "Too cool for school?" and the fact that there is rather little textual information on the front cover; the words are monotonous and monosyllabic, reflecting the primitive nature of the magazine and the ideologies it is so keen to convey.