Music Magazine Case Study MOJO By HannahRose Magain

Music Magazine Case Study: MOJO By Hannah-Rose Magain

The Masthead depicted at the top of this particular issue, connotes a sense of trendiness, but does not at first appear clear to the audience as to its genre, which on a closer look is revealed by the smaller text over the Masthead, ‘the music magazine. ’ I fund it intriguing that the editor had such confidence in the magazine that they decided to place it in front of the central image, depicting the well known celebrity/musician. This promotes quality, and exhorts confidence in the product, encouraging the reason to recognise the magazine as an important and well known brand. The use of a free CD entices the reader to gain interest in the product, especially as the freebie relates to both the genre, and most likely the featured artist(s). The free product could also be considered a sell line, or a feature that may persuade a consumer to buy it over its competition. The cover lines placed within the column inch attract the target audience, and also reaches out to normal, everyday people. This technique is used in an attempt to make the reader feel empathetic to featured celebrities thus relating to them , ‘Terry Hall opens up. ’ These cover lines suggest the content to the reader and make sure to include exactly what the reader will stereotypically want to know; the inside story of the celebrities’ lives. Additionally, the featured bands/artists are featured in a bolder text than the content information and is the same bright colour. The use of the large number twenty in the right corner catches the reader’s eye and symbolises the importance of the information presented, in this case even more artists related to the feature punk genre. By increasing the amount of celebrities included and advertising this on the cover in such a dominant way, increases the chance of the magazine enlarging its target audience, as a more readers will gain in interest in the variety of celebrities included. A puff piece is also included to advertise more celebrities and reviews , this technique is largely recognised by audiences as a sell line, or a further addition to the cover which will assist the audience in choosing that magazine. Front Cover

Further Information on the Front Cover � The colour scheme used consists of stereotypically feminine colours, such as pink, to link with the main female artist depicted as the central image of this addition. Also, the magazine possesses colour cohesion in that soft and few colours are used, creating an ordered and clean effect. � The mode of address is, as you would expect, friendly and excitable making the reader also excited and wanting to feel involved in the content. However, you could say that the cover uses a specific lexis by including genres such as, Glam, Post Rock, etc. and artist names. All of this could be completely baffling to someone who wasn’t into music. The magazine definitely targets a specific audience with the language and address used. � Like the colour scheme, the font and the style of font used is simple, yet effective. Referring back to the masthead being recognisable the editor has made sure of this recognition in the use of bold and capitalised font with a 3 -D effect, designed to jump out at you on the page. � Lastly, looking at other examples (see below)the MOJO magazine rarely differs to maintain a house style that is recognisable to the readership, meaning that not only can the magazine gain new readers from sell line techniques, but can also use a recognisable structure, mast head, and simple colour scheme that may have attracted previous readers, thus ensuring their loyalty.

Unlike the front cover the contents page of MOJO magazine is only black and white, apart from the odd splash of red when highlighting key information or page numbers. The use of this mainly black and white cohesion shows the editor’s acknowledgement that now that they’ve sold their magazine with the front cover, they must now go about pleasing the reader further by displaying navigational information in an ordered and easy to read structure. Artists and page numbers are capitalised and in bold so as to capture the reader’s attention. Contents Page Recognisable features, such as the masthead are included on the contents page, as a reference to the brand in which it belongs to. This could be to constantly remind the reader of the almost logolike and easy to remember magazine name, so that in the future this will be easily recognisable to previous audiences. Similar to the front cover, the contents page includes teasers, for example quotes from featured artists, still enticing the reader to read on. The main, celebrity image seems less crowded on this cover page and takes up the majority of the space, like the text the image is in black and white, suggesting that they link to the information also included on this page. Additionally the shot used is a medium shot, so the camera has moved out from the usual mid-shot or close-up shot used on the front cover. On the cover the face must be recognisable, so these types of shots are used, however this medium shot could portray the artist gradually revealing ore of themselves to the audience, and allowing the reader to again relate to them.

This double page spread continues the simplistic yet pleasing design and structure of the MOJO magazine. Unlike other magazines, MOJO is faithful to its genre, and does not complicate the page with text and imaging. Double Page Spread The use of a greyscale colour scheme is also used again here, apart from the one colour usage of gold on the words ‘be there now, ’ (plus the fifty highlighted at the very top of the page showing the number of Neil Young songs referenced to. ) This and the royal colouring could connote the fame f the group or artist, and the importance of reading this article. There are some typical techniques used in a double page spread seen here, for example, the bold quote from the artist, and just underneath it a brief summary of this artist before the main article with references to other artists highlighted in gold. Also, the title of the article is not directly addressing the audience, and the probably unrecognisable quote makes the audience want to read on to see what the article’s about. The use of the main image or artist bleeding into the page gives an involved effect, as if the magazine is declaring the artist’s full involvement in the magazine. The technique of declaring to work and have exclusive interviews with certain artists is often used to promote a magazine. Throughout the magazine there appear to be always visual references to the magazine’s musical genre, in this case a singer playing his guitar. This once again show’s MOJO’s constant faithfulness to its genre.

Background Information � From a UK based media group, (Bauer media) consisting of two main divisions : Magazines, and radio. � Debuted in the form of a magazine on the news-stands of Britain in 1993. � The founding editor Paul Du Noyer wanted to create a magazine that, ‘had the sensibilities of a fanzine and the design values of Vogue. ’ � Its name was chosen as a homage to Delta blues mythology and as a reminder of the spiritual and magical core of music. � MOJO magazine has been available online since 2001.