Word Magazine Front Cover

Analysing Word Magazine

This magazine is called The Word; this makes it sound like the best music magazine as their word is final, so audiences should read this magazine to find the best and most relevant information. It also makes audience think of the phrase ‘The word on the street’ so this makes them think that this magazine tells the audience what they want to hear and they know gossip about artists that they will pass on to their readers. The masthead is the biggest writing on the page so it is the most important information as it’s the name of the magazine. It is well known magazine so that in itself is a large selling point. The main aim for the producers of the magazine is to promote artists and sell magazines so they want the audiences to know what they are reading. The heading is red so it stand out and catch peoples eye, it also connotates danger which relates to the rock genre that the magazine is.

The magazine is promoting Kate Bush so she is on the front page. It is in black and white because it is an old photo-this means it will appeal to an older generation and it still fits in with the genre because rock music is often dark and depressing which is represented by the black. Plus it gives the magazine a softer, classic and genuine feel so it would appeal to more of a older, mature audience. The photo is a close up as it is promoting the artist so audiences need to be able to clearly see her, and she is looking directly into the camera so t is more personal for the reader and they want to read the magazine and find out about her. The photo is quite sophisticated as she is looking quite demure and is not wearing revealing clothes so again it would appeal to an older audience.
Another way you can tell it is targeted to an older audience is by the cover lines, such as “Historical Portrait!” so this makes people think it is old photo’s that were classic when they were younger, so they will be intrigued to look at them so they can reminisce. Another one is “Oasis? Pass” this is an older band so will appeal to their fans and also people of that generation. It suggests that somebody passed on the opportunity to do something with Oasis which may mean people’s entire experience of them and their teen years would have been different, so they would want to read on and find out how.

The other cover lines of magazine articles are positioned next to her so you can clearly see both the writing and her face. Her name is the second biggest font on the page so it is clear that she is the artist they are promoting and who is on the front cover. It has the same font as the masthead to show the link between her and the magazine, it is also in red for the same reasons as the masthead; to stand out and continue with the rock genre and house style. Headings of other articles are put in yellow to catch the readers eye and are more central than the masthead. They are in bold writing so they can easily be read but not nearly as big as the heading about Kate Bush’s article as it not as important.

Another essential item on a magazine front cover is a barcode, however this isn’t very fitting with the rest of the front page and isn’t important to the audience so it is put in very small in the bottom right hand corner so it least likely to catch the readers eye. The magazine also needs an issue number and a date, Word magazine didn’t feel the audience needed to know this information so they put is with the barcode in small in the corner. They also put the price there because they want people to decide to buy the magazine based on what they see and read on the front cover, not by the price.