The Word analysis

The word magazine

The front cover of shows more of a diverse magazine that is not fully given to music as it likes to dabble into film and television however the music is the main feature of the magazine. The genre of music taken into account in word is world music in the alternative genre and comes from the Planet rock family.

The title of the magazine is the largest text on the page and is bold, but rather individual text. The fact that they have a sticker on top of the title of the magazine saying “music magazine of the year-again!” helps you to understand the proud but also quality of what is inside.

The text on the front cover is long and wordy therefore aimed at an older mature audience. 

All images on the cover are in black and white or a tone of sepia which is a great contrast to the primary colours of the boxes and headlines on the page. The way the main image of Kate Bush is positioned straight with her eyes looking straight at the reader suggests a chance to see what she is really like underneath the worldly successful solo artist. The other images on the page have no link to music therefore aren’t in the audiences direct interest so are smaller and positioned to the right of the page.

The Word positions the artist of the cover story in large and bold colourful text underneath the title of the magazine enabling it to stand out on the black and white photo-ed background.  The magazine has an obvious colour scheme of bright primary colours on black and white or sepia-ed backgrounds. Bold headline text also uses shadow to make them look 3-d as if it jumps out at you when you pick up the magazine.

The banner down the right hand side tells the reader other things which it can find in this months issue and has an individualistic style with its serrated edges to give it more depth. Underneath it is the horizontal barcode which tells the reader clearly the date, issue number, price and website.

The contents page is set out in two columns with a large strip separating the two sections as it only covers one page. At the top of the page there is a red banner which repeats the title of the magazine just slightly smaller and in white instead of red. On the right of the banner the title contents page is bold in an Arial like font but underneath a line is the issue number and date of issue.

The left column has two images at the top which relate to the list of articles on the right hand column however the main image on the contents page is of the film section which is something I will not use in my music magazine. Underneath the images is a small editorial message which has a photo of the editor with somebody else which is then signed and has an email address to help with communication to the magazine. The editorial is written in the first person therefore is a very bias bit of journalism that can be on anything which relates to the issue or what has been happening in the media with relation to the editor that week.

The right hand column is basically a list of articles and features merged into one which can be found in the rest of the magazine. Anything which has been advertised on the front cover has a stamp next to it simply stating “on the cover”.  Some articles which have a collective heading which are regular to the magazine have a light grey box around them. The colour scheme of this column and this page is red, blue and black.

At the bottom of the page on the left hand side is an offer which promotes subscriptions which is a big thing to any magazine especially music magazines. Underneath the advert in the block arrow is the web address in small print and on the opposite side at the bottom is the issue date as well as the page number.

The double page spread takes the form of a question and answer article and spreads the article in six columns over the two pages with the colour scheme of the two pages is black, white and red. The double page spread as a whole is more text dominated.

The layout of the two pages takes the form of headline of the artists name in bold large font and tagline of the article taking up the top third of the first page. Then the main image one and a half thirds on the second page and the rest of the article continued underneath.

The main article has one column of general article information which sets the scene and gives brief background information about the artist which the double page spread is about, in this case it is “Lilly Allen”.  The rest of the columns follow a regular question answer layout and structure flowing from column to column. The article finishes with letting Lilly give a message to the world and then ruling of the article which shows the article has come to a definite stop. Underneath the ruled line there is information of when fans can buy her latest album which is in the same font as the main text.

The images that are included in the article are both posed but both have different settings and compositional features used. The image on the first page which breaks up the text is an old photo taken for different purposes of the artist when a child. The image is tilted to an angle to make it more interesting and enabling it to fit it in to the gap in-between the two columns and has the caption written on the image in white writing so it is legible. The main image on the second page is of only Lilly in a typical seated photo shoot position because the pose is very precise and the costume, hair and make up are in pristine condition. Plus it is something I wouldn’t usually associate with Lilly Allen wearing.

The characteristics of a Word double page spread is the “fact time” logo which seems to be found at the top of the page of all feature pages within the magazine. The other characteristic which the magazine keeps throughout is the web address, date of issue and page number at the bottom of each page.