Research of existing magazines

The first magazine I researched was iDJ although since carrying out my research the company has actually closed down and are not selling its products any longer.

Front cover

Front Cover of iDJ

As you can see the front cover of  iDJ magazine is very busy, this represents the tempo and rythm of the type of music which i am studying. The designers have also used similar colours throughout to show that, despite being busy, it is still proffesional and attractive to attract the audience from first glance.

 
Following on from this, this front cover has many coverlines that interests the audience when first viewing to promote whats inside. I feel that this is a good technique to put into my front cover as it draws attention to the contents of the magazine.

As you can see the front cover of iDJ mag, they use many colours in one small area of the cover. The use of Black, Grey, Yellow, Red, White and Brown in a small space of the magazine give a 'busy' connotation to the audience when viewing for the first time. This busy style represents the type of music that is being displayed.

In addition to this the Main story or Article is always featured as the biggest, in the middle of the cover. In iDJ magazine there are many images of the models who are music artists being promoted on the cover for the storys inside. This is featured alot in these types of magazines.

Contents

Firstly you can see that the contents page of iDJ magazine looks incredably professionaly laid out so that it looks neat and tidy. I Believe that this shows the technical craft and perfection needed for the music's genre.










 

 

The contents page of iDJ has multiple large images to show the audience what page each detail is on so that if they are attracted to a particular story line, they have quick accesablitly to find it. This is a common feature in all magazines, including my genres.

A Second feautre of Contents pages that I have recognised is that all have a colum of page descriptions and page numbers. This is another way of showing the audience directions for their viewing pleasure.













Finally on the Contents page features the Details of the producer. This shows the contact details of all of the staff who helped to produce the magazine. I like this feature and will more than likely include and editorial in my production as it gives a glistening, profesional finishing touch.

Double page spread

This double page spread is promoting Pete Tong's top 10 music hits for the summer on the left, which seeps over to the right of the double page spread.

The text is all grouped together and not just randomly placed anywhere. This feature is common in electronic magazines.

Secondly the image is of Petes face. On double page spreads it's an often occurrence to have images of people instead of props / equipment as this is the main point of the pages story.

Lastly this double page spread uses only similar colours. Keeping the page simple and not too confusing. I think that this is a good point to follow because it makes the page look attractive.

The Second magazine I analysed was DJ Mag.

Front Cover

This is the front cover of DJMAG. It has many liknesses to the previous electronic music magazine. Both are very busy front covers with many colours and a large combination of text and images to create a strong technical effect to the audience.

You can see that also in this magazine front cover there are also many cover-stories. This seems to be a common feature in music magazines such as the one that I am studying. Therefore I think that it would be a great idea to translate and produce this technique in my magazine.

Secondly another likeliness is the colours. In this edition of DJMAG the colours used for the images and the text font are vibrant and Intriguing and   give strong happiness and power connotations to the audience. In addition, from this image you can see that the main cover story is the largest in the page. This is the main feature of the magazine.

Contents page

This is the contents page for DJMAG.

This contents page is also very similar to the previous magazine. It looks very professional and laid out in a manor where you can easily navigate throughout the magazine.

You can see from the image on the right that the picture/number technique is used again alike the previous magazine. This breaks it down and prevents the contents page being overloaded with text. In addition it allows the reader to pinpoint the exact story by eye as he or she may not know the name of the musician but may recognise their face.

Lastly another feature I have identified in both magazine contents page is that all have a colum of page descriptions and page numbers. This gives an ease of accessibility to the audience to be able to search for the story they want to read.

Double page spread

This double page spread has a photograph which is in black and white which covers over the spine middle of the two pages. This is an effective way of as it draws the audience into the centre of the page. By doing this it interests the audience as wherever they look on the page their eyes keep tracking back to the central image.

Secondly all of the text is blocked together on the side of the page this makes the page look professional and sofissticated when the audience is reading. Also in this double page spread of the magazine, you can tell that all of the coulours are very similar. I think this is a good point to follow in my production magazine.

Lastly they have used page numbers in the bottom hand corner closest to the end of the page. This is so that the audience can see what page they are up to as they flick through. I will also use this feature in my magazine production.

From researching multiple electronic DJ magazines I have been able to identify the key features of the front covers and the contents pages which i will therefore use ideas from to improve the quality of my final production.