Magazine covers and their ideology

Many music magazine front covers reflect the ideology of their genres in visual styes and language. Here are a few Front covers and how they show their ideology.

SPIN is known for having many different celebrities on their front cover from Florence and the machine to Eminem. Therefore I believe that SPIN doesn't have a specific genre, this magazine would be ideal for me personally as I listen to any music that is good I have never made an assumption to any type of music. SPIN has made this clear by listing some artists of different genres for example 2 chainz is a hip hop artist and The xx is very slow and is indie rock. With only a few sell lines on the front cover it makes it easy to read for all audiences, also the image of Azealia Banks is very fun as she has obviously not been positioned which I like. The image is taking up the front cover to show how she is important and in the main sell name her name is in capitals. The soft colours around the edge engage the pop readers and blues, then the bright colours and her position influence the rock audience and also the red of the masthead. Also the masthead is normally under the photo however here it covers part of her hair. The colours are used in a lot of magazines so they have recognised that they are good colours to use as they must make the magazine look sophisticated and therefore sell well. Although red connotes danger I think in this situation it is to catch peoples eyes, with no price or bar code it again shows simplicity. If I saw this magazine in the shop I wouldn't exactly know what genre it is aimed at however it is fun and sophisticated so I believe that most genres will like this magazine.

This magazine has a specific audience of hip hop and rap. It conveys the ideology from the main image of Lil Wayne to the font of the text. The sub heading 'who got the juice? Steroids invade hip-hop?' already tells how they are targeting the magazine to. Also they include the word steroids which doesn' really have anything to do with the music however they add it to try and engage the hip hop readers so they will buy the magazine. Lil Wayne is in a very hip hop pose with his hand on his chin and his mouth in a disgusted position, his hat is bright red which blends into the background colour well, if it was blue then it would stand out more however I think it would make it cheap. The font is very big and you see this font on the hip-hop stars jewellery therefore people know that this magazine is aimed the hip-hop genre. Also Lil Wayne doesn't look very eager to be there which I think will possibly go with the article inside the magazine. The main colour is red which connotes danger and also his tattoos could also suggest this, maybe their audience likes this and that is why they buy the magazine. In addition the sell lines on the right lists some big hip-hop names they are again selling their magazine from just the first page.

Adele is a very big celebrity and Q have made her the star of the 300th issue which says a lot about the popularity of the magazine. The ideology is shown through the image and the sell lines mainly on this front cover. There is a pun on the front cover as Adele has obviously stood in front of a fan and the sell line 'blows us away' makes the magazine have a personality. They drop some big names such as Paul Mcartney and Liam Gallagher which makes the magazine very popular as most people have heard these names. Also the sell lines on the left are in line which makes the magazine look sophisticated and well made. In addition the big gold circle to say the '300th issue' is eye catching and I would buy the magazine because of this. The colour scheme is red, white and black to match the logo exactly the same as the other two magazine front covers. The close up shot of Adele shows how she is flaunting her image just like she said in her sell line. Q magazine has made this issue available for everybody as there is pop, rock and classics.

The ideology of this magazine is shown by a lot. It is a very busy page from a mid shot picture to cartoon characters and competitions. The  picture is very dramatic and the title is covered by the stars head. Black connoted death and gothic images which goes with this genre as it is gothic and rock. The different fonts confuses me as I don't understand why they have a bright yellow text in the middle of the page, however it could be the logo for the band in which the singer comes from. Although it is very busy it makes it more interesting and gives a lot of things to read once you have paid for it so it is defiantly worth the money. The circles give the magazine a bit more depth as it isn't all the same, also the blood that is dripping from them goes with the image as the arrows that are piecing him will make him bleed and these are show by the information in the circles. The audience that 'HAMMER' are focusing on will defiantly buy this issue as it is selling the magazine very well.