Second Magazine Cover Analysis

The cover of MixMag is clearly aimed at a younger audience, probably more for males, but will more than likely have a formidable female readership too. The magazine itself has a 87% readership for people between the ages of 16 and 30 and these people will most likely be achievers or radicals psychographically as they might want to try and be like the people in the magazine and be different from the rest of society but are also quite young and will want to make something of themselves but not to impress other people. Because they are still trying to make something of themselves, they are most likely going to be young and still enjoying the clubbing/dance atmosphere thus meaning they will relate to the magazine and the articles inside. The readers will also probably be a C1, D or E on the Jicnar scale as you probably wouldn't get a GP or a CEO preparing for their night out clubbing by reading this magazine. An A or B also wouldn't want to read a magazine that has such a young readership either as they may feel that it undermines what they have achieved.

The main image on the front of the magazine is that of the electronic/dance act, Prodigy, with their name being anchored by the basis of the article featured, which is titled "How the Prodigy came back from hell". This anchor automatically gives us connotations of them being put through lots of troubles and thus sparks sympathy from the reader. However, when the image and the anchorage are looked at together, Prodigy are portrayed as looking cool and possibly angry, making the reader want to read the article to see how they do feel after it all and what is happening with them now. Prodigy are also a very well known act by people into the electronic music scene, so having them on the front cover will induce a much larger audience. The picture of them gives us connotations of being different but also being highly respected as shown by the pose they are holding on the front cover, particularly the main man of the act. As this magazine is read by people who want to try and stand out, this causes people to want to buy the magazine as it would help them be more like Prodigy. The front cover is heavily reliant on the colour scheme of blue and white, however sometimes uses a yellow text for text that needs specific attention. They use it on phrases such as names of bands, reviews and cleverly on the word "plus" to show how much more there is as well as what they are already giving us. A particular phrase that they use it on is "The world's biggest dance music and clubbing magazine" and it is positioned at the top of the cover giving us connotations of the magazine being incredibly comprehensive but also approved by many other people as it is supposedly the best in the world. The cover also features many offers that entice the reader such as "Every month free CD " and "Get the MixMag podcast!" that also make the reader feel like they will be getting much more for their money.

Looking back at the main image on the front cover, we see prodigy being represented as being cool, perhaps causal, but also quite slick. I think they have purposely been made out to look quite intimidating too, as it represents them as not being afraid despite having "come back from hell". I think their appearance on the front cover is quite dominant as it is quite aggressive and fearless despite them having been through many troubles recently. It portrays them as being strong and carrying on despite what has happened. The rest of the front cover shows quite an emergent ideology as it shows many ideas of this genre which is relatively new anyway and also gives many other forms of information that are new to the world nowadays and wouldn't have been heard of many years ago such as podcasts and going out clubbing. These ideas and thoughts being portrayed are also becoming more popular, thus making them support emergent ideologies even more. The only form of residual ideology shown on the cover is that of Prodigy coming "back", therefore supporting them returning as times possibly were better when they were here and making music.