Front Cover Analysis: MOJO July 2009

In this post, I be will analysing the front covers of two magazines. This first front cover is the July 2009 edition of MOJO magazine.  MOJO magazine focuses on a large range of different music and the cover's main focus is on the band Kings Of Leon with sub-headings including James Taylor, Neil Young, Trent Reznor and Sex Pistols.  The main target audience for the magazine is 18-40 year olds who have a high interest in different styles of popular music.

The main magazine title is simply the word 'MOJO' in bold, white capital letters.  This is the same title as is used on every edition of MOJO magazine and by doing this they are promoting brand loyalty as previous customers should be able to easily recognise the magazine and even though the main ikmage partially covers the title, it is should still be clear to most people of what it is saying.  Their slogon, 'The Music Magazine', has also been placed over the title in a font that is very similar to handwriting, this gives the impression that it has been physically written over the top.  The slogan itself gives the impression that this magazine is the best in its class.

The front cover features the band Kings Of Leon with main anchorage text saying 'Kings Of Leon' and sub anchorage text saying 'on the road with the world's biggest band.'  This instantly connotes that Kings Of Leon are a huge band and that the reader should be surprised if they haven't already heard of them.  There is a smaller banner to the top right of the main anchorage with the word 'Exclusive!' on it.  This is a buzz word that grabs the users attention and shows to them that this article is exclusive to this magazine.  The word 'biggest' in the sub anchorage is also a buzzword that makes the reader think.  Do they agree with the bold statement?

The main image is a medium close up of each of the members of Kings Of Leon side by side.  The whole picture is in black and white and when put with the looks on their faces gives an overall serious tone.  This could be used to connote how their music has developed into me serious material compared to their jokey, upbeat stuff on their first two records.

The colour scheme on the page is mainly green, black and white (apart from the exclusive banner on the anchorage text, which completely contrasts the rest of the page.)  The colour scheme is matched with the free CD that came with this edition and the alternate cover for Kings Of Leon's fourth and current studio album, Only By The Night. (see here)  The font style is also very similar, if not the same, as on the alternate cover. (See the top right and left of the cover).  The overall layout of the cover is very symmetrical and the matching fonts and colour make the page look very stylised and professional.  This is almost the opposite of some covers from magazines like NME (see here) where the cover is very cluttered and unprofessional.  This styling give the impression that the readership inside the magazine should be very good and that it should be one of the best magazine in the genre.

In the top left of the page, there is a small puff which is simply advertising the free CD that came with this edition.  It is in the same green and white that is used on the rest of the page, so it does not jump out of the page at the reader, but it lets them know that their is something extra with the edition.  To this right of this put there is two sub images with white outlines that almost looks like they have been scattered on the top of the page.  This could make the page look messy but the sub text for these images are aligned horizontally to keep the clean, professional feeling and the same colours and fonts as on the rest of the page are also used.