Mojo Magazine Analysis

Analysis of MOJO Magazine Front Cover

Front Cover

Mojo is a music magazine with the main aim of classic rock but also soul and blues. It usually focuses on the greatest artists of the genre and likes to keep a legendary look to its house theme; bold writing, classic photography and a ‘cool rock’ layout. The analysis is aimed at the front cover, which is where the above features of the magazine are most profoundly presented.

The Masthead

Mojo magazine has a very basic masthead that doesn’t have a set colour because it changes depending on the lead photograph; the masthead is ‘MOJO’ and in small writing has ‘The Music Magazine’ goes through the middle of the letter ‘J’.  In this particular issue the ‘MOJO’ is in a profound white and ‘The Music Magazine’ in grey because the lead image is in black and white. This so that it doesn’t draw attention away from the lead image or change the colour scheme that is chosen for the issue. The readers that like this magazine are interested in the music it aims at, so enjoy the fact that the magazine has a low profile masthead compared to some magazines and like the emphasise the artist and not the magazine.

Lead Image

The lead image in this issue is the band Led Zeppelin, it is photographed at a long shot- low angle presenting them standing up and looking directly down at the camera; this makes them look serious, dominant and powerful to the readers, especially because the background is made to look like they are on top of a building in a city. The choice of black and white emphasises the seriousness of the band, but also because of their status in music they look ‘old school’ and ‘classic’ and not scared of what they are doing. They are dressed in heavy boots, casual hair, minimal accessories, jeans and black upper body wear. The lead artist is placed at the front and is wearing a leather jacket which makes him seem courageous and backed up by the other two. They have not been over-dressed or changed from their normal/casual clothing  because they are a classic band and the readers of MOJO magazine don’t want to see them transformed into something else, they want to see them as who they are and hear the music they play, not change them.

General

The front cover of MOJO magazine in this issue is packed with what is included but is kept to the sides of the lead image to make sure that the main attention stays on it (Led Zeppelin in this case). The cover lines that surround the edges of the cover are either written in red or are highlighted in it along with part of the lead line so that it keeps to the colour scheme. Most of the front cover is presented enthusiastically but not in a childish way; not too many flash boxes or changes in colour, which implies that the target audience is probably late teens and above.

The cover lines are not in great detail and are mostly just shown by the name of an appearing artist in the magazine, which I feel is because the audience that read this magazine are looking for the artists they enjoy and will more likely pick up the magazine if they recognise a name, so because they only put the name on the front cover you can fit a lot more of them; which then creates a bigger audience for the magazine, so more sales and profits.