1. 2nd Textual Analysis
Bethany McPartlin

2. MASTHEAD: The title ‘MixMag’ is made to be very bold, and the colour white helps it to stand out against the darker colours featured on the magazine’s front cover. On this particular edition that music artist’s face covers a small proportion of the title, drawing immediate attention to the musician. Font used is less formal than that of a newspaper, suggesting that the magazine is targeted towards younger audiences and the music genre that ‘MixMag’ covers is more youth based. The word ‘Mix’ within the title suggests that the magazine covers a large variety of artists within that particular Dance genre.
The superlative ‘The world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine’ makes potential readers realise that the magazine is very popular and influential – this presents an immediate incentive to purchase the magazine. Because it’s described as the ‘world’s biggest’, it suggests that they cover artists from all over the world with different backgrounds and cultures – this hints at an extensive amount of readership, presenting a further incentive for reader’s to buy the edition.
Both the masthead and superlative are incredibly self-promotive and suggestive, as they are immediate tools used for attracting potential readers.

3. MAIN IMAGE: Because the music artist’s head covers a small proportion of the masthead, the artist’s face is immediately drawn to the eye – this would have been deliberately done to quickly present the main element of the magazine to potential readers. Presenting the artist in this way makes readers decide whether or not they’ll purchase the magazine before they have even read the contents. Because the artist is shown wearing a hoodie and high-tops with the American flag on, the reader can assume that not only do they present American culture, but they are youthful as well, further appealing to younger audiences. The artist is shown to have long hair and facial hair, which may also appeal to youthful readers with similarly more alternative styles and appearances. The individuality of the artist suggests that his style of music is an independent type, and may appeal to more niche audiences. Creating the illusion that the artist is levitating makes them appear important and influential. Alternatively, the featured artist may have recently adopted a new style within the Dance genre, suggesting that his music has been ‘reborn’.

4. COVER LINE: Featuring on this edition of ‘MixMag’, the only possibly cover line is just the artist’s name, ‘Steve Roki’. The shortness of the cover line mirrors the simplicity and minimal layout of the edition, presenting readers with an ample amount of information without feeling overwhelmed. Colours presented from the cover line matches those that the artist is shown wearing, with the white and red creating a near-perfect co-ordination. Because the cover line is shown to be concealing a small proportion of the artist’s body, the reader can feel no confusion at the artist’s identity. It is placed directly in the centre of the front cover, further showing that the featured artist is the main element of the magazine.

5. SELL LINES: The additional information presented on the front cover are each very brief and only hint at certain topics readers will find within the magazine. This vague inclusion of information leaves the reader in some form of suspense, being an incentive for people to purchase the magazine. The sell lines also reflect the genre of music the edition covers, as well as the type of magazine ‘MixMag’ is. Statements such as ‘Technology that changed dance music forever’ and ‘Massive club listings section’ help present to people who may be unfamiliar with the magazine that ‘MixMag’ covers Dance music, its’ artists and the genre development. As well as matching the Dance genre, the featured sell lines match the colour scheme of the cover line and main image, creating an organised effect and makes it significantly easier to read.

6. BARCODE: The barcode is located directly in the right-hand corner, and is made easy to see by being highlighted in a white box – further matching the general colour palette. Shown next to the barcode is the price of the magazine 9£4.50) as well as the date of publication (October 2012) and the for the magazine ( , so that devoted readers can be updated in-between the publication of each edition.
COLOUR: On the front cover the colour palette is primarily red, white and blue, shown on the masthead, the main image, the cover line and all other text featured. These particular colours presented on the front cover is from American heritage and represents American culture. Repetitive use of the colours suggests that the artist is proud of his heritage, which may appeal to readers with a similar background to him.

7. LAYOUT: Each aspect of the magazine ahs a large amount of space surrounding it, which makes it very easy to read and observe every aspect on the front cover. A wide variety of font sizes is shown of the cover line and sell lines, which creates very little confusion for readers which section is the cover line and which are additional parts within the magazine – more important features of the magazine are shown in larger and bolder fonts.

8. TARGET AUDIENCE REPRESENTATION
Typically the Dance genre attracts older audiences due to the heavily technical side to the production, which applies to the edition of ‘MixMag’. This technical side of the genre is represented on the front cover by showing the artist to be levitating – these effects suggests a significant amount of funding and a sophisticated editing process, indicating an older target audience that may appreciate this particular presentation of the artist. Based on this I would assume that ‘MixMag’’s target audience ranges from ages A target audience of under 18 seems unlikely, seeing as the magazine is described as the ‘world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine’, seeing as clubbing is illegal to anybody under that required age.
REPRESENTATION
The artist featured on this edition of ‘MixMag’ is shown elevated in a position of levitation, placing him in the very centre of the front cover. Creating this illusion makes them appear important and influential, which may compel potential readers to purchase the magazine and learn more about this artist. However, the artist’s name (‘Steve Roki’) is shown in a large and bold font concealing a section of the main image, suggesting that the artist is relatively new and unknown – this may appeal to more niche audiences. He is shown to be wearing a hoodie and high-top trainers with the American flag on them, strongly indicating that the artist is representing American culture – this may attract readers with a similar American background to the artist, creating a personal link between music artist and reader.