HOT PRESS magazine is released fortnightly; it bases its articles on music and politics. Located in Dublin, Ireland it was founded in June 1977. The magazine title, HOT PRESS, is a pun for a common Irish term for an airing cupboard. Masthead can also symbolize the idea of paparazzi and ‘press’ in the media – they have the hot press, the ‘not-to-be-missed’ press. Furthermore, the masthead can also give the idea that the magazine knows everything you need to know about music. The title almost sounds like a gossip-centre place; the HOT PRESS. As though the magazine directly tell their readers everything – nothing is held back which creates a friendly feel to the magazine.
The magazine has a circulation of 17,179 (ABC, January – December 2012). The magazine is sold in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland which means they have a wider target audience and market. The magazine is mostly directed at individuals aged 18-35 with 90% of their audience being in that age group. 45% of this percentage is 18-25 years old while the other 45% are between the ages of 26-35. The magazine is aimed equally at both sexes with 52% of their readers being male and the other 48% being female.
The house colours for this magazine are; gold, black and grey. This helps the magazine become a house-hold magazine for its readers, the colour scheme is dark and rock ‘n’ roll like. From this house style we can assume the magazine promotes non-pop music such as arctic monkeys, Jake Bugg and of course U2. The gold and black contrast of colours suggests an award-like magazine as these colours are used in the music industry for platforms and awards. This makes us the audience assume this award-winning magazine who features award-winning musicians. All words and letters printed on the front cover are displayed in block capitals which suggest that all information is important on the cover and so the reader should read it all. The issue vol and issue number is displayed alongside the date in which the magazine is published; this helps the reader determine how long the magazine has been running and ensures they are reading the up-to-date edition. The font of this is small and printed at the side of the masthead. The layout, choice of colours and design of the front cover has created a niche audience – those interested in vintage, old-school music. This helps to create a ‘fandom’ for HOT PRESS magazine as they will have buyers who will buy every release and those who buy for their favourite band who may be featured in the magazine.
The masthead of this magazine is HOT PRESS; the O in hot is replaced by a fire symbol which further implies the idea of the word HOT – as though their music and articles are on fire, a metaphor for the best. The masthead is printed in a stamp-like fashion which connotes a homely-feel for their readers.
The main image is displayed on 70% of the front cover which instantly attracts the audience to look at U2. The use of this band helps to introduce new readers to the magazine as people may see U2 as the front cover and may be interested to read it- therefore an increase in audience numbers and sales. The image is in black and white which is in contrast to the house style of the HOT PRESS magazine. The black and white image could further suggest that the band are ‘old-school’ and so therefore a black and white image would deeply present the band as the ‘kings of music’ – to many people they may be. Not one band member is making eye contact with the camera/ reader which intrigues us to as why they do not make eye contact- this makes us believe that ‘the big interview’ may include some mistakes and secrets in which the band have made throughout their careers and so this intrigues the reader to read on. The image was taken at eye level which helps to emphasises the band as down-to-earth people – who make music. The use of this eye level angle is very naturalistic and even. Every band member is seen equally in the shot and so there is no ‘main’ singer-band member. This further gives us the audience that U2 want to create a new image- which the angle of shot helps to establish this. The main coverline is displayed in front of the main image which suggests to the reader that U2 is based on their music not their image – which is uncommon in today’s music industry.
The mise en scene presented in the main image have been carefully chosen to highlight important aspects of the band. The musicians look very relaxed – this helps the reader connect to the band on a humanly basis. The use of sunglasses on two of the musicians symbolised what they may be hiding from their past – two without sunglasses show how they’ve changed, moved on. One band member is wearing a monkey hat; which would usually see on a hard working man, such as builders or carpenters. This hat represents to the audience how hard the band have worked to get to where they are – although mistakes (sunglasses representation) they have worked hard.
‘The Big Interview’ is presented to the reader in a faint font; it is not instantly directing the reader to what it reads. Yet, as the reader is attracted to the main image it is when the look down they can notice this coverline. The wording interests the reader at once as the adverb ‘big’ is used which implies this interview is not something to be missed. Furthermore, the white writing under the coverline reads; ‘BONO, EDGE, LARRY AND ADAM TALK TO OLAF’, this line is displayed in block capitals to further imitate the house style. The magazine has chosen to print all band members’ names which is strange and interesting because most people and readers would only recognise Bono- who is the main singer. By doing this, HOT PRESS magazine are promoting the band as a new generation of themselves; because the band are older they need to become more relevant with the new generation of music.
More coverlines are displayed on the strapline of the front cover; these are printed in a careful way- where by the reader is only appealed by them once they have saw everything else on the front cover. The wording is direct and only tells the reader some of what is furthermore featured in the article. The mode of address presented in these coverlines continues with the exact wording of the main coverline. The coverlines displayed on the HOT PRESS front cover can be labelled as ‘headings’ or ‘titles’ which present the magazine is quite a formal way.
From the front cover I can suggest that HOT PRESS magazine focuses its content on mostly males – this is only based on the fact that the house-style does not represent women in any way and so the use of these colours would more likely attract male readers.
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