Textual Analysis

Magazine 1 – Clash Magazine, Issue 81a, January/February 2013

Clash Magazine

Clash magazine is published by Clash Music Ltd twelve times a year. Clash magazine is a trademark of Clash Music Ltd. Clash Music Ltd originally extended to live events and festival

partnerships, until the magazine was founded by publisher John O’Rourke in 2004.

Readership:188, 940

Circulation:47, 235

Gender (approx.):50/50

Average Age:21 – 31 (71%)

Clash’s Mission Statement:“Clash Magazine is the flagship product in the Clash portfolio. Award-winning and widely revered, Clash provides in-depth features and stunning shoots alongside informative news, exclusive interviews and respected reviews. Our opinion-forming audience is treated to a premium print product which challenges convention like no other across twelve monthly issues, many of which are themed specials..”

The average Clash reader is “in employment and follows music, films, books, gadgets and clothes. When they choose to spend their

hard- earned cash, it’s well considered and based on recommendations from the sharpest sources. They are gig-going,

fashion conscious, tech hungry and consider the Noughties the decade of cheap money, and ‘nothing’ politics. The 30+ are settling

down to laugh at the days of Acid House with the 18+ creating what’s new.”

Clash MagazineThe colour scheme used on the front cover of Clash

magazine is very simplistic and pale mostly made up of brown and sepia tones which helps to compliment

the clothing Bobby Womack wears in the main picture and also symbolizes the indie genre of music. Clash magazine’s readers are typically aged

between 21 and 31, so this colour scheme helps to connate a very calm, mature feel to these readers.

Typically, magazines would use bright colours to stand out to readers in a shop, whereas this magazine does the opposite in order to stand out against these

other stereotypical music magazines.

Again like the front cover, the colour scheme of the contents page has been kept to a minimal black and white theme in order to fit in with the general house

style. Using these two basic contrasting colours allows the text to be easily read by anyone. The use of black and white colours also connotes a modern,

retro feel to the magazine, which fits in with the quirkiness of the genre of music.

Clash MagazineTo follow this house style, the double-page spread with Bobby Womack featuring in it continues to use the black and white,

simplistic theme seen on the contents page. This helps to give a nostalgic feel to the article,

which is appropriate as they are interviewing a ‘music legend’. On the page,

everything is completely black and white, apart from a small block of orange which has been used to list the photographer, the writer and the director of fashion for this particular

article. Clash magazine is famous for it’s writing and house style, so the use of a bright colour

enables readers to know exactly who is responsible for the article. The colour

orange also symbolises something quite warm and happy, which tells the readers what

the overall tone of the article should be like. The follow-up pages to this article follows

the same colour scheme but alternates between black and white and sepia photos

to link in with the house style of the magazine.

Clash MagazineThe general house style throughout the magazine is

really varied – every individual page more or less has a different layout in order to suggest how

modern and fashionable the magazine is. The general layout of text is used effectively in order to

frame the different images, such as on the double page spread, where the text is altered and varied to ‘fill’ the empty space on the page. The

unusual combination of different fonts throughout all pages of Clash magazine actually

looks quite effective and quirky, which well-suits the indie/independent style of the magazine.

The more decorative fonts connote quite a fun, fashionable message about the magazine, whilst

the simpler, sans serif fonts show that the magazine is also very informative and mature. This idea is shown on the front page, in order to get the main headline to stand out; on the contents page, to inform readers what page it is; and on the double-page spread to distinguish between the title of the article, the featured artist,

subtitle and a snippet of the text.

Clash MagazineIn general, especially where there are pictures present on the front cover and the double page

spread, the magazine uses the rule of thirds as a lot of the images take up the whole page.

The rule of thirds needs to be present in the images to allow the reader to engage with the artists featured – the eyes are always positioned near to where the vertical lines

intersect with the top horizontal line, as this is where the eye is automatically drawn to, and the eyes of the model/artist can give a lot away about the image. Bobby Womack,

who features on the front cover and double page spread, is pictured smiling in order to appeal to the audience and connote a warm, happy tone to the magazine. The indie music genre is very unique, and typical listeners of this genre of music also have very bold, extravagant

tastes in fashion, which is why the main image features the artist with very unique, out-there

fashion in order to appeal to the target audience.

Clash MagazineOnly one main image of Bobby Womack has been used on the front cover to reflect on

the main content within the magazine. Many magazines will often feature more than one

image on their front page to entice readers with the content, but I think the simplicity of just one image makes this magazine look more mature and stylish. Bobby Womack is

not seen as a particularly attractive figure (especially not to Clash magazine’s target audience), but he could be seen as

someone who young musicians aspire to be.

The photo itself and the pose is quite natural; having him smile connotes a

warm, happy feeling to the magazine. His styling and make-up is also kept to a

minimal level to show the simplicity of the magazine style and tone. Using a mid-shot

also allows the reader to clearly see the model’s facial expression, whilst also

filling the page but leaving space for text.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954), stated that, “magazines and advertisements promise to fulfil many of our needs to be accepted into social groups and our need for self-esteem and self-respect.” The main image on the front cover is styled to allow readers to really connect with the indie vibe and allows them to feel like they belong to that particular genre/group. Styling Womack like this would also allow readers self-respect as they see people with similar interests can look ‘cool’ so allows them to feel better about themselves.

Clash MagazineThe front cover for Clash magazine

doesn’t give a lot away to the reader about what is featured inside the magazine – there is a list of the

featured artists and just a couple of the main articles, but nothing that really gives a hint to the reader about

what is being said inside the magazine. In some sense this could be quite effective

as it may intrigue readers to read and buy the magazine, whereas it may also put consumers off from buying

the magazine, as there is no clue as to what they will read about – if there is noting interesting, they won’t continue to buy it. However, what is actually written

on the front cover is very clear and easy to read from a distance, and the

minimal use of text could also entice a reader to buy the magazine, as it is

not too overwhelming.

Clash MagazineThe contents page

actually has no images apart from two of the

alternative front cover designs to inform the

reader of the issue they are reading. The use of no

other images actually makes the magazine look more organised and professional, but

arguably looks more like a high-profile fashion

magazine such as Vogue because of the way it has

been structured. This doesn’t help the reader at all as it makes the page look boring to look at, and doesn’t give any clue away about the

content of the magazine.

Clash MagazineOverall, the front cover has been designed

quite well in the sense that the magazine has created its own identity, being one of the

few indie-music magazines published. It would stand out really well against most other

magazines because the overall design is so unique and different, but really the actual

language and text may not necessarily be enough to entice a reader into buying the

magazine, as very little information is given away about the magazine’s content. The magazine front cover also does well to “include both a categorisation and an

evaluation of the group being stereotyped,” Branston and Stafford

(2010). The indie music genre is something that is slowly becoming more popular in

British culture, and just like any other genre of music, the people who listen to it are

often stereotyped. The front cover does well to create and hold a ‘style’ and ‘title’,

which stereotypical indie fans would relate and conform to.

Clash MagazineThe layout of the text is really

well structured and is appropriately organised

according to the type of article to make locating page numbers/articles easier for the reader. The use of lines

across the page to section text also helps to effectively

give the magazine identity, as it is something which is repeated on a lot of the

pages throughout the magazine. These lines also help

to fill blank spaces and creates an interesting

design/pattern for the page. A lot of the fonts have also been

made bold in order for the numbers and the titles to

stand out better against the regular text.

Clash MagazineThe language style, which is

particularly evident on the double page spread, is quite formal

considering, the fun, quirky design of the magazine. As Clash try to target quite a few students, the language style is very intellectual

and uses a wide range of advanced vocabulary – the text talks to the readers and treats them like adults. The text also

features some examples of rude/adult language here and there within the article, but this just makes the whole magazine seem much more grown up and perfect for

adult readers. The language used is also fairly genre-specific, it uses a lot of music terminology in order to connect directly with the readers, who are more than likely to be big

fans of music.

Clash MagazineOverall, Clash Magazine gives off a very grown up feel which is well suited to its target audience, and has a very professional and stylish look to it. Every single page is well thought about and the

style and design is kept consistent for that professional look which is what makes the magazine so popular. However, some readers may argue that a

few pages, such as the contents page, are too simple and do not live up to the design of the rest of the magazine. I really like how ‘real’ the

magazine is, everything from the colour scheme to the writing style is kept very natural and

realistic, and helps to bring out the indie vibe. With my magazine, I would like to use Clash’s

language style and page design and layout for inspiration.