Q Magazine Front Cover
This
is the first magazine that inspired us to create a similar theme
magazine because the style is really professional and is a very
successful music magazine. The layout is very conventional in most
magazines. With the use of bright colours in the main text, the layout
in which the images have been placed. From looking at the front cover
the target audience seems to have a target auidence of the age group
16-20+. The model (Lily Allen) pose shows that she confident making
other readers feel good about themselves making it more likely for
people to read the magazine making them feel good about themselves. With
the logo it's well known as a music magazine from just the letter
'Q' and it stands out from the rest of the magazines in a store with the
large font size and bright red. Numbers used on the front cover the
'25' makes it seem more believable to the audience making them want to
know what is it by buying the magazine as they think it's an achieveable
number. The colour pallet of the blue font only used in small amounts
making it more effect to the reader because it contrasts to the red
logo, it also brightens up the magazine and I like how just one colour
can simply tansform the whole front cover of the magazine. Even though
you don't usually see Q magazine use the clour blue, you can still tell
it's Q because they are highly recongised with the logo, with it always
in the left side of the front cover. What I like about this front cover
isthe layout as there is not a lot use of text but it's still really
effective, less is more in some cases. The colour is also very bright
and light with the light white/greg background of the image making it
stand out more compared to other magazines in shops, this one is more
likely to stand out because a lot of magazines use similar colour
scheme, whereas this is different making it become more recongised.
On the top right side of the magazine it
uses big bold text to make the 3 bands displayed stand out more, with
them been well recongised bands/singers people will want to read about
them, getting more people to purchase the magazine. The masthead on this
front cover is at the bottom of the page, but with it been at the
bottom it is less likely to get noticed, but however this demonstrates
differently as you seem to notice this more due to the bold, white font,
with a clash of black background, i think this will look very effective
on my front cover so I will include this in my magazine. Q give their
audience reader a bigger outlook in music industry and found it be more
attractive to all readers and give people background knowledge.
NME Magazine Front Cover
The
second magazine that I researched was NME and likewise with Q
magazine, NME has a very conventinal style as well. As you can see in
this magazine it has a masthead thats placed in the top left corner of
the magazine and the text inside the masthead
is of a large font so it gains the readers or auidences attention. But
with the NME logo overlapping the masthead draws great attention to
the logo rather than the masthead, this isn't necessary for the reader to recongise magazine. The skyline helps to encourage people to pick up the magazine and
within the masthead the word 'news'it creates a sort of mystery making
the audience more likely to buy the magazine so they can read all about
the two band featured in masthead. The use of a lot of text on the
magazine down the left side of the magazine This is a very clever technique, as in stores many magazines may overlap
one another on a shelf, however it is the left side which is usually
still visible to audiences, therefore the articles featured in the
magazine will still be viewable.
The main headline featuring the band
'Alex Turner & Kane Miles'is a different colour to the rest of the
text in the sell lines, the colour white makes it look simple, whilst
remaining professional. The use of the image again is simple making it
more dramtic and effective. The colour black allows the image to stand
out with from the red and white. But however could argue that the image
appears to shadow behind the word 'shadow' due to the main image dull,
black, lack of shape and body language they appear to act like
'shadows'. However the singers are the main feature and focal point of
the magazine, with the eye contact to the reader it will gain attention
straight away to the front cover, which encourages them to purchase the
magazine.
The text is pretty much plain, which in
some cases can be more effective, because if less is going on making it
less busy and not confusing the reader. Also the text consists of bold
font with just a small description underneath in a normal font. With
numerous text placed on the front cover, the bold allows each title to
stand out, which is important for gaining readers attention, making them
become more interested in magazine resluting in picking up and
purchasing the magazine. The colour scheme was the use of black, white
and red, creating a very effective professional look also those colours
have been identified with a association with 'indie rock' magaxine music
genre, making the audience aware of what the magazine contains, for
example you are less likely to see a pop band in NME. What i like most
about the front cover is the layout, something I would use for my
magazine cover, the way the text is situated, and the place the logo is
seated, i will use a similar colourscheme of black, white and red this
is because i will be using the same music genre included in the
magazine.
NME Magazine Front Cover
Another magazine front cover that is
NME. The first thing I noticed on this front cover was the use of the clour gold, this made the magazine look important, so gets the reader wanting to but this magazine because it suggests buying this will make you feel important. The colour gold also gives this magazine a professional look because the colour gold is associated with wealth. This colour gold plays a signifcant role of this front cover because it's also a light colour, making it become brighter and highlighting the models facial features. The model is seen as relaxed and calm making the reader feel more approachable to the magazine, the model maintains eye contact with the reader, drawing in the reader because it's creating a connetion with the magazine an audience reader. The model also is in front of the magazine name/logo giving the model a bigger importance than the actual name of the magazine because people can recognise which magazine it is from the layout displayed, due to the colour scheme.. The use of the circle shape in the top right corner stands out from everything else that's going on in the magazine as the use of capital letter on 'WIN!' draws in the reader attention notifying the fact that the if you purchase the magazine you could win. NME is an indie/rock magazine which is
refelcted in the front cover as it is very dark but bright with the red and white, that is associated with that music genre and people know this by comparing similar genre magazines, likewise it has a similar colour scheme with Q magazine. The lightening of the magazine has brightened up the front cover of the magazine making the presentation of how the magazine is represented as a music magazine, by making the light look as though it's a spotlight on the singer, potraying when the signer is performing on stage, this could be why the editors of the magazine have created this affect to make readers feel as though close to the singer. From this magazine I will use the colour gold as a block of colour on my front cover to help enlightening the front cover and making a more professional look.
Kerrang Magazine Front Cover
Kerrang is also another inspiring magazine. In this front cover Kerrang magazine has a wide range of colours used to make the whole front cover stand out. For example the yellow is a great contrasting colour and making it a key feature and focus point, from the other colours, black and white that is used to create a theme that is used throughout Kerrang issues. The use of the bold numbers makes the number 100 seem larger than what it is grabing the readers attention. Various artists have been used to attract different target audiences to the magazine and looking at the magazine you can tell the genre is based on rock. The position of the model shows that he is fearless and makes the audience feel the same, also the pose that is presented shows great confidence from his body language and the way he holds his microphone. The masthead at the top of the magazine is presented small and not really noticable but still has an impact on the reader. There is numerous of images presented on the front cover which makes it look messy and a lot going on especially with each image is demonstrating a different pose. Kerrang title is right across the top of the magazine just under the masthead, putting all the focus on the title to get audiences attention, the use of the text for it is a large font that has a smashed effect, giving the sense the magazine is a rock music magazine. With kerrang being a rock magazine it is shown in the front cover with the bright scase colours used to and smashed titles give the impression that is rock which is shown by the singers themselves and from the costumes that the models are wearing, from there clothes you get a sense that they take there image seriously and care about how they present themselves giving there own image to get recongised by audience. 