Analysis Of Two Existing Magazine Covers

I specifically chose Kerrang to look at as one of 2 magazines to analyse, as it’s the same genre that I intend the magazine I make to be; Rock and Indie music. The main image is very typical of your average Rock magazine and really appeals to the target audience. There are three males from an Indie band seemingly aged between 25 and 35, placed against a plain white/grey background. They appear to be dressed quite ‘cool’ and ‘Indie’, and readers of Kerrang, I would imagine, probably dress in a similar way. Also I think judging by this main picture that this would probably appeal to a largely male dominated audience. It’s not very feminine, although it would still appeal to some women, as there are a lot of women who like Rock and Indie style music. There are another four other smaller images used, also keeping with the Rock and Indie theme and these include Rock band members and also an album cover belonging to the band in the main image which ties in really well. They haven’t used any bright colours for the main image which I think works really well, as the colours of the fonts used are red black and white so there would just be too much going on. Some of the smaller images however do include some brighter varied colours but it’s not distracting as colours used include red white and blue so it doesn’t look overcrowded. These colours used, I think really follow the music genre quite well, as red and black are colours associated with the Rock genre, and the white just helps tone it down and not make it look too dark as Indie fans aren’t just into darker shades of colour. They have used white for the main colour for the font for the title, and this makes the main headings really stand out. I think this looks really good against the red and black and draws attention to title really well. The font used is in keeping with the Rock and Indie theme as well, as a lot of it looks like untidy handwriting which makes it less formal and in a way sort of personal, as if whoever designed the cover is writing directly to you. The title looks very typical of the genre, and is a very bold font which looks slightly worn and scratched. I really like this effect as Rock music and fans aren’t supposed to be neat and tidy, and this font backs up this idea. The layout appears to be unstructured and messy but once again it works. The regular and feature articles would also be attractive to the target audience as they’re very much related to the genre. Articles they’ve included are a gig report, free band posters, band information and they’re also giving away four free music tracks. The overall effect is indeed very Rock and Indie related and I think it just works really well. The contents page of Kerrang doesn’t differ greatly from its front cover. They’ve continued the house style well. There is a main image, which is very similar to an image on the front cover as it includes the same people from a smaller image on the front. There are other smaller images of band members included in the contents page, an album cover and also a picture of the editor. I think the picture of the editor, much like the ‘scribbly’ looking font used helps to give a personal touch. The font used, is pretty much the same as on the cover but this is expected as it’s their signature house style. The colour scheme inevitably is also similar, but instead of red white and black, they’ve replaced the red with yellow, which still works quite well. The contents page also draws attention to Rock band names by making the font bold, which once again brings attention to the genre of the magazine, which is in keeping with the cover. The main image on the contents page is also very in line with the ‘Rock’ and ‘Indie’ theme. It’s slightly different from the cover as it looks like a casual picture from a gig, not a posed for picture from a photo shoot which I think ‘Rock’ and ‘Indie’ fans will appreciate as it seems a though a lot of their culture and lifestyle revolves around ‘gigs’ and ‘festivals’. Also the people central to the casual image are wearing quite ‘Rocky’ clothing and are heavily tattoo’s which once again fits in very well with the genre. One of the feature articles, about the band on the cover, is a write up of an interview with all the members. I would say 60% of the page is taken up by pictures of them by what appears to be a stony beach or a rocky shore. Half are in colour and half are in black and white, and even though I would never have thought it, it really works. The rocks in the colour pictures are a grey colour, and the only real colour is in their outfits, and this makes it look quite quirky and different. These pictures and the overall look of the article aren’t very Rock orientated or looking at all, but this is likely to be because the band that’s featured songs are definitely more Indie. The house style seems to have been abandoned, but as this is a feature article I think it still works. The background of the article is plain white, and I really like this as it’s not distracting from the pictures and doesn’t clash with them at all. In fact the white background with the black font used co-ordinates well with the black and white images. The font used is very small with only the capital letters of two lines in bold and enlarged. The first thing your eye is drawn to is the images and I think the font is deliberately small to not draw away from this. Unlike their cover image, the images are very natural and not forced at all and I think Kerrang want to give a more personal feel so the reader is more likely to read the article. Vibe magazine, from the radically different genre of hip-hop, appears to be a million miles from Kerrang magazine. There is a much more overall clean cut image, unlike the messy, rugged underground style Kerrang maintains. The main image is of a female RnB singer aged between 30-40 wearing a bikini, on a beach background. Her pose is very sexual, and quite provocative. This is very appropriate for this genre of magazine as in a lot of hip-hip and RnB singers have a lot of ‘sexy’ women in their video’s and a lot of the time they’re wearing bikini’s or lingerie. This looks as though it would appeal to a largely male audience, as it’s a very sexual image and I can’t imagine many women would want to but the magazine judging solely by the cover image. However they may be fans of the singer and want to but the magazine for this reason.The lighting looks quite bright and natural and very much like that of an average beach scene. Unlike Kerrang, Vibe magazine only has one image on their front cover and I think this works quite well. The singer is central to the page, and the text warped around her and I think this looks very good. It’s not overcrowded, and looks very well thought out. The text is in very ‘beachy’ colours, such as orange yellow and white, and instantly reminds you of the sun which is very appropriate taking the background into account. All the text and headlines bar the title and one heading all use the same font and the same colour schemes. It’s all in what seems to be bold and all upper case, and this is really relevant as there aren’t many ‘fancy’ fonts on hip hop album covers and this must be appealing to the target audience. The only headline that is an exception is the name of the RnB singer on the front. Her name is written in a very feminine font and in pink, and this is probably because the singer is very ‘girly’ and they’re emphasising this. This may have been added specifically to target female readers, or even to attract new female readers. It’s also one of the first things on the page the eye is drawn to; it really stands out and brings attention also to the face of the RnB singer which is just to the right of this. The other texts on the front cover include other massive hip-hop and RnB stars, and this would definitely be appealing to the target audience, as it’s a music magazine they want to read about current artists. Also there’s other relates articles like fashion pages and fitness tips, and I imagine image means a lot to big hip-hop fans. There is also a heading that reads ‘orgies and ecstasy’, and drugs and sex are both largely related with the hip-hop music genre. This isn’t assuming the target audience dabbles in these, but it may interest them as it’s related to their music. The contents page of Vibe is very different to any other conventional contents I’ve ever seen. It’s spread across 3 pages and looks wildly different to that of the likes of Kerrang. Each page consists of one or two main images and then a very small block of text. Each page differs quite a lot with the first page being of the singer on the front cover once again sporting a bikini on the beach, with a block of text either side of her on the lower left and right sides of the page. The second with two identical images of a man and woman who appear to be laughing, taking up half the page each, with a block of text and a quote down the lower left hand side. This appears to be a very casual image and quite personal. The third page includes to completely different pictures, both include one man and are beach and swimming related, with the text down the right hand side of the page. Even though all the pictures are seemingly unrelated, they all have the same style, with the text down the sides of the pages. Also the same font is used throughout the contents pages. There are two different fonts used, one fore page headings and numbers, and one for the description of the pages. The font for the numbers and headings of pages looks very modern and ‘funky’ and is in bold and upper case letters. As hip-hop is quite modern and cool I think this works well. The second font used, looks very much like ‘Times New Roman’ and really quite plain, but this works well against the modern font as it doesn’t then look too busy and it makes it’s clear what text is a heading and what isn’t. Also all the text is in white which makes the text really stand out against the image, with a few words in red and yellow. The second page uses white and black text to make it stand out from the image in the background and instead of using red and yellow, they have used blue to highlight a few words. On the third page they’ve used yellow font to highlight certain words, and like the second page of the contents, have used a different colour, yellow, to highlight words. Each page with the exception of the font and the placing of the text, look entirely unrelated, nothing at all except from the image of the RnB singer links in with the front cover. There appears to be no house obvious house style and at first I was confused as to where the contents page was. I’m not sure how this would directly appeal or relate to the music genre but the images are of famous hip-hop music artists and a surfer and a swimmer. It differs greatly from Kerrang’s contents page which is very similar to its front cover, and uses the same font and type of images. The middle page spread for Vibe magazine, unlike its contents page, is not that different from that of Kerrang. Like the middle page spread in Kerrang, Vibe magazine’s has lots of images used of the band members of the featured band. They have a very serious look on their faces which goes with the story very well as they talk about their pasts and the crime and drugs involved. The house style is not continued but this may just be because this is a one off feature article. The band member’s clothes reflect their hip hop roots and look very much the hip hop artists that they are. The text also reflects this and is black with red splattered across it like blood. It’s very effective and works well with the dangerous tone of the interview. The pictures are in colour and I think the black text works well with this as it doesn’t take away from the main images. Overall the images and tone are portrayed really well and everything seems to work together and, rather than distract the reader from the article.