Font / masthead analysis

Examples and analysis

 

The name is quite obviously an acronym and by using an acronym it allows the name to become rather catchy and memorable to the reader. By giving the logo a double outline with three different colours it allows the masthead to stand out even more to the reader and by making the key colour of the type face red that just emphasises this as obviously bright colour stick out especially when contrasted with dark colours , in this case black.  The bold / large font is used to make it look similar to a billboard which yet again stands out and so it is rather clear that the presentation of the masthead for NME is like most masthead designed to stand out and this does this via its font style and colour.

 

Q magazine uses the idea of a masthead doubled up as a logo as it is only one letter so it can look like a logo but is also obviously the title of the magazine, by doing this they are making the logo / masthead become more noticeable to the reader as it can become almost like a label . The colour red features again similarly to how it features in NME and it is used for the same purpose as well which is to stick out and become more noticeable and eye catching to the reader who they want to buy the magazine. Q magazine being an alternative rock magazine does cater and target the more mature older audience member therefore the simplistic design links in with this quite well and therefore allows it them to capture and reach their target audience very successfully.

 

 

 

Kerrang’s name is meant to be linked to the sound that an electric guitar makes when it is strummed which straight away links to the ideas of reaching out to their target audience which is the rock genre of music as the electric guitar is an instrument that is commonly associated with this genre of music. The effect that has been put on the masthead is meant to make it look as though its been smashed which is linked to the idea of the rock n roll lifestyle that the artists featuring in this magazine live as they are notoriously known for smashing and breaking things at their concerts or at parties afterwards. The use of font colour is different to the two previous magazines as it is trying to hit a younger target audience and therefore is trying to capture the colours that a young rock fan would be associated with which is commonly black and white as they are rather unique and different types of people and black is a colour commonly associated with rock music. 

 

 

 

 

Magazine pricing research

Front page photograph comparison research

Front cover written initial plan/analysis
I begun by ding some background research into front covers and i then gathered up a selection of front cover images in order to build up some ideas for what photographs I wanted for my front cover.
I was very keen on the idea of my model being rather formal in either a suit or at least smart attire on the front cover but then far more casual and up to date in terms of fashion on the double page spread.

I first of all looked at this picture of T.I  (left)and i rather liked this idea because he is smart in his suit shirt yet still rather relaxed with the top button undone and his bow tie undone which i believe allows the image to seem more relaxed whilst keeping with my idea of the formal attire on the front. After seeing this I went and took a picture what I believed to be rather similar to this but with a different facial expression on the models face (right) as I did not want him to smile, i wanted my model to be slightly more reserved. I decided to get my model to wear sunglasses in order to make him seem more mysterious and yet again more formal whilst also slightly more urbanized than T.I is in his picture in order to relate to my target audience more.

 Another image that I looked at was this image of Justin Timberlake who has recently built up quite a reputation in the music industry as being very well dressed in terms of formal attire.In this picture I like the fact that they have linked the colour of his eyes with the background sky blue colour and also this effect has seriously made his eye colour stand out. The smart/casual shirt that he is he is wearing yet again has the effect on the reader that although he is dressed rather smartly he is still relaxed and chilled out which could link to some of his recent easy listening music. I then went an took a picture of a different model with a similar idea of the top buttons undone and with a rather Sterne look on his face. I would use photo shop with this picture in order to enhance his eye colour and also when thinking about the background colour I would possible try and link his eye colour to the background colour, for example if I enhance his brown eyes i could then go for a similar colour for the background possibly a mahogany type of brown.

 My last idea that I had was slightly different to my other initial idea of an artist in smart attire. This idea consisted of a band of three people in casual clothing linking to my trendies category that i have chosen for my target audience.This picture of the band 'Foster the people' (left) is a very similar to the idea that I was looking for as it is vey simply yet has several messages that come across in a very causal style. The clothes that the band members are wearing are all rather different but without being different in terms of the target audience that they are trying to reach out to because all three of them are wearing clothes that a 'trendy' would look towards wearing. The picture that I have chosen is rather similar in terms of the facial expression on the band members faces and also the clothes and background setting because through this picture I am trying to reach out to my target audience via every aspect of the image and front cover.

I then did some more research and discovered that my front cover images needed to possibly be more directed at the indie market seeing as that is my target audience and so I collected these images of Jake Bugg

 

Magazine analysis of NME

The cover

 The title of the magazine is NME which is a short abbreviation for 'New Musical Express'. The title originally was New Musical Express in the early years when it was a music newspaper as a suppose to magazine but in 1978 the title was changed to the currant abbreviated title and soon after this in the early 1980's it changed from newsprint and into a music magazine.  The title was abbreviated for several reasons, one key reason is that the old title was simply too long especially for the magazine format which they were planning to move towards when they made the change. The second reason is that the abbreviation comes across more urbanized and has a younger feel to it which links heavily to their urban, young target audience. 






The title logo has white writing with a red box surrounding it. The font is a very basic style but is large and bold and sticks out on the front page which is obviously what is required for a title on a front cover. The red box also separates the title from the rest of the front cover images and writing in order to ensure to the reader what the title is and to make sure that it does not get taken over by all of the other parts of the cover.
There is not so much of a strap line but there are four names of singers that are in the same font colour and style as the title that are joined on to the title, these names are PJ Harvey, Lars Ulrich, Haim and Toy and these are four artists who appear throughout this weeks issue.
Although there are several pictures on the front page the one that sticks out as the main one is the picture of the artist Jake Bugg. I believe that this is the main picture because it is the largest and therefore takes up the most space on the front page, also the title is directly put on top of his body which could be the creator's way of emphasizing this image and artist. He is gazing into the camera and this could be in order to make it seem like he is looking into the eyes of the person who is reading and buying this magazine. I believe that they chose Jake Bugg to be the main stand out image on the front cover because he is one of the leading up and coming artists in this genre and so he would signify what this weeks issue is trying to show and also he would appeal to a lot of fans of this genre and therefore more people would see him stick out on the front cover and automatically buy it . He looks rather relaxed with a very calm and motionless body language and from my knowledge Jake Bugg himself has a rather reserved introvert personality so this body language and picture suits him and the impression people have of him.
There are several other images on the front cover and they are all of varied size but are all of other singers that are appearing in this magazine, these singers include Palma violets, Wolf Alice and Drenge. All of these artists fit into the indie/rock style of the music that this magazine studies. Another very clever link between all of the artists on the front page is the theme of the issue is young people having fun and so all of the artists on this issue are all playing with fire extinguishers in order to make it look as though they are all together and behaving like the stereotypical young people that this magazine is aiming this issue at, by linking them all together it makes the reader feel as though all of the young people in the music industry at the moment are working together and are not competing against each other. 
The cover lines promote the main topic of this issue which is young British singer's and is illustrated by the large bold main cover line. Also there are small cover lines attached to each picture of the artists just simply saying who the image is representing.
All of the writing on this front page consists of very basic yet bold font which is used for every cover line, strap line and the titles. There are only two colours used for the font and they are royal blue and red lining to the theme of Britain which is the issues topic, also all writing on the cover is surrounded by a small box which is either red or blue depending on the font colour of that particular line.  This magazines style is rather different to other magazines simply because the font and style is far more basic yet bold and to the point. It gives off the impression to the reader that it is not trying too hard to stand out and grabs reader's attention simply with bold writing and noticeable colours that sticks out on the shelf. Its target audience is towards a rather young age group of around 16-28 possibly older and it is targeting the Indie/rock genre of music.
I like the idea of the fire extinguishers because it gives off the idea that all of these artists are young and enjoying themselves and also the idea that the front cover folds out is rather different and imaginative and just adds to the readers excitement, it also allows the magazine to target more things for example more artists pictures.

The inside

There is 66 pages and 15 of these pages are adverts. There are several different types of adverts in this magazine,  there health care products for men e.g. male electronic razors, food and rink items e.g. Jack Daniels whiskey and then there are concert adverts promoting upcoming tours and concerts.
List of articles and topics: sounding off column, 20 essential new tracks, festival drugs, the week, Lars Ulrich sound track of my life , radar, reviews corner , NME guide, young Britannia, state of Flux, from the vaults and lastly this week in 1991.
I would put these in to several different categories, one would be information and weekly catching up, artists stories, investigations, past music looking back at music from different generations and finally the main story which is young Britannia which has the most coverage.
There are 17 double page spreads and they consists of reviews, music updates, festival drugs, the weekly catch up and the young Britania topic has three double page spreads yet again confirming that it has been given the most coverage because it is most important main part of this week's issue.
There are several advertorials, there is one that is advertising reasons to subscribe to NME which is telling you good information about the magazine and what is in this could be seen as an advert for the magazine but it is unlikely as it is in the magazine itself which would make it rather strange to advertise for a magazine inside a magazine. There are also sections that are talking about upcoming tours for artists and it says reviews and how good/bad they are but because prices and dates are on there this could also be seen as an advert for these artists tours.
The house style is rather clear throughout, the background colour throughout is predominantly white and the writing is in a rather mundane black font. All titles of pieces stick out by being put in a very colourful font for example pink or blue which really stick out in contrast with the black font for the actual article itself, this house style is used consistently throughout the magazine apart from when it comes to the main topic of the issue which yet again links to the idea of making the Young Britannia article stand out because it is the main topic of this issue and so it is highlighted by the change in style from the house style. The house style relates to the target audience because the font is very basic and to the point and not too fancy which would appeal to the young target audience because that is what they would look for in a magazine, another thing which appeals to this area of people is the several bright colours and constant images throughout the magazine because it makes the magazine far more exciting to read and avoids the magazine becoming too text heavy.