Music Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Music Press - a brief history

Music Press – A Brief History

1950s and 1960s

In November 1952, NME (The New Musical Express) was introduced to the general public. NME was a music magazine that mainly focused on rock music and the genre that covered it. However NME was not the first music magazine due to Melody Maker being on sale since 1926, Melody Maker was a rock and pop magazine that was popular with the general audience. NME was the first magazine to have a chart within it, but unlike music magazines in the present day the reviews of the music was generally positive and there were never any negative comments to the artists or songwriters, although this did then change during the 1960s with the appearance of bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In the 1960s the entire music industry changed due to the drug culture that was soon adopted by many.

1970s

During the 1970s there was a new rock genre, punk music. Punk music celebrated garage bands and many self-produced albums were created. The punk genre was usually faster than other musicians in this time period, such as David Bowie, and most of the music included within the punk genre had anti – establishment and political lyrics included within their songs. It was around this time that NME began to embrace the punk genre by branching out the topics included in the magazine to feature philosophy and politics for example. However due to this change in target audience NME, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, had its readership numbers fall as it began to focus too much on politics. In the mid-70s there was a divide between music magazine due to some writing about the music and the performance, Melody Maker, and the magazines that wrote about the bands views and messages included within the lyrics.

1980s

During the 1980s many music magazines began to look towards younger readers as the target audience for their magazines. They did this by experimenting with new layouts, topics and fonts, which ultimately proved to be popular with younger readers. For example the magazine BLITZ became incredibly popular with the younger readers due to the content that it included due to it suiting the target demographic of its readership.

1990s

There was a huge amount of change during the 1990s due to all of the new technologies available, this was most apparent with the introduction of MTV. A new type of television channel was created which would then feature all of the newest singles with their music videos meant that songs got a new type of publicity. MTV meant that all new singles created now came with a music video, which therefore meant that some songs became successful due to the video and not the quality of song, a huge change from previous decades. This meant that the format of the music press had changed from magazine to television

Present

Nowadays there are blogs that have been set up that review music singles that have taken over from magazines; they are more popular due to their more equal views and not the views of a large company. Many music artists do a lot of publicity on the internet in order to appeal to its largest readership section, teenagers, who spend more time on the internet instead watching TV or reading magazines. This had meant that there has been a decline for every magazines readership due to most of the content being found online. Magazines try to keep their readers by having interviews with artists who are popular within the genre. NME has changed by including more than one genre in its magazine and also strayed away from the punk genre entirely. Most of today’s music magazine content features top charts and interviews, with most content simplified for the non-avid music fans.

Preliminary Task

AS Media Studies: Preliminary Project

Film Magazine Cover:

Masthead:

The title of the magazine is ‘Empire’ and this is written in bold writing at the top of the magazine, which due to its size and position immediately draws the attention to the audience of the magazine to it making it instantly recognizable.  The ‘Empire’ magazine does not include a strapline, which therefore means that the magazine relies on its title to draw in its audience. The masthead is hidden behind the main picture which is a theme for ‘Empire’, while researching magazines I realized that ‘Empire’ always have their main picture covering part of the title and this means that the audience often sees the picture before they see the masthead. Due to ‘Empire’ being a very successful magazine business it shows that they can afford to cover up their title without affecting their magazine reaching their audience.

Readership:

The magazine is targeting the target audience of people who love to watch films and are interested in the newest films in cinemas. Due to its popularity, ‘Empire’ has a huge target audience but sometimes the target audience will change depending on the film, for the example the target audience would be people who enjoy funny action films, while other times the target audience is for cartoons, which both have a vastly different target audience. The cover for this issue is targeted towards comic book fans, due to the character of Deadpool being a popular comic. Alongside this they would be targeting a mature male audience due to the blood on the side of the cover, which shows the audience that the film is very bloody.

Dominant Image:

The cover image on the magazine is that of the main character and this shows audiences that this is the character that they would be investing time with during the film. The picture is centralised can due to the colours of the costume immediately draws the attention of the reader towards the character before anything else on the cover. The props that have been used in the image, the swords and guns, shows that the film will be an action film with lots of violence which helps to draw in people who perhaps do not know who the character of Deadpool is. The costume of the character is the one from the film and helps draw in comic book fans who perhaps did not know about the film, the costume also shows movie fans that it will be another fun comic book movie. The character appears to be looking at the reader

Coverlines:

The coverlines on the magazine are compact depending on the subject that they will be discussing in the magazine. At the top of the page, just underneath the title the magazine includes ‘Rogue One’, ‘Xmen’, ‘Bourne’ and ‘Game of thrones’, these coverlines also helps to increase the target audience that the magazine is trying to promote itself to.

Layout:

The cover is laid out in a way that is easy to see, with key words bolder then others in order to get the points of the magazine clearly. The main image is centre and catches the eye, while the title draws people in due to its respectability to people. The other smaller sections on the cover that include text, helps the reader to decide whether or not they wish to purchase the magazine by the topics that are included, and cover a range of topics.

Mode of Address:

The magazine uses the themes of the film to address the audience, which in this case is violence and comedy. The format for this is very informal, although this could be to do with the product on the cover as the film does not take itself seriously, but the magazine often changes its format depending on the product it is writing about.

Game Magazine Cover:

Masthead:

The title of the magazine is ‘XBOX’ and this is written in bold, green writing that represents the companies name and colour for all products. The title is located at the top of the magazine, alongside the typical Xbox logo, which due to its size and position on the cover draws the attention of the reader to the magazine and thanks to the logo and name, makes it instantly recognisable for most people. The magazine does include a strapline; ‘The Official Magazine’ and ‘The essential guide to Xbox 360 and Xbox One’ which therefore makes the audience know that this is a good quality magazine that gives information on the Xbox and its products. The magazine does rely on its title to draw people in although the straplines do help people make sure that it is a reliable source. The title is partially hidden behind the main picture but due to the logo size and recognisability it does not affect the end profit and product.

Readership:

The main target audience for the magazine is people who love to play video games, and especially those who play on the Xbox. They must also be interested in the newest games that are coming out and like to keep up to date on the latest game releases and news. Due to the popularity of Xbox it already has a target audience, although they will try to expand this by featuring products that others will love.

Dominant Image:

The dominant image on the front cover is four operators who are some of the characters you can play as in the game. The cover image is centralised and due to the size it draws the attention of the audience towards the characters and shows them what the game would be about. The militaristic imagery of the outfits shows the reader that the game will be about warfare and violence, which will draw in a particular target audience.

Coverlines:

The coverlines on the magazine are placed at the bottom of the cover in a green semi – circle. The semi – circle is green due to the primary colour of the magazine and product it is trying to sell being green. The coverlines helps to increase the amount of people that would like to purchase the magazine, and therefore the coverlines would have to be varied in order to get a large readership.

Layout:

The cover is laid out in a way that makes it easy to read for the audience. The green writing is bold and catches the eyes of the audience, and other parts of the magazine are very clearly labelled on the cover. The main image is large and therefore it also catches the eye, while the title will draw in people due to how iconic it is. The smaller areas on the front cover also helps draw in the reader and helps them to decide if they wish to buy the magazine.

Mode of Address:

The magazine uses the theme of the product, which in this case is games, to show the audience all of the newest games coming out. They use the biggest game as the front cover in order to draw in an audience, and this makes the magazine seem very formal for the product but that is a part of Xbox and its magazine.

Music Magazine:

Masthead:

The title of the magazine is ‘Vibe’ and this is written in bold with red and black blended writing that represents the companies name and colour for all products that they make. The title is located at the top of the magazine, which due to its size and position on the cover draws the attention of the reader to the magazine and thanks to the name, makes it recognisable for the target audience. The magazine does not include a strapline therefore the magazine relies on its title to draw people in. The title is partially hidden behind the main picture but due to the boldness if the title it does not affect the end profit and product.

Readership:

The main target audience for the magazine is people who like to listen to rap music. They also must be interested in new albums from various rap artists. Due to the popularity of some of the people who feature in the magazine therefore some of the artists have their own target audiences which will be draw in into the magazine, which will then expand the target audience of the magazine.

Dominant Image:

The dominant image on the front is Eminem and this would show the reader the type of topics that would feature in the magazine, due to the size of the image it will draw the eye of the readers which will help the profit of the magazine. The image is centralised and the outfit that he is wearing, along with the tattoos show the audience that the interview will be very truthful due to the natural look he is wearing.

Coverlines:

The coverlines of the magazine mainly feature other rap artists who will also draw in their own target audience which will then help to increase the target audience for the magazine. Using the names of other big artist it means that they can branch out and try to increase the number of people who purchase their magazine.

Layout:

The layout is very simple as it shows along the edges of the magazine exactly what is included within the magazine; this means that people who are just glancing at the magazine will know exactly what is included within the magazine. Having different sizes of font’s means that various words stand out more than others, therefore meaning that having more important words and phrases will stand out more which will draw the attention of the reader.

The Sixth Form Magazine:

Target Audience:

The target audience for the magazine is Sixth Form students at The Downs School. The age bracket for the magazine would be students between the ages of 16 and 18; this is due to the ages of a typical Sixth Form student. Even though this age bracket would have different interests due to the Sixth Form magazine being for all students there would be a variety of different parts to the magazine that would appeal to all students in the Sixth Form. The magazine will appeal to all genders due to it being for all students of the Sixth Form, and like with the age bracket it will have various sections that would interest the different genders more than others. Through incorporating various topics it will increase the amount of people who would wish to view the product, and through these topics hopefully the readers will relate to the topics that will be included within the magazine. The target demographic for the Sixth Form magazine will be ‘E’ due to this being the area that students are located on the scale. The target psychographic for the magazine will be ‘Mainstreamers’, ‘Explorers’ and ‘Aspirers.’ The target psychographic will be ‘Mainstreamers’ due to it being the biggest group on the chart therefore meaning that many of target audience will be featured within this section. I am including ‘Explorers’ in my target audience because it does feature a younger demographic within it, who are the first to try new brands, which will help introduce the magazine to the other target demographics. The ‘Aspirers’ are often drawn to products that have the best image and therefore if the cover and the coverlines are intriguing enough then these people will want to read the magazine.

I went to asked 20 people in the Sixth Form, from both years and genders what they would want for a magazine for them and these are the results that I collected:

1.       What topics would you like to see in a Sixth Form magazine?

8/10 people (16/20) wanted to see a competition to be included within the magazine.

9/10 people (18/20) wanted a calendar to be included that has key dates for the Sixth Form.

7.5/10 people (15/20) wanted there to be funny interviews with teachers.

2.       How much would you be willing to spend on a Sixth Form magazine?

80% of people would be willing to spend up to £1, while 20% were unwilling to spend that much.

90% of people would be willing to spend up to 50p, but 2 people in the study were not willing to spend that much.

3.       Would you want the magazine to help set up school fetes or in school charity days?

95% of people in the survey said they would want a Sixth Form magazine to help to organise school events.

Planning process:

Name:

The name of the magazine I have chosen is ‘The Six’. I have chosen this to be the name of the product due to how simplistic it is, yet it does show the reader exactly what the target audience will be for the product. The title that I have chosen sounds like a Sixth Form magazine that would be available in schools due to the simplicity of the title.

Other choices for names:

·         Sixth Sense

·         Sixth Street

·         Downs Daily

·         16 and Up

Logo

The logo design for the magazine will be the school logo and I came to this decision due to it being the logo of the school, and the Sixth Form is within the school, and it would show that it is an official magazine for the school. The logo is also very recognisable for people within the school, which therefore would make people think that it is a reliable source of information.

Font

For the magazine there are many different fonts that could be included within the magazine for the general text and the coverline text. The text for the title will be incorporated within the logo, therefore the planning process for that will be

There are a few different fonts that would go well with my magazine because of the way that they are set out and that they make sure that the audience quickly sees them. There will be two separate fonts, one for the title and one for the text throughout the magazine.

THE SIX:

This is one of the examples of the font I would use for the title is ALGERIAN because of its artistic shape. Due to its shape and design it would draw the audience’s attention when they are reading the magazine.

PROS:

The text has a distinct design that has not been used, and this would draw in the audience for the magazine.

CONS:

This text could be difficult to read due to the design; although I believe it is readable some members of the target audience perhaps will not be able to understand it.

THE SIX:

Another example of a font that I could use for the title is FORTE because of its style, and this could change the entire design for the magazine. It would draw people attention due to the style.

PROS:

It looks different to other possible font choices, which means that it would make the magazine more original to the audience.

CONS:

It is tricky to read and this could cause some members of the target audience no get the magazine due to this.

THE SIX:

This is one of the examples of the font I would use for the title is IMPACT because of its bold shape. It would draw the audience’s attention when they are reading the magazine, although it has the drawback of not being as exciting as some other magazine font text.

PROS:

Bold, easy to understand and read.

CONS:

Could be boring due to its simple nature and this could affect the audiences reaction to the magazine.

I have decided to use ‘Algerian’ as the main font for titles in my magazine due to its distinct style and design that would draw in audiences in the Sixth Form.

Colour Schemes

For the colour design for the magazine there are many different colours that I believe could work for my magazine. The colours that I have chosen are: Red, Yellow, Light Blue, Dark Blue and Orange.

The Six

PROS:    The colour is bold and easy to read. The colour red does signify joy, strength, love and leadership which could be a way to become a leading magazine.

CONS:   The colour red also signifies rage, anger and stress which are the first connotations that most people think of when they think about the colour red. The colour itself is also very ordinary with many other magazines that also use red as the colour scheme of their product, therefore in order to be an original magazine it would have to be another colour. For example ‘Empire’ magazine often uses the colour red as its title and then often its colour scheme.

The six

PROS:    Bold, the colour signifies hope and happiness and this could be the comparison that people will make when they see the magazine.

CONS:   The colour can appear to be very bright and due to this it could make the audience not wish to read the magazine.

The six

PROS:    The Light Blue colour is one the best colours for the product as it seems much more light-hearted then the other possible colour choices.

CONS:   The colour could appear to be too bright therefore meaning that it could not necessarily catch the eyes of the readers.

The six

PROS:    It is the colour of the Sixth Form and it would make sense to have it as the main colour.

CONS:   There is a lot of Dark Blue in the areas of the school that the magazine would be located in, which therefore means it will not be as eye catching some other colours.

The six

PROS:    It is a distinct colour that works well with a variety of backgrounds.

CONS:   Might be too bold, this could make people stay away from the magazine.

I decided to use the orange colour as it would make the magazine easy to see and means that people will see it when they walk past, which should help make more people get the magazine.

Front Cover Image:

For the front cover image I want there to be two people leaning against a wall, it would show that there can be some relaxation while in the Sixth Form. I will have one of the people looking down reading a book, which will show people that they will have to study in order to succeed but the other person I want to be standing straight and looking proud, as if they have finished a project or got a good grade. These are two of the emotions that could be running through a Sixth Form student, pride and concentration.

Front cover

Evaluation:

In order to create my magazine front cover I used Photoshop to create the main front cover, while the picture that was used was my image taken with the planning process in mind. The camera was a good quality which meant that the image was a good quality which therefore made the entire quality of the magazine a lot better. The overall magazine front cover went very well personally because it was exactly how I had imagined it when I was planning, which meant that I knew the project well enough to create the front cover at a good standard for a Sixth Form magazine. In order to create parts of the text effects I had to use parts of Photoshop that I have not used before making the magazine, which therefore made parts of the magazine harder than other parts. The use of blue on the magazine links in with the schools colour for the Sixth Form, which helps the magazine catch the eyes of the reader. Having short bits of text for the coverlines means that it will draw in the audience into wanting to read more of the magazine in order to find out about the various topics included with the coverlines. Overall I think that the overall magazine and the planning process went quite well. The magazine catches the eye and due to the coverlines that have been used it will draw in interest from the target audience. If I had to improve anything in the magazine and planning process it would be to be more experimental while using the various aspects of Photoshop which could make the magazine look even more professional and appealing.