Case study
For this part of my coursework I had to analyse the front cover, contents page and double page spread for two magazines of my own choice. The magazines I decided to use were NME and Kerrang the reason for this was because I believe they are well known magazines by a majority of people and I find myself interested in the genres they cover.
NME magazine:
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| NME: front cover. |
Starting of with NME magazines front cover I can identify that this magazine follows a basic colour scheme which includes black, white and red however this is still appealing. The colours work well together and makes it easy to read the text. However there is not much text in the front cover which may make the buyer dissastisfied as they could possibly want more of an insight of the magazine and what they can expect from it as right now it is quite limited. None the less the image is of three people, with a quirky, fun facial expression. This can be perceived as welcoming for the buyer and they also represent a girl band which once again outlines what they magazine may consist of. However some people maybe put off my this image as it extremely gender based as it is made up of three females which may isolate male buyers and restrict the audience of the magazine. Although having to say this the masthead is in a big bold font which stands out in the plain background this burst of colour gives the magazine a pleasent touch. Another feature that is on the magazine is its cost and issue number these are rather significant because the buyers in that case are aware of how much it costs.
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HME: Contents page.
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Moving on to the contents page of HME magazine, I can immediately see that it is packed with information which is useful for the reader to navigate between the magazine and because I pointed out earlier that in the front cover there was not much information the contents page is fufilling it job. The colour scheme here is consistant compared the front cover, it continues to follow the scheme of black red and yellow which enlightens the reader that it is NME magazine. It also has small images are also added to suit different readers interests incase people rather look through than read every single piece of information given. The images are also linked to what the magazine has included inside for example there is a image of Robin Thicke and the article is based on one of his songs called "blurred lines."The articles are also numerically ordered which once again makes it easier for the reader to follow and navigate without having to waste time by going through every page. Some people may argue with the fact that there is rather a lot going in the contents page and it may be overwhelming for them and therefore they should of kept it more basic in contrast to this idea I think that NME have done a good job by having a lot of different sorts of information because I thought that the front cover was simple and therefore by the contents page having more to it, it gives more to the audience ans suits a larger target market. Finally there is also a subscription information in the bottom right hand side of the page, the purpose of this is to lead people in to spending money on NME and try to cover the necessities of it readers.
Kerrang:
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| NME: double page spread. |
Finally moving on the last piece of of NME magazine I will explore the double page spread, the colour scheme of this double page spread is not exacly the same as it now uses pink and blue although it has the same element of a white background. The reason for this could be to make it easier for the reader to follow as the colours work well with each other.Another reasin for this could be that this article is based on a girl group and they might of believed that these colours will suit girls more. However by doing this they have restricted the audience because some male audienced may be put off by this choice of colour.This page's purpose is to eneteratin as well as inform we can see this by the amount of text it includes. However there is informal lexis used through out the article which is highly explicit therefore the target audience may be aimed for adults as it would be inappropiate for a very young audience.There is also an image to do with the article which is based on a group of girls, the image is taken from the waist up, also known as a midshot.It also includes a small timeline of the history of
"Alana, Estelle and Danielle" on the bottom of the page which could be useful if the reader has no knowledge on this group. From these features they have used we can identify that NME magazine tries to give rather a lot of information to inform their readers and by doing this they make their readers make the most of their magazine.
Kerrang magazine:
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| Kerrang: front cover. |
Now moving on to Kerrang magazine, the front cover of this magazine is full of different information about rock music which suggests that it is a magazine based on that specific genre. The colour scheme which consists of bright orange and yellow tones along side black stand out and adds character to the magazine.The mast head is also quite bold, it is in a black bold font which stands out in the orange background.There are also different types of images from a female as the main and also
"6 selfie posters" on the left handside. This tells us that Kerrang are trying to advertise whats inside the magazine this could be so that buyers are more like to purchase this.
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| Kerrang: contents page. |
Moving on to the contents page of Kerrang magazines contents page, comparing it to the front cover the contents page has less going on in the background therefore it makes it easier to the reader to follow the colours are more subtle.The colour scheme is also not consistent through out as it has changes significantly it now includes: white, pink and black. But saying this it might appeal to someone with a older age as they may prefer a simpler scheme.On the right hand side there is also a message from the editor of kerrang magazine stating how his job is to inform rock readers about the upcoming artists/bands and how kerrang magazine is ideal for this matter. This could lead to people to buy more and more Kerrang magazines if they are interested in information about tock music.The contents page is also numerically order which once again makes it easier for the reader.There are also images to do with whats in the magazine to suit people with different interests.
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| Kerrang: double page spread. |
- This article is full of infomation about the new album of a rock band. The article does include a short introduction on what they believe to cover in this story.
- The language is seen to be quite formal which may be targeted at the older audience however they do use taboo lexis which once again might not be too suitable for someone with a younger age.
- The colour scheme is the same with the front cover which shows it is actually consistent to an extent.
- The image in this article is strong in the way that it compliments the main genre of Kerrang magazine which is a rock genre based. The body language of this person seems to flow with the idea of music as she is singing(holding a microphone.)
- The clothing she is wearing is very sport based with trainders and a sweater which links back to the the genre as it is based on being comfortable and having fun.
