Kerrang! Magazine
As you can see on the front cover of Kerrang! magazine, the
masthead is always in the same place, which is just in the centre at the top of
the page going all the way across, with the only major change being the colour
(it's known that yellow and red go well together so this makes sense, plus it's
bright and attractive so its target audience take notice 'right from the off').
The 'broken glass' font of the word 'Kerrang' is known to be iconic, and is
what makes the magazine what it is today, having started in 1981. On this cover
in particular, there are at least 5 fonts used, including in the very middle of
the page ('The Tattoo Issue') in scroll-style, which gives the cover some
uniqueness. The other fonts are used mainly to list who the issue includes, and
this is located in the bottom right corner of the cover. So in this example
there are bands such as: You Me At Six, Linkin Park and Papa Roach, and they
are all in capital letters and end in an exclamation mark to signify their
importance. The other key font is located at the very top of the cover, where
it says 'Warped Tour Special!'. This signifies the importance of the featured
article, and draws its target audience in with ease. The fact that the font is
also in capital letters, implies that the company are 'shouting' towards their
target audience for their attention.
When analyzing the cover in more detail, you can see that
there are seven images on the left hand side of the page, which indicates that
there are posters of those musicians bearing most of their tattoos, hence the
fact that this is a 'tattoo issue' of Kerrang! Underneath these images, there's
a small box which highlights a small interview which has been included. One thing
which is key about the whole cover in general however is the fact that it's
mostly yellow, as it's an attractive, bright colour which will make anything
stand out. The fact that Oli Sykes is the main focal point of the cover in
question, because of his many tattoos, makes the cover stand out more, and also
brings in more varieties of audience for Kerrang! I think that the way that
he's been positioned is very effective, as you can see that his head covers the
main part of the magazine name. Having said that, this doesn't make any effect
on whether people are attracted to the magazine or not, as Kerrang! is a
well-known magazine and has been since the very early eighties anyway.
NME Magazine
On the NME cover, you can clearly see that NME have
maintained their 'trademark' of having the masthead on the left hand side of
the page, which in turn leaves enough space for a large image of a band to be
placed. They have also kept their tradition of making the masthead 'red and
white', as red is scientifically the colour that we all recognize first, with
the white to help us. On this cover, there are only about 4 font sizes that are
used, with "The Wombats" being in the largest font, showing that they
are the most important feature in the magazine. Another one of the main fonts
that are used are to annotate what other bands are featured in the issue of
NME. The white colour really helps as it stands out among everything else
included, including the blue backdrops.
At the very top of the cover, there's the feature about
Glastonbury festival, and the importance of this is shown by using a large,
bold black font, highlighting the headlining acts, and a short headline
underneath showing fans' amazement. The company have chosen to mount it on to a
yellow background, which in turn enables it to stand out among everything else
that's included. I believe that this is also because of the fact that we all
read from left to right, so it makes so much sense in placing it where it is.
At the foot of the front cover, there's a much smaller font which lists some of
the newer bands that are beginning to emerge into the 'indie spotlight'. The
reason that NME have done this in such a small font is because they expect it
to be the last thing that their audience sees on the cover. The other aspect of
the front cover which I think that NME have also done well is placing the
barcode and price tag in the bottom right corner, as that's the part that the
audience pays attention to the least. However, the way that they put '569 UK
GIGS LISTED' in a red font is effective as it stands out, catching their
attention.
Compared to the Kerrang! magazine above, there aren't nearly
as many images included on this cover. However, the way that the three members
of The Wombats are positioned in the centre is effective, as they are each in a
certain pose, which gives the image a lot of interest and attracts a lot of
attention as well. I like the fact that the image of the indie band 'The Cribs'
has been placed at a very 'wonky' and diminishing angle, as it gives the cover
more of a variety, and makes it that little bit more aesthetically pleasing to
look at. It's also got a very fine white border, which also makes it a bit more
attractive, and also enables it to stand out more. The other main difference
between the two covers visually is the variety that the NME cover has with the
colour and shading of the background. The background of this is mainly black
and white.
Match of the Day magazine
Compared to the other two magazine covers that I have
analysed in a lot , the Match of the Day cover is completely different. One of
the main differences is obviously the content, which is football in this case.
Because of this, I have managed to identify a whole range of features on this
front cover which make it stand out from the other two that I have analysed.
One feature which is clear to see on this cover is the type
of font that the magazine has chosen to use, which is 'bold capital letters'.
Football magazines, but Match of the Day in particular, are often associated
with fonts like this because they want to make football sound really exciting
for its audience, which is young children/teenagers. Also with this font style,
it tends to be in different forms of capital letters as well, to add more
variety and make the cover more aesthetically pleasing to the audience. The
other reason that this kind of font tends to be used with sports magazines is
to attract their target audience straight away, and make them pay attention.
And the main reason for all of these features is because of the fact that it's
in an informal style.
The second feature that I have identified on this front
cover is the amount of images that have been used. 'Match of the Day' have been
well known to use a lot of images of footballers to attract their audience,
because the show knows that they know who they are and who they play for. The
way that Cristiano Ronaldo and Wesley Sneijder (at the middle of the cover),
partially cover the Match of the Day logo is very effective, simply because of
the fact that MotD is a well-known TV show and magazine all over Europe at
least, so the magazine's target audience know straight away, before they even
look at the title, what kind of magazine they are buying.
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