Front Cover Analysis

Kerrang!

Kerrang! features its main image of a scowling, arresting band member overlapping the magazine’s logo. That suggests arrogance and confidence that you’ll recognise the magazine without needing to see the whole name, as well as giving the impression that the band member is staring directly at the viewer, compelling them to dare try and buy the mag.

The band member himself is in a scruffy open jacket with messy hair, giving the viewer the impression that he’s dangerous and not to be messed with. The ‘shattered’ logo and ‘faded’ text, helps add to the dangerous, edgy feel of the cover, marking it out as something dangerous and off-key. There’s little text, but it’s bold and instantly grabs you by the eyeballs, giving you the information and telling you upfront what to expect.

The image and the magazine cover as a whole i think would appeal to younger audience of the kind of generation who know about the bands featured, and know just what to expect from an interview from them, as there are often big claims like the one seen here of 'the world's biggest cult band'. However, I believe that K! magazine isnt geared towards a particular age group, just a select demographic, enabling teenagers, young adults and older people to all enjoy a magazine about their music tastes.

It's a very masculine feeling cover, with the dark colours and the general stigmatism of a male audience being more likely to purchase a rock/alternative music magazine then a female. I will try and be non gender bias when making my magazine, or at least not in the front cover.

The layout of the cover, has the image full sized and the text and other images superimposed on it. This suggests that he's holding onto the front page, main image position, which is again slightly arrogant and puts across the picture that he's going to be the main feature of this issue.

His face with the glare at the reader is completely uncovered, allowing you to fully see the hair, tattoo and high collar. It shows him off best, which is juxtaposed to the unattractive, unflattering image of the man singing, or the little band picture at the right hand, bottom of the page.

Plus the fact that the glaring man is obviously younger, and his image is significantly bigger then the singing man, suggests that young talent is more interesting, and more important then old talent.

The dripping black paint on the relentless sticker, makes you think of urban graffiti, and the tattoos featured on the man’s neck and the other one’s arm adheres to the stereotype of rockers having tattoos and being creative.

The use of language is graphic. Words like 'blood, sweat, killer, cult, beer, relentless' further relate to the assumption that rock and alternative fans like booze, and have bad personal hygiene. This could almost be insulting, as doubled with the limited text, could be seen as slightly patronizing to the viewer by using terms that they'll understand.

Again, you would associate the male gender to that kind of vocabulary, as it is part of the masculine image portrayed by the media, which is contrasted to the feminine image, perhaps leading to some women choosing not to buy K! as it reeks of testosterone, and would get funny looks from the cashier if she bought it.

I like the rough style of the middle banner, like ripped paper. I'm inspired to use that effect in my magazine, which will fit with the genre of alternative/urban.

Mix Mag

The main image dominates the cover, the man’s pose seeming to point to the magazines name and indicate it as something higher up them him and better, the authority on music. The fact he’s got his back to the viewer, gives a view of the crowd from the performers eyes almost, giving a feeling of behind the scenes and control. It's not gender specific, women and men could both enjoy his figure, and can appreciate that he's a working, professional DJ on the job.

Bright white and orange work well together, and are symbolic of bright lights in a club or at a gig, and therefore adhere to the genre of clubbing that it’s geared towards.

The font too, is easy to read and non complicated, which is kinda like a club sign or text on a computer screen or mobile, which makes it appropriate for the cover.

It could be to a male or female demographic, as its a non gender exclusive combination of orange, white and indigo, which looks cool and will encourage people to want to buy it.

The text looks like it uses only two different styles of font, in a balanced, nice looking layout which doesn’t overlap the main image’s body. the tone of language too, is almost like a DJ announcement at a club again, with 'bang gangs' being slightly rude, and 'touchscreen turntables!' appealing to a technological sub-genre of people who are more interested in the behind the scenes. That's the type of people who're probably most likely to buy and read this kind of magazine, which I will avoid, as I want as wide a demographic as possible for my magazine.

It’s all uncomplicated, with a balanced layout, which is aesthetically pleasing to behold and friendly to the eyes.

I'm inspired by the simple, 3 tone colour scheme. However, this magazine genre isn't quite right for the genre of magazine i'm aiming for, and so I wont be able to use this as my style model.

The Fader

 The high quality image fills the page and overlaps the name, like I mentioned in the K! analysis, being the focal image and obvious feature of the current issue.

The man is holding some pink petals, relating to femininity, his funky hat and neck thingy all making him look harmless and child-like, appealing to our sense of humour.

There is a background of a quiet looking street, which looks 50/50 damaged and dirty one the left side, and quiet, almost peaceful on the left side.

This juxtaposition and the fact that he’s black, can link to the prejudice against black people, and how they’re seen as destructive menaces.

However, it could easily be seen the other way, in that we, and the magazine, now accept black people, and our modern acceptance of the African American race is like leaving behind the murky past, and going onto peace.

There is limited text on the cover, just the logo, who the man is, and what article is going to be featured most heavily.

I like it, its simple and effective, however, I’m not looking for as simple a cover as this, and so will only take a few elements from it, such as the top right text information, and the bold white name that almost looks damaged if you look at it in a certain way.

I think it may appeal more to a female demographic, as he looks quite sweet, plus the pink flowers give the cover a feminine vibe as pink is stereotypically linked to the feminine gender. Also, the fact that this issue features a fashion section, which is yet again typical of the female image in the media.

Alternate Press

This cover has a lot going on. The main image is spread over the whole page again, with the text superimposed. This is a good way to show that the band is so good, they deserve the whole page.

It doesn’t have a clear colour scheme, there’s red, white and blue going on, which reminds you of an American flag, but also yellow, which stands out the most. Also, yellow is believed to be an attention grabbing colour, which is useful for a window display or magazine.

Blue is believed to inspire trust and confidence in the customer, and is often seen in banks and with businesses. For the magazine, its putting across that you can trust it to keep you up to date, and the albums its plugging really are 10 classics. Red can be used to create a sense of urgency, used here its shouting at the reader to come read this, or buy this magazine, which with the use of black, is put across as a luxury, powerful magazine.

Again, the logo is being overlapped, and interestingly has the issue number predominately on display.

There’s a band member who seems to be diving out of the page, breaking the fourth wall. In my magazine, id like a humourus, arresting main image and good use of colour in order to really grab your attention. The sitting band member looking defiantly out of the magazine, daring you to question what on earth he’s doing.

Genderwise, this could be a male or female magazine, but with the sausage fest of the all male band on the front, tends to suggest more of a male demographic would be buying this magazine.

Uncut

very busy cover again, but this time with the text rather then the image attracting the eye first

a large portion of the page has a CD inserted on, with the main image being cut off. I wont use that as inspiration for my magazine, however, a small box for a keyring or something small would be interesting to have on the front cover, with a full range of the keyrings available on the contents page.

Its a mixed gender magazine cover, the red and the quite manly face of the main image, identify it as a masculine, but the gentle whites, off whites and beige, plus the female image, identify it as a feminine cover. Again, I'm going to try and make my cover as assessable to as wide a audience as I can, which is the common target of most magazines, music or otherwise.

There's two different styles of font used, which makes it seem less complicated and more easy to read.

I think the cd stands out the most on the cover, and links in well with the cover itself through use of the colour scheme, similar fonts and the '2011' logo.

Throughout my magazine cover, contents page and double page spread, ill try and matain a flow of similar style so they all work together, and each keeps the attracted audience.