Task 1- research into music magazines

Magazine – Kerrang “The bestselling weekly rock magazine”

Genre – Alternate rock

Target audience – Aimed at teenagers and younger adults

Publisher – Bauer media group

Magazine – Fabulous

Genre – pop

Target audience – females of any age

Publisher – The Sun

Magazine – Q magazines

Genre – Hip Hop, R&B

Target audience – older people in their 30’s and 40’s

Publisher - Bauer media group

Task 2 - Detailed analysis of music magazine

The genre of music magazine that I have chosen to research about is rock.

Front cover

Typography

The font styles across the front cover are sans serif. These fonts have been used to give the magazine a harder and more rocker look. Sans-serif is a more relaxed font and the music which is in Kerrang magazine is not the relaxed type as is more heavy and sharp. The bold text draws in attention this is done by having a lot of different font sizes layered upon each other. The master head and headlines this is because this is where the audience look first to determine if the magazine is worth buying, or not. The genre being rock needs to be dark, but also needs to stand out this is why contrasting font colours are used this is mostly white text on black backgrounds or yellow text on black backgrounds. These colours are conventional for the rock genre on a front magazine cover. The majority of this text is capitalised giving it a loud and more energetic feel which sits the rock genre very well.

Colour

The main colours used on this from cover are; black, white, yellow and red.

Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. Black is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown. It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humour, 'black death'). Black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious colour. In heraldry, black is the symbol of grief.

White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the colour of perfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation. White can represent a successful beginning. In heraldry, white depicts faith and purity. However I feel it is just used to contrast against the black background as this contrast works very effectively.

Yellow is the colour of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy. Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Yellow is often associated with food. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this colour. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is

known that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Yellow is seen before other colours when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning. In heraldry, yellow indicates honour and loyalty. Later the meaning of yellow was connected with cowardice. I think that the design artist choose yellow to grad to audience, it could also be an issue warning due to the explicit language in the majority of rock songs.

Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. Red is a very emotionally intense colour. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red. In heraldry, red is used to indicate courage. It is a colour found in many national flags. Energy is the main connotation I get from the red on the front of this magazine.

Image

The images appeal to the audience because they are images of celebrities who make music for that genre. The artists featured are;

Nirvanas front man Kurt Cobain All Time Low Paramore Guitarist Slash with Myles Kennedy

This is not a lot of images however the image of Kurt Cobain is rather larger and implies that it is the main story in the magazine this is likely to be at least a double page spread in the magazine.

These celebrities are all respected in the rock genre. The main shot on this magazine is of Kurt Cobain and is a mid-shot however they are large enough for the audience to see them. This is likely to make people buy it because if their favourite celebrities are featured they will want to read the magazine to see why.

Layout

As we can see from the cover this front page has a cluttered layout. The effects of this make the magazine have a fun look to it, it also makes it look as though there is a large amount of content available to read meaning its more cost effect to the consumer. From the image on the right we can see that the cover follows the route of eye technique, this is where the main bulk of the information is in a Z formation. The principle of thirds is also used this is a very effective technique for when this magazine of on stores shelfs. The is because when on shelves only parts can be seen either the left third where the big on the name will be a shown to show that its Kerrang magazine or the top banner which shows Paramore are in the magazine, this is a technique used by the producer to make the magazine more popular and gain audience coverage.

Language/mode of address

The language used on the front cover is positive about the magazine content an example of a positive word used is “greatest”. The words also look good on the page and scream out to the audience that it is an exciting magazine, this is done by the use of exclamation marks or the headline and physio graphics band names on the left hand side. The mode of address is informal I know this because of the language used such as “sickest” , this will appeal to the audience because this magazine shouldn’t read like a text book or something alike. The tone of the magazine is very upbeat and lively, this is created form the use of images and patches of bright colours, this is very appealing to the target audience and very conventional for a rock magazine, Kerrang make all their designs similar to this one.

Conventions

This magazine is very conventional for my chosen genre. The colour black is very conventional for a rock magazine this is because rocker are seen to be people who like dark colours, red is also a conventional could because it symbolises the anger in the rock music and often the anger the rockers hold within them. The master head going the whole way across the width of the magazine is also used in abundance with rock magazine show that the noise produced is larger than life. The informal text is also popular and conventional in a rock magazine, the story/contents with the magazine are also conventional as it goes over past events, with the industry. The people name dropping is also conventional because if they didn’t do this it would be as effective towards the target audience.

Contents page

Typography