Textual Analyse : Cover Page

Kerrang Magazine has been designed to attract the younger audience who like rock music, they do this by including images of bands on the cover page to attract and interest the audience.

Masthead.

The masthead in this cover is at the top of the page.It takes up the whole width of the page and stands out against its black background. It is the biggest text on the cover page so stands out more in comparison to the other text. It is also the brand identity and is recognisable as the logo of Kerrang! The font itself is cracked into pieces which matched  the onomatopoeia of the word Kerrang and gives us the impression that the music in the magazine is ear shattering.

Banners.

The magazine has two banners. One featured at the top  which advertises the Kerrang relentless energy tour and which bands are featured in the tour and the one at the bottom which advertises the bands that are featured within the magazine. This gives the reader an extra reason to buy the magazine by attracting the reader with bands and tours that might draw them in to read the magazine further. The banners themselves are presented in different colours. The top banner uses yellow font to make the text stand out more whereas the bottom banner uses a blue background to draw the attention of the reader as well as the PLUS! in capital letters and yellow, larger font. This makes  them stand out more on the page so they will be read and attract the reader.

Coverlines

There is one main cover line and four smaller ones. The main cover story is The Lost Prophets. this advertises the main story within this issue of the magazine. The band name stands out the most and is dominant of all the other cover stories as it the main information. The font imitates the font of the title so keeps the theme of the magazine text and this also draws more attention to the text. The band is the biggest and most attractive text as it is the thing that will attract readers most to buy the magazine if they like the band. The other cover lines featured on the magazine are in allot smaller fonts and different colours keeping to the colour scheme of yellow and blue fonts. This makes them stand out against the background image and makes the page look more attractive. They advertise things such as prizes and other bands that are also in the magazine this will also attract the reader to buy the magazine.

Background: Images and Colour

The magazine uses a busy design with one main image as the background. The image is of the band in the main cover story, The Lost Prophets. This is used to attract the reader more into the main story and attract people interested in the band. Other pictures are features in the bottom left hand corner of the magazine that advertise other band featured in the magazine that people may be interested to read about. It keeps to the simple colours scheme; using blue, white and yellow text and boxes to make the writing on the cover stand out more against the black in the background image. This makes the cover look more neat and attractive to the reader. I think the covers images are interesting photographs that look organised and professional on the cover. I like the way the colours and background image are used to together although they are quiet cold colours on the magazine.

Conclusion

 

In conclusion i feel this magazine is exciting and interesting. The colours and the images are used well to create an attractive cover page. The cover is busy so I think this works well as it gives the reader allot of reasons to buy the magazine and makes it more eye catching. I think this magazine cover is successfull in attracting a young audience.

Q Magazine has been designed to attract an older audience that have the money to spend on a more expensive magazine. It features a variety of music of all different genres so would appeal to a wider audience than Kerrang

Masthead.

The masthead in this cover is at the top left of the page. It is the biggest font on the page and easily recognisable as the band identity. It is the only text on the page with a read background behind it so it stands out more than the other text on the cover page. Like Kerrang the letter is shattered into pieces which is rare for the Q brand identity to be changed on the cover. It incorporates the image as it seems the man is smashing the Q this tells the reader that this issue of Q includes more heavy metal/rock bands than usual.

Banners.

The magazine has one banner at the top of the page. this advertises the popularity of the magazine making it sound good as it is 'The Uk's Biggest Music Magazine' This attracts the reader to the magazine and gives them an extra reason to buy the magazine as it makes it sound you are getting more moneys worth if its the Uk's biggest music magazine. The banner's text is all upper case letters in a white and smart font so it is easy to read and stand out on the page against the black banner strip.

In conclusion I think the magazine is successful in attracting an older audience. It creates a professional and simple look with the use of images and text however keeps attractive overall design. Although it is a simple design in comparison to Kerrang it works well with this magazine and is still eye catching and will attract readers to buy the magazine.

Coverlines

There are five cover stories featured on the front cover. The main one advertising the featured article on MUSE. Similar to Kerrang the band name stands put on the cover so to attract the readers that may
be interested in that band. the font is also in white so that its in contrast the the background image and easily readable.  The other three cover lines on the left side of the page are also in white however some information of the cover stories are in red. They all take up the same about of space and finish and start in the same place, this makes the cover lines look neat and organised among the cover page and gives a professional look. The cover line on the right side of the page is presented in white, grey and red which makes the information stand out more. It also features a smaller image next to the cover line to advertise The Beatles.

Background: Images and Colour

The magazine has a simple design. Q always uses a very simple background with simple colour schemes. The background image in this picture is the main singer from muse. He take up the centre of the page with the text surrounding him which makes the magazine look expensive and professional. The image uses dark colours and the text on the cover is white, grey and red which creates a simple but effective colour scheme. In comparison to Kerrang magazine covers it is a very simple and professional layout as the text is all aligned and neatly positioned among the page whereas Kerrnag has text randomly arranged among the page. The cover is overall attractive and the text colours stand out against the dark background and makes it easier to read.

Conclusion
In conclusion I think the magazine is successfull in creating a cover that attracts an older audience. It creates a simple and professional look with the use of a simple layout with one main image and text. Although it has a simple design in comparison to Kerrang it is still eye catching and will attarct the reader of the magazine.

XXL magazine is simular to Q as it has been designed to attract an older audience that have money to spend on more expensive magazines. However it features mainly Rap and Hip-Hop

Masthead.

The masthead in this cover is at the top of the page. It is the only text used on  the page with a red background which makes it stand out even more. The white text is in uppercase and is also the biggest text on the page however the masthead is hidden behind the image which makes it hard to read the whole thing. This is a normal feature of the magazine as many of the image overlap the title. This makes it harder to recognise the brand identity.

Banners.

The magazine uses no banners which is unusual for a magazine. It usually gives the reader an extra reason to buy the magazine however this magazine chooses not to use it.

Coverlines

There is one main cover story on this magazine and two smaller ones. This is alot less than Q and Kerrang use to attract the audience. the main cover story has the artist name in big taking up the whole page. This makes the most important infomation of this article stand out more and the viewer is more likley to buy the magazine if it has an artist that they like in it. It also includes the names of the people in the group on the cover which is unusual for the cover page as it is usual featured inside the magazine in the article. The smaller coverlines also advertise other artists that are featured in the magazine this makes advertises the artist in the magazine and may also attract the reader to buy the magazine to read about them. However the text advertising these arist are small and not very eyecatching within the design.

Background: Images and Colour

The magazine uses an even simpler design than Q. It has a white backgorund with the image overlapping the brand identity. It only uses one main image and has no other images to advertise artists which is seen i both Kerrang and Q. The smaller cover lines are postioned around the image and the only text over the image is the main cover line advertising the artist. Ths makes the image the central and most dominat feature on the page. The coloursused are also simple colours. It uses the red to make the masthead stand out more and the names of the artists in the group however the other colours used for the text are all darker colours such as black and grey or white keeping a simple colour scheme thoughout the cover page.

Conclusion
In conclusion I think this magazine is not as succesfull as Q or Kerrang as the brand idetity is hidden and is the way the reader recognises the magazine. It also has a very simple layout that makes it look proffesionl and smart but does not advertise many articles within the magazine so give the reader no extra reason to buy the magazin apart from the artist advertised on the cover.

Overall Conclusion
After looking at three differant cover pages I have a better idea of how to design my own magazine cover. I most prefer the busy design used for Kerrnag as it is eyecatching and looks more affordable for teenagers which is the audience my magazine is aimed at. I also like the busy layout it uses as it gives the reader extra reasons to buy the magazine as it looks to have alott of articles in it however out ofthe three has the least pages. I also like the more subtle design used in Q as it looks more prffesional and clearer to read. In conclusion I am going to create a magazine that is influenced by both Q and Kerrang and use aspects from each.