The title of the first magazine i chose to analyse, was NME (New Musical Express) The magazine is published weekly and has been ever since 1952. This magazine promotes music genres such as indie, punk and rock. The appearance to the magazine puts across a fairly modern impression, as the title NME can be recognised as its logo (being the mast head it always appears on the top left) The big red font and bold writing makes it stand out and gives it a clear ground on each cover. The rest of the font size varies, as it depends on where the writing is situated, the main flash is a quote; "Our shows are orgies of destruction" this immediately tells us that the language being used in relation to this magazine is one of no limits. As just above, it has the another line relating to the same story; "Fucked up. The beating heart of the underground" Already this sets out an idea of the target audience. I went onto ipcmedia.com and found out actual statistics: 65% male readers, 31% female readers, the average age being 24, 52% working full time and 29% still studying. The group is limited, the only thing you can base the readers of this magazine on is if they are passionate about the music genre. The front cover puts across no real meaning to anyone who has not looked inside, or has no knowledge of the character on the front. In this case it is a 300lb half naked man, going by the name of 'pink eyes' having some relation to a hardcore punk band. Although its kept very simple, the way they have portrayed the magazine looks interesting and doesn't put you off even though the image isn't the most pleasant one.
The information presented on the cover to the magazine is normally printed, so this involves a bar code, the date of the issue, the price. In this case it being £2.20. Each issue i would expect has roughly around the same number of pages, this issue has 82.
The other magazine i picked alongside NME was
Kerrang, i did this because i felt they both enter into the same music genre. Even though this issue of NME and this issue of Kerrang both have fairly heavy abrupt covers; the magazine Kerrang itself is completely different in terms of how the image is portrayed for the sheer fact that it has a slightly different target audience. This is based around the music involving much heavier rock bands and ones with a more intimidating styles of portraying themselves to the public.
The title Kerrang, is is onomatopoeic and derives from the noise made when smashing an electric guitar. It was first published on the 6th June 1981. AC/DC appearing on the cover of kerrang's very first issue.
The font on the cover of the magazine is all fairly similar but at the right time and appropriate story it has been adjusted to a smaller size. For example the main flash is a very bold and can clearly be recognised for what it is; the main story. In this case it reads 'The Used Funeral For a Friend Killswitch Engage.' with 'Here comes trouble...' following as a tagline. The image behind it being one of relevance, so in this case it is the band themselves. As we saw on NME the man is holding meat of which is meant to be drawing blood. On the cover of Kerrang although its still not a pleasant image its not one of gore its more violence than anything as each member of the band is holding a weapon or something along those lines. This gives off an impression about rock music, one which can be viewed as both positive and negative to whom ever the reader may be.
The colour scheme of this issue appears to be black, white, blue and orange. Showing that they want to keep it simple and not give off the idea of detail, it works well with this specific music genre. The appearance of the word Kerrang itself, is designed to look messy, rough and completely stripped of daintiness, aside the mast head is a strap line in this case it reads 'Life is Loud.' Conveying the idea that rock music is world wide, and has a powerful effect to the way in which people live. The magazine according to nrs.co.uk is more appealing and read by more than twice the amount of men that it is women. Appealing to age ranges that are more younger than older, but still followed by people with a passion for heavy rock.
Running along the bottom of the magazine is a block consisting of other featured bands in the magazine this shows that the writer of the magazine is doing all they can to draw people in and attract them to this weeks issue of Kerrang. So even if they don't buy it for the main story, which we presume would be the right idea. They may notice mention of a band such as Nivarna, which they do wish to read about.
The price of this magazine is £1.99 and the issue number is 1081, there is a bar code down in the right hand corner and there are 79 pages to this magazine.
I then went onto looking at both of the magazines contents pages that i had these still being NME and Kerrang, from what i saw they both appeared fairly similar in terms of layout and text mass, so i picked my favoured magazine out of the two. In this case it was NME.
Again on the contents page the recognisable written style of NME itself has been placed as a main header in the top right left corner. Lining up with the date and 'THIS WEEK' The typical black, red, white and yellow has been used again. Allowing each published issue of NME to stand out as people would know and recognise it. Down the left hand side there is a red box taking up the full length of the page, consisting of the 'Band Index.' this is done in alphabetical order making it easy for the reader to locate to a certain band or artist of which they are interested in, as the page numbers are written next to them. Some of these being; The Enemy, Metallica, Radiohead, The Rascals and The Courteeners.
Moving into the middle of the page, we can see 4 images taken at a live gig this is followed by the headline '...Black Lips launched a naked protest.' with a short 6 line summary of the story. This takes up over half of the page but only in the centre, at the right hand side there is the contents itself. It is sectioned up into 6 parts; News, Radar, Reviews, LIVE!, Features and Plus.
Down in the right hand bottom corner, is a small red box which catches your eye straight away when looking at the page, as its put amongst a lot of white. It reads; The UK's No1 Gig Guide starts p74. This immediately gives another reason for a reader to buy it, or for it to reach out to a certain target audience; the passion to see your favourite bands live. To the left of this box there is he heading 'Subscribe today for just £5.95 a month* it then gives you a contact number and an email address, followed by a copy of next weeks front cover. This shows that they are confident about selling their magazine and want to give their audience the best deal when it comes to getting each issue of the magazine.
Above you can see that i have scanned in a double page from the NME magazine.
The layout of the pages appear very separate, so we can immediately tell that the stories are not linked across the pages. The only thing that is of any relevance to both sides is the 'Ladyhawke' advertisement on her new album.
On the left hand side of the double page, this being page '4' we are presented with a story about a rumoured Libertines reunion, however it is not much of a story itself. The articles main heading is simply 'Pete and Carl' surrounded by a large photo of the two men themselves. Playing live at the Prince of Wales pub, in Camden.
The way they have made this article interesting is by not making the heading at all depthful its simple and to the point but at the same time doesn't give much away. Therefore, readers are guaranteed to want to read on if they recognise Pete Doherty from the image, and are a fan.
On the right hand side of this double page we are shown a layout that perhaps looks more interesting than the other, as its relying on more than just one story to make the page. As it appears to have more going on, it may attract the readers eye more so than the other.
The main article placed at the top left is one on Metallica, accompanied by a picture of the band. We can clearly see that this selected image was posed for. There is a fair amount of text below the photo, being about 17 lines in two columns. All about their new album being their last 'traditional' one.
When making my double page spread i will bare in mind that its being marked according to language as well as layout and appearance, so i will try to write a fair amount. As well as making sure the overall on look is a pleasant one. For example, not leaving big gaps or overpowering the page with images when the text is maybe more important in some ways.
The font of which they have written the heading in is just standard NME black bold text. And for this certain story it feels appropriate as it looks fairly strong and out there. Below is a sub heading in smaller and finer font, including the quote 'Playing outside the box.'
Beside what could be described as the pages main story, is a red collum telling us about various bands and reviews. Then on the far right of the page, is another main article but with a smaller heading in terms of font so it appears to lack the importance front behind the Metallica story.
It is simply in this case about Vivienne Westwood, and her passion for creating her own music career.
Over all this double page is one that does look appealing to me, and i can see why readers would pick up on the stories from this section. There are in total around 4 images, this is neither too much not too little i think as from looking at it, the appearance seems colourful and not too overpowered by text which is good in terms of keeping a reader interested.
