Analysis of Uncut's double page spread, contents page and front cover

The layout is a lot like a typical article’s layout (which is to have one page filled of writing and the other paged filled with image/s )and it has devoted a whole page just for the bands photo. These may suggest that the band is a very typical boy band but at the same time having a whole page devoted to photo of the band may also suggest to the audience that they were high popular/important band.  The picture seems to be from the 80’s and the quality of the image seems to be from that era else well. this is shown by the poor quality of the image and the costumes of the boys as well as their hair style which was very popular in the 1980’s.Kerrang, the layout here is very neat and does not have strange and graffiti style fonts but has taken a more ‘formal’ approach with the fonts by keeping them plain and like I said very formal. This may attract the older audience much more than the younger audience and it is more likely that the older audience are more familiar with this particular band because they’re a band from the 80’s. This may have been done because they are trying to attract an older audience.

contents page

Uncut’s house style here is very similar to Q’s house style. The only colours used are red, white and black; these colours are very bold and the red contrasts with the black and white making the magazine look bright and very bold. They have only one images her which nearly covers the whole page; this may be to show the importance of the artist in this magazine or maybe in general.  Also maybe they are assuming that the majority of people that’ll buy this magazine will be because of ‘Dr John’ so they have the page number in which he is on larger than the other copy and it may also be why the image is so big. The image is in black and white perhaps to imply that the artist has been around for a long time or maybe that he is a “classic” like Elvis or Michael Jackson. The text on the side is mainly in black but some of the words are in red so it stands out to the reader. The target audience for this particular magazine is the older audience due to the neat layout and the artist who seems pretty old.

Front cover

Uncut has done a special on one particular artist in this magazine which maybe why they key image only has his face and also why they artist’s name “Syd” is in a large font and bright yellow. They have used yellow quite a lot in this magazine maybe to make it stand out more to the audience and attract people. The house style colours for this magazine are black, white and yellow and due to them being consistent with the house style it looks very professional.  The selling line on top says it’s a special which may attract more people because ‘specials’ don’t happen very often in music magazines. The copy also says that the magazine is featuring other artists such as Pink Floyd to attract people who may not like Syd or are just not interested in him.  The target audience for this magazine is probably people in their 30’s and who like rock because the artist featured in this magazine are rock stars and were very famous in the 90’s.

Analysis of Q's content pages and front cover

In Q’s contents page the leader singer of Prodigy is holding a megaphone and seems to be shouting so people could notice him/ listen to him. Most of the images in the contents page include guitars, masks, megaphones, microphones etc. This makes the magazine to the audience look very bold and loud. Most of the images have singers in dominant or quirky poses which may attract readers by showing unusual and rebellious youthful attitude. Some of the images are overlapping each other which make it look a bit like a rock mood board and it may be trying to visually show the reader what the magazine contains. This is exactly what it does; the images in the contents page give a visual idea of what is in the magazine. This gives the audience a much better idea of the contents of the magazine rather than just having writing.

The text is short and mainly has artist and a little description about them; however the magazine does try to make the descriptions appealing to make the readers read the articles. The aim is that it wants to get the basic information across to the target audience to encourage them to want to read the articles. The contents pages are organized to show interesting feature articles on the left hand side, the main images are shown in the centre with page references that correspond to the article lists, and then the regular features are listed on the right hand side of the contents pages. This is done to make it easier for the audience to know what is the “interesting and special” in this particular magazine and what is something which is included in every issue. The contents page shows off rock poses and attitudes within the images and texts to show Indie Rock. The masthead is in the top left-hand corner but it does not stand out. The colours, fonts and effects are similar to the front cover (Serif writing, red and black colours). This is because they’re following a house style throughout the magazine which makes the magazine look consistent and professional.

Front cover

Q are trying to attract a large audience by having Lady Gaga in the key image, this is because Lady Gaga has one of the largest fan bases and has the most followers  in twitter. She also sells out concert tickets in hours and makes millions. She is also so well known that her image is covering parts of her name but Q is confident that people will recognise that it’s Lady Gaga due to her fame. In this image she is wearing nothing but black trousers and gloves this may be because Q is trying to make the image match with the layout of the magazine which not that busy. She is also very bare and isn’t wearing the outfits people are used to seeing her in because they want people to know that she is ‘normal’ under all that material.  The copy are al either red black or white due to the house style, this makes the magazine look very professional and neat. It is also well layered out and the only text covering the key image is “GA”. The background is plain probably because makes the text and key image standout. This magazine will attract mainly Lady Gaga fans or people who want to learn more about her. It may also still be purchased by people who always buy Q magazine.

Analysis of Kerrang's Front cover, contents page and double page spread

Kerrang’s masthead looks very messy and has a busy layout which most magazines that are aimed at the younger generation tries to make their magazine look like because teenagers like a more busy layout because the find simple ones “boring” and “plain”. There are splashes of bright paint all over the front cover and the key image which can signify fun and youth this is important because the younger generation are more attracted to magazines that have bright colours and have many images. This suggests the magazine is aimed at teenagers and due to ETK (Extra textual knowledge) we know that are a Welsh rock band from Cardiff and are very popular with teenagers who are into rock music. However it is not classic rock which usually has a much more neat and tidy look in magazines, this magazine has a very messy look which has the cover lines all over the sides and also has used loads different bright colours used all over the place. This indicates to me that the age range this magazine is trying to attract is 13-20. The magazine has a lot of pictures of different rock stars however they’re all quite young which will attract young rock fans and not older fans who are into classic rock.

The price of the magazine is really cheap which also suggests that it is aimed at the younger audience. This is because the younger audience have less to spend because they don’t work or work part time. The magazine also offers freebies which teenagers like a lot. The price may also have been used as audience appeal because the younger generation don’t have as much allowance as well as the busy layout which may suggest to the audience that the magazine is packed with interesting things due to the bright colours and different fonts.
Contents Page

The layout of this contents page is very busy and has a lot of images; however it does not look messy and is well lay out. The images are all roughly the same sized and not randomly placed anywhere. Although one of the images is larger than the others maybe because the artist is more popular with the audience or/and more important. The main colour of the text is black but they have also used yellow to make some of the text stand out more to the audience maybe because it is more important or will make the reader read on.  They also have a message from the editor at the top to may be have a personal connection with the reader and make them familiar with the people who work for the magazine. The target audience are probably people who like rock and are probably quite young because of the people in the images. Also the colours used represent youthfulness and energy.

Double page spread

Kerrang’s double page spread looks as if it is aimed at teenagers; this is because of the extremely large copy which has letters in the middle of the word capital as well as the first letter. It makes the text look very messy and it isn’t straight which adds to the messy effect. They also have a very big picture of Lily Allen in which she looks very young (around 18-19), they may have done this on purpose to attract audience at that age range. The article itself is written in normal columns with a clear and readable font unlike the large copy on top. The background may have purposely made white so Lilly Allen’s red top and pitch black hair could stand out, this makes her look very noticeable as well the large copy which has contrasted black and white, in the copy Lily Allen’s name is in red, they may have done this so it attracts the audience and to show how important she is. This gives her status and makes her look like a powerful teenager which will attract young audience.

Magazine Terminology

To help me remember the termenologies I labelled this Magazine with them.

Contents Page

This is the Contents page. I made the house style of the contents page simliar to the front cover by using Black and Turquiose as the main colour for the copy I also have bright photos in the contents page just like the photos and the key image in the Front cover.

Front cover

This is the front cover I made using Photoshop. The main colours of the copies are Black and Turquoise because they're bold and very attractive. Also the background in the key image is turquoise which follows the house style. However I think the white copy doesn't attract the audience as much as the turquoise copy does. 

What I did :

Before creating my magazine, I conducted a survey an asked 20 students to help me see what the students in the Crest sixth form would like in the magazine and I also collected a few other college magazine for ideas and to see the typical features of a college magazine. I then made drafts of the front cover, contents page and double page spread to help me with designing my magazine.

Afterwards,  I took photos of students for the magazine. I used medium close up shot for the front cover. Once I had finished taking the photos I needed for the magazine I was ready to use Photoshop.

Introduction

For the preliminary task, we were asked to creat a college magazine front cover and contents page using our own photos and Photoshop so it could prepare us for the Music Magazine project.