Analysing nme dizzee cover prep for blog ppt

Analysis of Magazine Covers

By Lucy Hughes

Analysis of magazine front coversCover 1.NME Sept 2009

Dizzee Rascal Edition

FRONT COVER ANALYSISTHE MASTHEAD:

- NME= enemy, this creates the sense that the magazine is creating quite a rebellious vibe as you relate enemy and graffiti as anti-establishments.

THE HEADER:

- The whole magazine is colour coded this is to create a ‘branding’ for the magazine, it also highlights the genre of the magazine as red, white and black are ‘rocky’ colours.

THE SELL LINES/COVER LINES:

- Are very bold and take up a lot of the shot. ‘man’ in the cover line makes the magazine seem friendlier and appeals to the target audience too through the language used as its very informal language. The main emphasis of the magazine is people’s musical taste.

THE MAIN IMAGE:

-Fills up most of the shot, putting all the attention on the artist. The artist's name is anchored so the reader knows who the artist is. Anchors weigh something down but they have meaning.

THE MAIN COVER LINE:

- Big/bold and takes up the whole shot, putting emphasis on the artist who is being advertised. The wording is big and bold and heavily shadowed making it stand out massively. The shaping of the words creates a very edgy vibe which would appeal to the target audience.

Barcode-date/issue/price; lets the reader know how expensive the magazine is and how up to date the information is. The barcode is out of the way and doesn’t take up a lot of the space.

THE FOOTER: used to highlight to the reader what other bands are going to be advertised in the magazine. Appeals to the target audience as these bands are bands that interest them and they want to find more about. The white background with black font makes the text and bands stand out more.

USE OF A PULL QUOTE:

- The font of the pull quote makes the magazine more informal and friendly. It creates a happy/care free vibe to the magazine. Also the pull quote gives the magazine enough information to entice the reader and make them want to find out more and therefore buy the magazine.

BACKGROUND:

- Appeals to the target audience which is mainly male as the bands advertised are all ‘male’ bands and the colours and fonts used are not feminine. The background with the graffiti in the background and the image of Dizzee jumping out of the picture creates a very ‘hip-hop’ vibe which appeals to the younger generation.

USE OF A FLASH:

- Appeals to the target audience, makes them want to find out more about the topic that is being advertised.

RULE OF THIRDS/THE LEFT THIRD:

- This gives the magazine a professional layout and gives everything a significant place. It prevents the magazine looking jumbled and un-professional.

TARGET AUDIENCE OF THIS MAGAZINE

METHODS USED TO ATTRACT THIS TARGET AUDIENCE ARE:

Target audience Profile:

Musical interests/favourite artists etc.:

- NME magazines attracts people who are interested in the indie/rock genre of music.

Gender:

- Attracts male and females; but on this particular front cover its mainly aimed at males because male bands are the only ones being advertised.

Age:

- Age group which they target ranges from 16-19 years old.

Social class:

- From my research I have come to the conclusion that the magazine would be targeted at the group C1 and above, this is because the magazine costs £2.20 so you’d need a good income to afford the magazine every week.

Hip Hop artist; Dizzee is a well known hip hop artist because of this people will want to buy the magazine to find out more about the artist. Also the positioning of Dizzee is very friendly and informal which makes the magazine seem more down to earth and easy for teenagers to read.

The positioning of the letters is very ‘hip-hop’ and street which makes the magazine seem informal and appealing to the younger market as it isn’t just boring and in a straight line. The shaping of the wording goes with the whole urban vibe of the magazine; with the positioning of Dizzee and the graffiti in the background.

NME Background research

NME magazine is targeted at people between the ages of 16-19, the magazine is also targeted at both genders who have an interest in the Indie/Rock musical world. The people reading the magazine will have an interest in the up coming gigs and other musical social enjoyments which they can enjoy with other people who are interested in the same music.

NME magazine is published by IPC media.

NME was first issued on the 7th March 1952; the original copy of the magazine was published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard news print.

The magazine focuses on the genre of Indie/Rock. NME magazine was the magazine that created the new music trend called Punk Rock.

The magazine on average is 70 pages long, the main focus is on guitar and rock music. The magazine is made up of a news page to start with telling you the most up to date happenings in the music world and then it goes on to articles on specific artists (one may be advertised on the front cover) and interviews.

Analysis of magazine front coversCover 2.Q magazine

Front Cover Analysis Masthead: - The masthead for Q is quite unusual as it doesn’t cover the whole of top centre of the magazine it’s just one letter in the left hand corner; this makes the magazine very effective and very unique and stand out on the shelves. Also the read background with white lettering is very powerful and emphasises the powerfulness of the magazine.

Background: - The background for Q is very powerful, this is because its just plain white which puts all the emphasis on the artist positioned at the front. There is nothing to distract the reader from the artist.

Use of pull quote: - It entices the reader and makes them want to find out more about the story. It’s the only wording on the picture which puts more emphasis on the words and the fact that Brandon flowers’ been ‘reborn’ is interesting to the reader and fans of the Killers.

Rule of thirds:- The rule of thirds has been used in this magazine to make sure everything has a place and make sure the magazine doesn’t look messy or unprofessional. All the writing is placed to the left hand side this is because when the magazine is on a shelf the reader at the point can only see what’s on the left hand side.

Barcode: - The barcode is placed in the bottom centre of the magazine out of the way from the main features in the magazine, this is because the barcode doesn’t have much relevance to the reader so the magazine publishers don’t want it to take up too much room.

Main image: - The main image is made to look very effective by only this one image on the front cover. It puts all emphasis on to the artist and gives a feel to the reader that the main story is going to be on the Killers. The positioning on Brandon is a low angle shot making him look very powerful and gives him quite a ‘bad boy’ vibe with his leather jacket and his had pointing upwards, he’s also wearing all black which gives the image no colour.

Cover/Sell lines: - The cover lines show all the content that’s also going to be in the magazines. They’re very bold so they stand out to the reader, they also follow a red/black/white colour scheme which goes with the indie vibe of the magazine.

Use of flash: - A flash is used to highlight to the reader all the extra things that are going to be in the magazine, lists all the famous people they’re going to have interviews with. Attracting the reader to want to go and buy the magazine.

Target Audience of QTarget audience Profile:

Musical interests/favourite artists etc.:

- NME magazines attracts people who are interested in more mature ‘older music’

Gender:

- The magazine says it attracts male and females but it’s more targeted towards the male generation

Age:

- The age group that Q attracts is the older generation such as people in their 30s/40s who are looking for a different mode of address, more sophisticated and just want to know more about the music

Social class:

- From my research I have come to the conclusion that the magazine would be targeted at the group C1 and above, this is because the magazine costs £3.90 so you’d need a good income to afford the magazine every month.

METHODS USED TO ATTRACT THIS TARGET AUDIENCE ARE:

- The colours used are very mature and not extremely bold or bright, attracting more to the older generation. Also the placing of the cover lines and images make the magazine look more sophisticated and don’t make it look like a ‘child’ magazine.

Analysis of magazine front cover 3. Kerrang

Header: -advertises competitions that are coming up for the fans. Also summarises the main bands that will be featuring in this issue- bands are all associated with the ‘rock’ genre.

Masthead: - Title ‘kerrang’ stands out and takes up a lot of space making the title very bold and effective. The font style used is Dafont site which creates a very dramatic effect and makes it look like broken glass suggesting rebellion. The ! Emphasises the rebelliousness

Main image: -Very effective as its just one image that takes up the majority of the frame. Also it is clear to see who the band is due to the large caption placed in the middle. The background is a mix of colours between red and black creating a ‘rocky’ vibe.

Main sell line:- It anchors the main image so its made clear to the audience who the band is. This is the only cover line on the magazine putting emphasises of who the magazine is going to be about. The font is big and bold making it stand out.

Barcode, date/issue and price: - These are all essential elements are a magazine and are always featured. Its always placed in a small box and in the corner of the magazine out of the way of the main features.

Footer: - Lists all the other bands that are going to be appearing in the magazine

Layout follows the ‘rule of thirds’, this adds interest to the target audience. Everything has its own specific place to make the magazine look professional. The cover is very image dominated and even though every thing has a place it creates a very ‘cluttered’ vibe which makes it seem rebellious and going against the norm. It suggests that the magazine is going to be very busy full of rock content and the reader of kerrang! Magazine is very unconventional.

Freebies makes the reader want to buy the magazine as they get 7 free poster with the magazine. The posters are all of famous popular rock bands which would appeal to the reader.

Target Audience of Kerrang!Target audience Profile:

Musical interests/favourite artists etc.:

- Kerrang! Magazine attracts readers who are interested in the genre of rock/punk/indie/grunge music.

Gender:

- The magazine says it attracts male and females but it’s more targeted towards the male generation, this is because of the colours used and the striking fonts, it doesn’t make the cover very feminine.

Age:

- The age group that Kerrang attracts is teenagers between the age of 15-19 who are interested in the type of genre that Kerrang! Provides.

Social class:

- From my research I have come to the conclusion that the magazine would be targeted at the group C1 and above, this is because the magazine costs £2.20 so you’d need a good income to afford the magazine every week.

METHODS USED TO ATTRACT THIS TARGET AUDIENCE ARE:

- The colours used attract the target audience as they’re very rocky and rebellious which would attract more to the younger generation than older. Also the style and placing of the font creates an edgy vibe which attracts the target audience of 14-19 year olds.