EXISTING PRODUCT ANALYSIS

Faye Morrallee

Front Cover

Colour Scheme – The colours that ‘NME’ used on the front cover of their magazine represent boldness. The reds blacks and whites are eye catching to the reader. The fact that the “Florence takes America” is red, it corresponds with her hair which is also red. There is a yellow lining of an American Cab which gives the readers clues, before reading the title that she is in America.

Photography – The large picture of Florence in the middle of the page blocks the title, showing importance and there is a main article on her. The fact she looks like she is escaping of out the taxi makes it look like she is ready to go and do some work. She also looks quite shocked at the Camera, which could suggest that she isn’t expecting to be as well known in America.

Writing Style – On the front cover of ‘NME’ there is not much writing. It is mainly photography as I explained earlier. The large text in the centre of the page which says “FLORENCE TAKES AMERICA” indicates that the main article is about her. There are other large texts such as “THE 25 BEST ROCK STARS OF THE DECADE” and “72 HOURS WITH THE YEAR’S GREATEST EXPORT” as these titles are not as big as the main one we can instantly see these will be sub articles.

Font – On the front cover the font is very samey, it is very bold and capitalised. It catches the readers attention as it is so big and spread across the page. The colour of the font is just white and red, as I said when I was describing the colour scheme, these colours are very bold. The font that is used for the price and similar smaller details are less bold and are more merged into the backgrounds, they are a lot smaller as they are not as important and don’t need to be in the foreground.

Text/Picture ratio – The front cover is very picture based. There is a small amount of text, but with the font being bigger it makes it look like that there is more font. There is more writing than pictures, but because the picture of Florence takes up the whole page it makes the reader think there is more pictures.

Overall Look – The overall look of the front cover is very bold and vibrant, it is very eye catching to the audience. All the elements that I have described make the front cover look very good and what a front cover of a magazine should look like. The magazine has been made to look like this purposely to make people pick it up and read it.

Contents Page

Colour Scheme – The colours used on the contents page of ‘NME’ are still the bold, reds, whites and blacks, although as there is an article situated on the page, there are more colours coming from the picture, such as the bright blue lights. Same as on the front page, the editors use these colours to catch the readers eye and make it more interesting to read, as if the page was just black and white, people would look at it and think it was tedious.

Photography – There is only 1 photo on the contents page, as that page is not usually for photo’s, sometimes on a contents page there will be a copy of the front cover, with arrows pointing to what page articles appear on. The picture is of Alex Turner. The picture looks as though it has been taken when he has been on stage, looking very natural and un-posed. There are 2 pictures at the bottom of the page of 2 Christmas magazines, I think these are at the bottom as they are not important but the producers have been told they have to include them in some way.

Writing Style – There is a lot of writing on the contents page, which you would expect. With there been an article on the page, it adds to the word count, making the page mostly word dominant. The word “SNAPSHOT” suggests someone has taken this in the crowd with a small camera; it wasn’t a planned shot, which adds to the description of the photography. The “XMAS HAS COME EARLY” is at the bottom of the page, where not many people will want to read, showing that it lacks in importance.

Font – The font is still bold, as it was on the front cover, whereas it is not as capitalized and enlarged. The article’s font is very small, the same as the content’s strip. The font with all the page numbers has to be very small as they have a lot of text to get into that one space, hence the reason it is so compact. On the front cover the text is red and white but on this page the text now contrasts with the white backgrounds, making it red and black.

Text/Picture Ratio - The text/picture ratio is about 70:30, although the large picture makes the audience think there is more picture. As there is a full article and the “what’s inside” bit there is obviously more text to picture. At the bottom of the page there is an article about Christmas coming early, there is quite a lot of writing on here, as well as 2 pictures of Christmas magazines.

Overall Look - I think the over all look is Ok. It is not as good as the front cover as it is not as eye catching. This is because all you see when you turn the page is the Article on “Alex’s surprise chapel visit.” not the “what’s inside” bit which everyone wants to see and read.

Double Page Spread

Colour Scheme – The colours on this DPS are very limited and bland. Nothing like the other 2 pages. The red stripes on the cloth Florence is sitting on are not as bright as the reds on previous pages. It has got a newspaper look to it, with the grey/black writing . As Florence is wearing all black it makes the colour of her hair stand out more, as well as the red stripes on the rug. As there are no other articles on this DPS there is no other colours.

Photography - There is only 1 photograph on the page, which is posed and taken in a studio. She is blocking the “USA” sign behind her, showing her importance in the article. The picture was taken purposely for this article and the magazine, much like the picture of her on the front cover.

Writing Style - Firstly, the “got the love” is a play on words, as one of “Florence and the machine’s” songs was “you’ve got the love” Before the reader reads the article, they get a little insight as there is a larger paragraph, to tell the reader what the article is about. The magazine producers want to get over that she will be big in America, hence the massive “USA” behind her.

Font – The font is very similar to how it is on the contents page, it s very small and compacted. The large “D” at the start of the article adds a bit of variety to the DPS. Without this I think it would look very boring. It also corresponds with the “got the love” as it is the same font style, possibly matching with her personality.

Text/Picture ratio - As this is a full article there is bound to be more text than pictures. Although as I have said previously, because the picture is large it tricks the reader into thinking that there is more pictures, whereas there is only 1 picture. I haven’t personally counted the amount of words in the article but I can see just from looking that there is a large amount, as you would expect from a full article.

Overall look – I think the overall look is quite bland and plain really. It has no variety of colour to it, which makes it boring to look at. And at first glance I would be put of by the amount of text to read , as it is all clumped together and not spread out, making me think there is too much to read. I think the picture looks quite effective with the stripy cloth, without this I wouldn’t want to read the article at all.

Front Cover

Colour Scheme - The neon green colours captivate the audience’s attention drawing them to the front cover. Although the saying says “don't judge a book by its cover” these colours would make me want to read on. With the picture being in black and white it makes it stand out from the bright colours, and with everything being on a black background it foregrounds it all.

Photography – Excluding the CD there is only one main photograph on the front cover, showing their importance. This is also shown as the picture is blocking the “mojo” label. The 2 smaller pictures at the top of the page show less importance. The photograph is very posed and studio based, creating a professional look.

Writing Style – The writing on the front cover of this magazine is perfect as there is not too little and there is not too much to over load the page. The small amounts of writing are enough to inform the reader what is going to be included inside the magazine. Using this technique makes the reader want to read on a buy the magazine. The “EXCLUSIVE” above the “KING OF LEON” is fore grounded, making it stand out and catch the readers attention.

Font – The font used on this front cover is very technological, which also corresponds with the neon green colours. I think the font for the masthead is good as the ‘J’ sort of moulds into the ‘O’ which looks good and compliments the overall look. One of the band members is wearing square glasses, and the font on the page is quite square, this could be something to do with the style of his glasses. “The music magazine” is written in a completely different font, which is quite hard to read, as if you actually read music magazines and you know what mojo is you won’t need to know it is a music magazine.

Text/Picture Ratio – The text picture ratio is biased against the picture, as there is more picture than text, e.g. the large picture in the centre of the page, the picture on the CD, the smaller photo’s in the top corner of the page, whereas there is only a small amount of writing in the bottom corner of the page, and a few lines at the top.

Overall look – The overall look of the magazine has a good layout and is not too cluttered with text or images. The green and white colours go well together and compliment the black and white image.

Double Page Spread

Colour Scheme – The colours are very dark which reflect on the rock band image and stereotype. The bright colours on the text in the right hand corner lift the darkness and add more emotion to the images. The colours the band members are wearing also add to the image of the band, although, the bright white colour the 2nd one from the left is wearing show that he must be the lead singer, as when you look at the picture, he is the first one you look at, due to the brightness of his top.

Photography – With the picture being in black and white it makes the image have a retro look, with it being studio based the picture is very posed and similar to the picture on the front cover. The black and white colours contrast the green writing and make it stand out of the page a lot more than if the picture was in colour.

Writing style – the writing style on this dps is very minimalistic. The paragraph that is situated on the page is more of an opening paragraph, to lead onto for example an interview which would be carried out on the next page.

Font – the font is quite technological, which could represent the style of music, but in this case it doesn’t reflect on the genre of the Kings of Leon's music. Using different coloured fonts adds variety to the article and makes it more interesting to read.

Text/Picture Ratio – The picture is much more dominant than the text, I think this is a good point to the dps and the picture is very posed and gets you to look at it more than the text, as the text is just in the corner of the page and isn’t as important as the image.

Overall look – I think the overall look of this dps is very vibrant and is a lot better than the NME one, using black and white images really brings out the colour in the fonts. The layout of the dps is also very neat and easy to see and read. If I saw this in a store I would be very likely to pick it up and want to read on.