MUSIC MAGAZINES: FRONT COVER ANALYSIS

In these slides, you will see three front covers of music magazines I have analysed, contributing towards my research for my foundation portfolio

HOUSE STYLE

Throughout this presentation I will analysing many aspects

of my three chosen front covers. This will include how the

magazines maintain house style through colour,

images/design, masthead, font styles, layout and language.

What is house style?

‘The way a magazine maintains a thread- distinctive code

throughout its pages. These are often the same throughout

all issues of the same magazine’

Why do magazines use this?

Magazines use this to create the ‘branding’ effect with their

product. It is so the reader can become familiar with the style

of magazine and therefore can easily identify it as they know

what to expect

Where would you find it?

You find it throughout the entire magazine but especially the

front cover and masthead as this is the first thing that

attracts the reader.

NME – NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS Background

Is a music journalism publication in the United Kingdom,

published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music

newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine

format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in

1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles

chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it

became the best-selling British music newspaper. During

the period 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated

with gonzo journalism (self-involved reporting), then

became closely associated with punk rock through the

writing of Tony Parsons. – Wikipedia

GenreIndie/rock

Target Audience16-24 year olds

FrequencyWeekly

Total circulation(ABC July – December 2011) 23,924

TOP OF THE POPS

Background It features chart information, star gossip, fashion and

beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters. It is a

supplementary magazine for the TV show Top of the Pops

until the latter was cancelled in 2006. – Wikipedia

GenrePop

Target AudienceFemale: 11- 15 years

Frequency4 weekly

Total Circulation98,030

TEEN NOWBackground

TeenNow is IPC Media's bi-monthly teen magazine. With 92

pages packed with the latest gossip, exclusive interviews,

affordable fashion and beauty, plus a free giant poster every

issue - it's every teenage girl's best friend. With an ever growing

army of fans on Twitter and Facebook, Teen Now is everywhere

the readers are, sharing their passion for all things celebrity, and

finding out exactly what rocks their world - after all, it's their

magazine, we only make it!

Genre

Teen

Target Audience

Teenage girls

Frequency

Monthly

Total Circulation

Unknown

ColourThe dominant colours on this cover are red, white, black and

yellow. This creates a serious mood and associates with the

picture of predominant males. The red is used to highlight

the most important feature on the cover- the masthead, this

immediately draws your attention to it and along with the font

is the first thing you register. Your eye then follows down the

cover and is met by the contrasting white against the dark

shirts, followed by the bright yellow to provide more depth

and give some life to the colour scheme otherwise it would

be very bland. This simple colour scheme also complements

the photo, as doesn’t take away from the main impact of the

cover- the image of the four men, because to many bright,

distracting colours would make the page seem to busy and

take the attention away.

DesignSans serif fonts are used throughout this cover, this adds to

the boldness of each word suggesting the men are bold,

which associates with the main cover line ‘BACK WITH A

BANG’. This is emphasised by the capitals which also

creates impact. Every word on this cover is written in

capitals, which makes the text stand out and create impact

that adds to the mood of the cover, along with the strong

image.

Image

The cover image is a medium close up shot of

four men, looking directly down the camera

lens. This links to the main cover story of this

band being ‘back with a bang’. A convention of

any magazine is that the image on the front will

be of a person looking directly down the camera

lens so he/she draws the reader in and the eye

contact is seen as an invitation’ to the reader to

pick it up and read it. However, this magazine

challenges this convention because we cannot

see their eyes so conventionally shouldn’t been

drawn toward the magazine. I feel the fact

they’re wearing sunglasses to cover their eyes

is because it adds to the mysterious mood and

with the sun trying to beam through the middle,

is conveying the fact the four men are covering

it up wanting to hide the sunlight and be ‘back

with [such] a bang’ it hides the light;

emphasised by the sunglasses.

Pose, style, hair & makeup

All the men are wearing casual clothing and are standing in

a relaxed pose, with their hands in their pockets for

example. This creates a relaxed mood, but their serious

facial expressions contrast with this maybe suggesting

they’re a relaxed band but are taking their come back

seriously. Again the mise en scene of sunglasses, the open

buttoned shirt with sleeves rolled up, t-shirts and tattoo

conform to the genre of indie/rock and is what the audience

would expect to see and associate with this type of music.

Language

The main cover line on this cover is one that is

situated in the middle of the page. All four pieces if

text near the centre link with the one story of the

band Franz Ferdinand’s come ‘back with a bang’.

This suggests they’re not keeping quiet about their

come back and will almost certainly be doing

everything they can like promoting their new album

to make sure everyone knows they’re back. This

suggests there is a feature inside informing the

reader about their comeback and this would interest

the target audience. This information can almost

certainly been seen at a glance as they are big

enough to be read from a distance. The only

limitation with the placing of this text is when it is

placed on a shelf most of this cover line will be

covered up apart from the top left hand corner cover

line. The placing of the two cover lines at the top is

very clever because these are the ones that will be

seen when the magazine is one the shelf (the bold

colours adding to this). Therefore, the audience will

pick the magazine up because of the two cove

rlines in the skyline region and then be drawn down

the page by the main cover line. All the words on

this cover are very short, strong words which again

add to the impact, reiterated by the man on the far

right pointing like a gun and the adjective ‘bang’

Institution/distribution

IPC Media publishes this magazine. They publish a

range of magazines including fashion, beauty,

home, lifestyle, women, teens, men's and music.

This magazine would be distributed everywhere in

the UK to all shops that sell magazines such as

Tesco, Morrison's, Co-op, corner shops and book

shops

Overall Impression

Even though this front cover might seem very simple to the eye, I feel its very well constructed and has been well

thought through to attract the target audience. It gives you a clear indication of what’s inside shown by the clear, bold

and colourful cover lines. It is designed to appeal to 16-24 year old because of how the band is represented as an on

trend relaxed group looking ‘cool’ in shades, the simple colour scheme of male related colours and bold text adding to

the chilled yet serious atmosphere.

DesignThe main cover line of ‘1D UNLEASHED’ covers ¾ of the

bottom half of the magazine. It is as big as the masthead which

goes against the typical conventions as the masthead is

normally the biggest element on the page. The designer has

done this because they feel this cover line is just as important

at attracting the audience as the masthead. The left hand third

is filled with three cover lines, which is a typical convention of

any magazine because when the product is displayed on a

shelf, these are the pieces of text which will ultimately make the

reader pick up the magazine and then discover more about

what's inside by seeing the main One Direction cover line. The

organisation that created the magazine, along with the skyline

will also be seen when placed on a shelf. The institution BBC

will covey to the reader that this a trusted, quality magazine

because it is associated with the BBC; a successful, trusted

organisation for producing a range of predicts on many media

platforms. The skyline will appeal to the audience as

stereotypically 11-15 year old girls are interested in make up so

would love to be able to give themselves a ‘celeb makeover for

just a £5’. The puff among the 1D image is placed on the t-shirt

of one of the band members which reiterates the fact you can

win a signed shirt. The most important pieces of text on this

cover are written in capitals which emphasises their impact.

Each piece of text is also written in a sans serif font because

these are seen as more modern fonts which will attract the

young target audience, apart from the bottom left hand corner

which is written in a serif font, which makes it easier to read

and gives the cover some variety but doesn’t make it to busy.

Image

The main image of One Direction has a

direct link to a feature inside. One Direction

are a band with the target audience for

there music teenage girls, this fits perfectly

with the Top of the Pops audience too.

They represent the audiences idols and

celebrity ‘crushes’. The many images

dotted around the edge are also musicians

or celebrities who's work appeals to

teenage girls, and the images of female

celebrities would be what the audience

would want to aspire to

Pose, style, hair & makeup

One Direction are laughing and giving each

other piggy backs which conveys a fun feel to

the reader. The other celebrities are also either

smiling, laughing or look like they’re having a

good time which reiterates the fun factor of this

cover. They’re all wearing casual clothes and

not a lot of makeup with suggests the relaxed

feel of this magazine.

Language

The main cover line includes the verb

‘unleashed’ which suggests One Direction have

gone wild and have let go of their celebrity

status by revealing all to the magazine, which

would attract the audience because they would

want to know as much as possible about this

band. This is reiterated by the strap line below

‘…even more personal…’The cover lines

‘friendship sos’, ‘freaky phobias’, and ‘access

all areas’ suggest interesting stories inside

which will grab your attention and find

something out about your favourite celebs you

didn’t know before. The adjective ‘outrageous’

suggests something out of the ordinary from

Union J, so would make the reader want to find

out what it is. The buzz words in the puffs,

would attract the audiences eye as they’re

short and bold which makes them easy to read

.

Institution/distribution

BBC is the publisher of this magazine, which is probably

one of the most successful organisations in the media

industry. The publish and own a range of different

products including TV programmes, radio shows, and

print based products. This magazine would be

distributed to the entire UK and possibly abroad because

of the BBC’s international relations to any store that sells

magazines.

Overall Impression

I think this front cover gives an excellent

indication of what’s inside, as it appeals to

the target audience through the female

colours of pink and yellow, cover lines of

musicians that appeal to that audience

ColourThe dominate colour which is evident on this cover is

bright pink. This colour immediately makes the

magazine stand out as well as highlighting the important

points the publisher want the audience to read first. This

colour is also associated with females, which links to the

target audience of this magazine of 11-15 year old girls.

Blue and yellow are also bold colours used to emphasise

the pink and the blue works well linking these two

colours together, which might also link to the male

element of One Direction on the cover. The white used

in the masthead draws your attention to it as this colour

is barley used. These ‘fun’ colours give the magazine a

lively, happy feel which helps attract the audience as

well as conveying the celebrities inside as happy with

lively personalities.

Colour

The colour scheme for this magazine is very

similar to the Top Of The Pops magazine. It’s

bright pink, yellow and blue colours stand out

and appeal to the teenage girl target audience.

The element of white breaks up the page and

adds to the bright look. All these colours give it a

fun feel and make it look like a scrap book a

teenage girl would make of their favourite artists.

Design and images

Out of the three posters I’m analysing, this is

the one with the most

images present on the cover, again adding to

the scrap book feel. This cover challenges

the main convention of any magazine cover

because the left hand side third does not

contain many cover lines, and the two cover

lines present are attached to images. The

most cover lines are present at the top of the

cover in the skyline because when this

magazine is presented on a shelf, it is what

the audience will see. The main image of

Union J links with the cover line because

they’re in suits so ‘All dressed up exclusively

for you!’ suggest the four boys have got

dressed up especially for you the individual

and no one else. Another element that

challenges magazine conventions is the fact

the masthead is not the biggest piece of text

on the page; the band name ‘UNION J’ is.

This is because the designers felt that the

audience knowing Union J are inside the

magazine is more important than the

masthead in this particular issue. The four

boys’ heads are also covering the bottom of

the masthead to so this suggests they’re so

bold they’re coming out of the page full of life.

This magazine displays the most diverse

range of fonts and sizes, with a mixture of

sans serif and serif fonts. This reiterates the

scrap book feel which would appeal to the

target audience. There are three puffs on this

cover, the main one containing the buzz

words ‘8 HOT PAGES INSIDE’. This is

situated in between the glee boys and Union

J which conveys to the audience the eight

pages are about them. The cover images are

mainly male which the target audience would

be their celeb crushes and the female images

ones in which the target audience would want

to aspire to be like. Overall they represent

what the target audience want to look like,

listen to and be like

Pose, style, hair & make up

The main image of Union J shows the boys

looking quite serious, however they do have a

cheeky smile which conveys they’re serious

because of the fact they’re suited and booted

however they still have their cheeky

personalities. The other images also show the

celebrities smiling or having fun which adds to

the fun feel this magazine conveys, as well as

them all having on trend hair styles which is in

fashion for trendy teenagers

Language

Colloquial language is used throughout

which will attract the audience because it’s

language they themselves would use. It

again emphasises the scrap book element.

Like the Top Of The Pops magazine, there is

much use of personal pronouns, which

makes the magazine feel more personal and

included. The adverb ‘EXCLUSIVELY’

suggests to the reader that you’ll only find

Union J ‘All dressed up’ in this magazine and

nowhere else, which is why you should buy

this magazine.

Institution/distribution

This magazine is published by IPC

Media. It’s distributed nation wide and

would be sold in any shop that sells

magazines, the same as all the other

music magazines I have analysed

Overall Impression

Overall, I think even though this cover

has elements that challenge front

cover conventions, it still appeals to

the target audience through images

and language which appeal to their

interests