Magazine designs

Front Page

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Double Page Spread

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Contents Page

Design 1

Design 2

Design 3

Poll results

Poll Results here!

Customer Demographics

Customer Demographics

This is Dave, John, Steve, Joe and Craig. They are 19 and 20 years old, live in the city of London. They currently all have part time jobs and spend their money on equipment for the band they want to start so they do not have too much money to spare. They all have a keen interest in heavy metal with 3 of the 5 also branching into the sub-genre of 'Thrash Metal'; the main bands they like include: 'Metallica', 'Anthrax', 'Megadeth', 'Machine Head'. They have all been interested in music for a huge time and as so; they all took music in school. They all have around 6 C/D GCSEs so they are not the smartest bunch around but they make up for it with their creativity. They all enjoy going to concerts, drinking, partying and just enjoying music to the full. They dress in the typical rocker manner; Leather coats, denim jeans and band t-shirts.

+ Devout to music

- Lack of funds

Analysing ‘Revolver’



Anaylsing Colour

Black - Dark, Gothic, Leather (Metal clothing is denim and leather, also the main band is wearing black)
White/Grey – Contrasting against the black and red, no real connotations
Red - Blood (Metal genre: Grim, dark, death)

Colour scheme of magazine is traditional rock and metal colours, being the heavy use of darker colours. This helps to follow a house style for the music magazines aimed at the genres of rock and metal.

Analysing Design

Big images of 3 members of 2 very well known bands. This magazine is focusing on these two bands since they are touring together, this will be huge for the metal genre. Since this is such a big event the people here are overlaying the title of the magazine to symbolise how big they are. Other band news and interviews are written on the magazine underneath the main news to attract people who like these bands as well

Analysing Images

Main image shows members from 2 bands (Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold) teaming up and working together on their new monster tour. Again the main image overlaps the title to show how important this event will be. By combining members of bands into one picture the fans of these bands will see it and instantly gain a huge interest, especially since they favourite band is teaming up with another hugely liked band.

Pose

The bands play heavy metal and thrash metal; both being naturally fast and aggressive so the members pose reflects this with the scowls and grit teeth on their faces.

Use of words on cover

The words on the magazine are not used to do anything other then advertise what bands are in the magazine. This keeps the front page clean, simple and not over crowed.

Overall impression

This magazine’s focus is all on the main event of the magazine; this being a combined tour by 2 monster bands. The magazine is clean, simple and does what it says on the tin by showing you what bands are in this magazine and give you the choice to take it or leave it, it does not over complicate things by having a huge amount of different stories on the front cover.

Revolver double page spread

Colour

This double page’s colour scheme is typical of what you would expect from an underground metal magazine, the background is a mixture of some kind of greyish brown – keeping with the traditional metal colour scheme of anything dark and raw. Due to this being a interview the names of the two people being interviewed and in different colours to show their importance, not that it really needs to be pointed out since Ozzy Osbourne practically invented the metal genre. Zakk Wylde is the other person being interviewed and is known for being totally insane and unpredictable; red represents fire and how it can spread uncontrollably so it is a perfect choice for such a man. The album artwork from their latest album is used on this double page spread, being very grim and dark it fits in well with the dark industrial setting that these pages have.

Design

The article in question on these pages is an interview between three people so the text itself is going to be the most important part and needs the most attention. So the design of this page has the importance of the text in mind, so the choice of the only two pictures in this article is the album artwork for their upcoming album and a picture of the guitarist Zakk Wylde; two very different pictures but not a lot to say about them both – meaning the readers attention is on the text for a lot longer.

Images

The images on these pages are of the upcoming album artwork and a picture of the beast of a guitar player that is Zakk Wylde. If you are even remotely like metal music (which you should be since you are reading a metal magazine) then you will know who Zakk Wylde is and how insane the man is and how he is the what every metal musician should be like; drinks to excess, lives life to the full and looks like a Viking from head to toe. This image of Zakk instantly draws in his fans and anyone who wants to see the face behind the blistering guitar solos; linked in with the fact he works with one of the pioneers for the genre (Ozzy) helps to bring in his fans as well.

Pose

The pose held by Zakk Wylde in the picture is one of huge strength and power; the odd angle he is leaning at is portrays him as an unstable character possibly crazy which he is. The confidence he is showing with his pose indicates that he knows what he’s doing; he’s been there and established himself past all the bad times of the early days of a band and is now a very successful artist.

Use of words

The use of words in this article is very important since it is an interview. The interview opens with a summary of what the interview is going to be about, drawing in anyone who quickly skims the article to see what it is about. The language used in the article is simple and often including swearwords since the audience this magazine is targeting is reading this magazine to find out about their metal scene and not to have their magazine made of fluffy lesser genres.

Overall impression

This double page and the interview wherein is a great display of artistic work by the colours, choice of chosen images and poses within the image. The usage of dark colours as a basis, bright colours for emphasising points and breaking the flow of the page. The dark choice of colouring goes well with the rest of this magazine since it does cover the more darker and extreme areas of metal sub-genres. Ozzy Osbourne; one of the people being interviewed and the person in the album artwork, is nicknamed ‘The Prince of Darkness’ so the use of a dark colour basis and background perfectly fits his nickname as well as the music genre.


Revolver double page spread

Colour

This double page’s colour scheme is typical of what you would expect from an underground metal magazine, the background is a mixture of some kind of greyish brown – keeping with the traditional metal colour scheme of anything dark and raw. Due to this being a interview the names of the two people being interviewed and in different colours to show their importance, not that it really needs to be pointed out since Ozzy Osbourne practically invented the metal genre. Zakk Wylde is the other person being interviewed and is known for being totally insane and unpredictable; red represents fire and how it can spread uncontrollably so it is a perfect choice for such a man. The album artwork from their latest album is used on this double page spread, being very grim and dark it fits in well with the dark industrial setting that these pages have.

Design

The article in question on these pages is an interview between three people so the text itself is going to be the most important part and needs the most attention. So the design of this page has the importance of the text in mind, so the choice of the only two pictures in this article is the album artwork for their upcoming album and a picture of the guitarist Zakk Wylde; two very different pictures but not a lot to say about them both – meaning the readers attention is on the text for a lot longer.

Images

The images on these pages are of the upcoming album artwork and a picture of the beast of a guitar player that is Zakk Wylde. If you are even remotely like metal music (which you should be since you are reading a metal magazine) then you will know who Zakk Wylde is and how insane the man is and how he is the what every metal musician should be like; drinks to excess, lives life to the full and looks like a Viking from head to toe. This image of Zakk instantly draws in his fans and anyone who wants to see the face behind the blistering guitar solos; linked in with the fact he works with one of the pioneers for the genre (Ozzy) helps to bring in his fans as well.

Pose

The pose held by Zakk Wylde in the picture is one of huge strength and power; the odd angle he is leaning at is portrays him as an unstable character possibly crazy which he is. The confidence he is showing with his pose indicates that he knows what he’s doing; he’s been there and established himself past all the bad times of the early days of a band and is now a very successful artist.

Use of words

The use of words in this article is very important since it is an interview. The interview opens with a summary of what the interview is going to be about, drawing in anyone who quickly skims the article to see what it is about. The language used in the article is simple and often including swearwords since the audience this magazine is targeting is reading this magazine to find out about their metal scene and not to have their magazine made of fluffy lesser genres.

Overall impression

This double page and the interview wherein is a great display of artistic work by the colours, choice of chosen images and poses within the image. The usage of dark colours as a basis, bright colours for emphasising points and breaking the flow of the page. The dark choice of colouring goes well with the rest of this magazine since it does cover the more darker and extreme areas of metal sub-genres. Ozzy Osbourne; one of the people being interviewed and the person in the album artwork, is nicknamed ‘The Prince of Darkness’ so the use of a dark colour basis and background perfectly fits his nickname as well as the music genre.


Analysing Revolver contents page

Colours

Revolver’s contents page is unlike many other magazine contents pages in many ways. In terms of the colour most magazines have their contents pages keep along the same line as their set default colour scheme that they would use, as seen in Kerrang! Below. The colour of this contents page is obviously not the important part of the page but it does a good job of placing all the of readers attention into the image of the lady in the dress in the middle of the page. The white text on a blue background is still easy to read as well as being different from other magazines – this magazine is obviously not conformist and so you will not expect to see anything you would usually see in from other magazines.

Design

The contents page is not designed with simplicity in mind; well it’s not designed with anything conventional in mind. The contents page clearly has an exclusive plan in mind with the actual stories it is trying to advertise well out the way and in a very small font. The page was obviously designed with the image of ‘Christina’ as the one and only focal point for the page, to tie in with the advertisements on the front page. This is nothing like what usual magazines would do and it shows that either this magazine is not terribly good; which you will soon see is not the case when you see the content and exclusive stuff they have inside, or the magazine truly has its own unique image that no other magazine has got anything close to.

Images

As soon as you turn the page you are confronted with the only image on the page and the only thing that really warrants attention; before you is a close up of a woman in a bright red dress sitting on a box. This magazine is all about the ‘hottest chicks in metal’ so this image obviously as to go along with the two main points in the advertisement;
1) Hot chicks – well you have a pretty lady in a dress showing a lot of leg – attracts males
2) Metal – she is wearing black lipstick, her hair is black and she is wearing leather accessories – attracts people who like metal

So this image not only reinforces what this magazines main feature is about but it also targets a good range of buyers.

Poses

The one and only pose on this page is purely done to reinforce the fact that this magazine is all about the ‘hottest chicks in metal’ so the pose the model has obviously has the chance to entice a male audience towards buying this magazine, and it does. Obviously putting on a seductive pose, the model sideways glance is obviously a more sensational way of appealing to a male reader.

Use of words

The small usage of words in this page is simply there to do the job of advertising the rest of the magazine as well as helping readers to find what article they wish to find. The text is out of the way of the main focal point for the page, as to not interfere with the messages it gives off and make the whole page look sloppy, uncared for and rushed. The text does not have any fancy effects towards it, it is just put there because it has to be, giving off the message that the magazine is being forced to have this in place but since it is so far out the way and uncared for it is not interfering with the content of the magazine.

Overall impression

The contents page is exactly what you would expect from a main feature in the middle of the magazine, not a contents page. This shows that magazine will do things it’s way and will not conform to magazine traditions. The unique and exclusive design that this magazine has gone for shows it is far more independent then most other magazines and has no need to conform to their way of thinking.

Anaylsing 'Kerrang!'

Analysing ‘Kerrang!’

Colour

Black - Dark, Gothic, Leather (Metal clothing is denim and leather, also the main band is wearing black)
White/Grey – Contrasting against the black and red, no real connotations
Red - Blood (Metal genre: Grim, dark, death)

The bright red title of the band instantly draws in your focus from the unimportant colours around it. Red is as a symbol of blood which is a main lyrical topic in the metal scene (will attract more people who like this genre)

Analysing Design

As with all music magazines, the main band in this magazine has centre stage on the magazines front cover with the name of the band in big writing to alert all of their fans to get this magazine. Since this is a well-known magazine and everyone knows the name of it (which you can mostly see anyway) the main band on the front is over the magazines header, to show just how big this band is. The magazine keeps with all usual magazine conventions; content banners at the top and bottom and small sub-section advert for content

Analysing Images

The first big image you come across is of the main band of this issue (Metallica). Being a giant of the metal genre they are put as a huge image on the front page to attract their huge fan base. The front man for the band is at the front of the group picture as he is the most recognisable; he is displayed in front of the title to show his importance compared to his fellow band members. Their new and relatively unknown bassist is given a small portion of the front cover.


Pose

The leader singer is standing in a smug position with a smirk on his face to show he knows how great his band is and how lucky the magazine is to be having them in their magazine. Their poses portray confidence, reassurance and general positveness.

Use of words on cover

Metallica is a huge band and is the most well known mainstream heavy metal band around, they were responsible for influencing hundreds of bands over the years and as so you can not take them lightly/. The huge important of this band on the whole genre and music history in general means the huge, thick text on the front of the cover shows this. Metallica is a giant of a band and this huge text will shows they are not to be taken lightly

Overall impression

This effective cover draws in passers by, it’s simple yet effective design added with the bright colours, huge text and influential band means that anyone even slightly connected with the metal scene would defiantly need to get this magazine

Double Page Spread




Colour

The colour scheme used in this double page is simply a black background with white text contrasting over it. The occasional spot of yellow is used to emphasise certain points and advertise what the article is about. This colour scheme does keep with the front page in a sense since it keeps the use of yellow to emphasis points and has the text in white (like most magazines) The reason for using this colour scheme is not to connote anything like ‘Metal Hammer’ magazine; it is trying to grab all of the readers attention and put it into the easily readable text, with some images to help.

Design

This page is designed to have the images in the middle of the page as the dominant feature. The images are centred in the middle; with them taking up ¾ of each page. The text around the outside is broken up with some pictures being to big and forcing the text over, as well as the occasional emphasised point in yellow. The images are used in such a way it looks like a collage or snaps someone took on a camera whilst they were there. The images are positioned incredibly well, as soon as you open the page they are right there in front of you so you can see what great bands this article has.

Images

The images used in this double page spread are of the bands that are playing at ‘Sonisphere’ festival, which is what these pages are about. The pictures are have been put in the magazine in such a way it looks as if they have been pieced together to from some ones snapshots from attending the festival before, instantly showing that it was good enough to attend again. One of the pictures is of the audience raising their ‘horns’ up at a band playing on stage, once again telling readers how great this festival was and how the following article will let them capture the magic of it.

Pose

The poses of most of the band members captured in the images are doing what you would expect of a band member from a heavy metal band at a concert; playing their instruments, shouting at the audience and head banging. This is what all heavy metal bands do, reinforcing the point that this is a heavy metal festival and the audience is expected to do what people attending this sort of festival should do; head bang and go insane. The poses all show the characters to be in a very strong position (a feature of metal music)

Use of words

The words used in these pages are not the focus point of this page and as such are not forced open the reader in any way; they are more accompanying the images along because they have to. The images have small captions to add some humour to lighten up the heavy atmosphere of this magazine to some extent. The one extract from the article is in huge bold letters to signify its importance or the importance of the person who said it, in this case both due to the extract trying to point out how amazing this festival was and having the front man from the band that was headlining it to say how amazing it was as well.

Overall impression

These pages are all about showing the reader how great the festival in the article was. The images are what you would expect to see from a heavy metal show and the use of wording in the article form this one big package that states how great this article is going to be. The odd design of the page works well with the chosen images and the ‘out of the way’ text is effected by the images drawing the readers attention to getting them to want to know more about this article.

Contents Page

Colours

Kerrang’s contents page keeps its colour scheme as white, black and yellow to emphasis points or show headings, this colour scheme is prominent through all Kerrang magazines. The black text on the white background instantly contrasts and makes the text easier to read as well as standing out much more, the use of yellow on a black highlight. After looking at the main picture that is set before the reader their eyes are then instantly drawn to the index on the right with its clever use of the black text on white background and yellow text on black background at the same time.

Design

Kerrang’s contents page is a standard contents page you would expect from any magazine; main stories with images to accompany them and an index down the side. The page is designed with simplicity in mind so that the reader can easily look for the articles that they want to read whilst the images help them to pick as well as advertising what is in store for the reader such as the competitions, interviews and reviews.

Images

The images on this page all play an important role in advertising the magazine. Four of the images are of bands either posing for a photo shoot or on stage playing their instruments – allowing the reader to easily scan to see what bands are included in this issue. The rest of the pictures are also used to help advertise what is in this issue with a picture of a Gibson electric guitar that you can win in a competition in this magazine as well as a picture of a band front man walking with women either side of him (defiantly going to attract male readers to that article).

Poses

The poses on this page vary from picture to picture. On the one hand you have the normal band members playing instruments or just messing about at a concert – obviously attracting the audience that prefers the live, frantic articles and news but on the other hand you have the staged photo shoot and picture of a ‘glam rocker’ who take their image above the music – which attracts the more relaxed crowd that prefers to buy the albums and listen to them in their own time casually. The poses here attract both audiences very well, whichever category you fall into.

Use of words

The choice of wording on the contents page is important – it needs to be enough to warrant the readers attention but not too much to give the whole article away in one sentence. In terms of text features there isn’t a lot to say, Kerrang want to keep this contents page plain, simple and easy to read so it does not put off any potential readers (although the main picture on this page says otherwise)

Overall impression

The impression received from this content page is how plain it is – but not in a bad way. The fact that this contents page is so plain means that the team has spent far more time worrying about whether the content of the magazine is top notch instead of placing all their time and effort on making it look good. The plainness of this content page is not so much to make you think that as soon as you open the page, what strikes you at first the amount of ‘top stories’ since they have pictures accompanying as well as the add promise of hopefully winning a guitar.