Media: Magazine AnalysisFront Cover

By Declan Cook

Front Cover: Kerrang

Well Known Figure used to take up the majority of the front cover with faces kept clear. It is used to attract attention to people who recognise them.

Cover lines used layered over the main figure head to not take any attention away but still be visible. These hint at what articles are used in the magazines issue.

Positioning statement at the top of the page to get the point across without taking away from the main picture. It’s used to attract readers quickly with a snippet of info about a feature or article.

Unique Headlining font used bold at the top of the magazine and is used so that font and things associated with it are products of kerrang and customers will recognise this.

A splash is used in this instance as extra posters instead of a unique offer and takes up quite a large portion of the lower page instead of being small. However it is used, it still is an extra incentive to buy this magazine.

Key words are in bold so they are brought to the attention of the reader.

There are only 3-4 text fonts used as not to make the page to busy and so they are recognisable to this brand.

The main image is contrasting in colour compared to the block of colour in the background. It is also photo shopped/edited in a way where the hand is layered making it look slightly 3D again adding to the eye catching affect. This is also due to the rule of thirds and geometric shapes drawing your attention somewhere.

Front Cover: PC Gamer

Well Known Figure used to take up the majority of the front cover with faces kept clear. In this instance it is a very recognisable screenshot from the Skyrim promotional advert which many Skyrim fans will be able to relate to.

Unique Headlining font used bold at the top of the magazine and is used so that font is associated with the products of PC Gamer.

The main image is all one photo however edited so the ain character and focus of the picture is layered above the text and splashes. Therefore it does not need to contrast as much.

The splash in this instance is offering a free and exclusive tf2 hat and a free trial to a programme which may excite people who are interested in Skyrim and other articles published in this magazine. This offers incentive to purchase.

The cover lines are quite large and intruding to grab the focus of the reader however not to intrusive to take the focus from the main image. This is backed up by the fact large important cover lines and titles are in bold and larger text.

There are only 3-4 text fonts used as not to make the page to busy and so they are recognisable to this brand.

The positioning statement in this magazine is a circle near the top showing that there are “196 pages biggest issue this millennium”. This shows that this issue will be better than all the others.