Front cover of Mix Mag

The front cover of this magazine is very eye catching due to the use of the florescent pink font. The pink doesn’t actually match with the cover image or relate to the cover image; I think this makes the front cover look quite tacky and very feminine which narrows down the potential audience to females, although gender shouldn’t make any difference to a music magazine, the use of pink appeals to women only. The cover image is of three men walking towards the camera. It is not a usual shot for a magazine front cover because it is a long shot and magazines generically use medium shots or a close ups. I think the image would be fine if it wasn’t covered in text. Most of the man on the left is covered in text and about half of the man on the right is also text; it seems pointless having a long shot and then covering up a lot of the image, it defeats the point of having a long shot. I think there is too much text on this front cover. There should be enough text to inform you what is inside the magazine but not too much to over crowd the front cover, this is very overcrowded and doesn’t make you want to pick it up and definitely doesn’t make you want to buy it. The cover image is also strange because it seems quite natural where as an ordinary cover shot has been thoroughly thought over and everyone has a specific pose. These men look almost as if they haven’t realised that the cover shot is being taken. The image is clearly going against the generic conventions but I think that it fails to make an impression and would have been more successful if it did follow the generic conventions. To conclude I don’t think that the front cover of this magazine is very good. The colours system seems quite random and they don’t match with each other. The image is not successful because it’s not following the generic conventions of a cover image and so fails to grab the audience’s attention. There is also too much text on the front cover and it

seems overcrowded. All these things make the front cover look tacky and fail to intrigue the audience enough to pick it up.

Contents page of Mix Mag

The contents page of the magazine is a lot better than the front cover, and is easier to look at that the front cover and might get people to read it. The colours all match nicely and none of them contradict each other and clash, and it makes it look like a good contents page not tacky like the front cover. It’s easy to see what on what page due to the clearly visible numbers on the right hand side and the different colour of the numbers; the colour is different but is not garish unlike the florescent pink on the front cover. There is no subtitle to the images which I think is a nice touch because if the image intrigues you, you will look on the page to find out what the image is actually about. There is also a range of images on the contents page; it’s not showing you similar articles pictures so all the images are the same, instead it shows you the variety that the magazine has to offer. Under each number there is a lengthy description of what will be on the page which gives good background knowledge to the reader and they will be able to clearly and easily understand what is in each article before they decide whether or not to read an article. To conclude on the contents page, I think it is a very good contents page and makes you want to look at some articles because of the interesting picture and no information or makes you want to read the articles because of the detailed description. Everything matches and unlike the front cover this is therefore very effective and makes you want to carry on reading.

Double page spread of Mix Mag

The double page spread is very generic in its appearance. Double page spread very normally do contain an image that fills a large space over the two pages or like it is here a single page. The image is an interesting confusing image of the DJ who’s been interviewed; it is made to look like glass has smashed and he is the glass, this connotes that he is broken and maybe his career has hit a low spot but as it’s not completely shattered he will carry on. It also has a quote from the interview which is also common in double page spreads. The DJs name is in the pink colour that was on the front cover and is a little bit more apparent as to why it was put on the front cover in the first place but it is only his name that is in the pink so it is still not entirely a meaningful choice. The font is consistent the whole way through the magazine and this makes the whole magazine feel related to each part which might make people want to read more articles because they think they are linked. The interview itself is following the career of the DJ Eric Prydz and because the magazine and the article is aimed at old teen agers aged between 16- 26 the language used is quite simple and chatty and informal. There is use of swear words which in this magazine it makes sense because it’s not likely to offend any of the readers where as if it was a magazine about classical music aimed at retired pensioners, swear words would not be used. For a magazine aimed at teenagers there is a lot of text, teenagers don’t have the attention span to read long wordy articles so it’s a strange amount of words to feature in one of the main articles of the magazine as readers may be put off when they see how many words it is. To conclude this is a relatively good double page spread, it is very eye catching and the image is both memorable and eye catching. The amount of text might put of the audience from reading because of the quantity of text but other than that it is a good double page spread is appealing to the target audience.

Front cover of Kerrang

This is a typical Kerrang front cover as the colour scheme for a Kerrang front covers is always the same in every issue. This means the audience can easily spot a Kerrang magazine because they are looking for a recognisable different colour scheme. This does not make the magazine cover a boring one; the cover image is always very different; this one is using album artwork from the band in the main article. Excluding the cover image there are five separate images on the front cover which is a lot for a front cover to have. On a normal front cover it is just the cover image and on some magazines, an image from within the magazine. On this front cover there are two images for articles in the magazine and three images of the posters that are with the magazine, this clearly shows that there are a lot of posters in this edition which might persuade some people to buy the magazine. The Kerrang logo represents the music that Kerrang features; it has a smashed effect which shows that the music is angry, aggressive music which connotes it is a magazine about heavy metal and hard rock. The cover image is a good medium close up of Kurt Cobain who features in both the main article and the poster section of the magazine showing that this magazine marks a landmark since his death. The picture is a mock up of the famous nirvana album front cover off the album “nevermind”. This iconic album cover is instantly recognisable in his pose and his location of being in a swimming pool. Using a mock up of such a well known album front cover makes an intriguing cover image. To conclude this is a successful front cover because it’s instantly recognisable both from the cover image and the Kerrang colour scheme. It’s not just the pedigree of the

Magazine Company that makes it successful though, the simplicity and the amount of text is just right to inform you but overcrowd the page unlike the Mix Mag front cover

Contents page of Kerrang

The contents page matches the front cover very well; it uses the same fonts and similar colours. Like the Mix Mag contents page there is a large image on the page showing you one article in the magazine, unlike the Mix Mag picture it does have a caption of who the picture is of. There is also a picture of one of the double page spreads in the magazine; this is not a usual feature of a contents page but I think is effective because it shows you exactly what to look for when flicking through the magazine. A generic feature that this contents page does follow is the picture of the editor of the magazine. The Mix Mag contents page doesn’t follow this feature. The editor doesn’t look like a person who would be the editor of a rock and metal magazine like Kerrang, she looks like a woman in her early 30s who would be more likely to write a magazine about family life or something else than a rock and metal magazine. This contents page is very easy to follow and it is clear what is on each page and get a brief summary of what the article is about. There are sub headings for what category the article falls under; for example there is a category for reviews, having this set up means it is really easy for readers to find what they are looking for and can waste no time having to read stuff that won’t interest them. To conclude this is a good contents page because it is clear and easy to read. It uses generic features like having a picture of the editor but also uses not generic features such as have a picture of one of the double page spreads from the issue of the magazine. I think this makes this a successful contents page because it is a familiar template but with a different twist on a contents page.

Double page spread of Kerrang

This is a generic looking double page spread; it has a big along the top half of the double page spread, double page spread either has an image spreading across the two pages or it has one page which is an image. The image is a picture from the photo shoots from the album that is being looked at. It is a standard photo that has had no or very little editing, unlike the Mix Mag image which had been heavily edited. It is also a natural photograph and doesn’t look like it is posed and it shows the simplicity of the band, that they aren’t posing because they aren’t a poser band, it also shows that they don’t care what people think about them. There is also another smaller image of the album front cover of the album that is being looked at. The font of the quote in the bottom right is the same font and colour scheme of the fonts on the contents page and the same for the first letter of the first paragraph. Having the font the same through a magazine is a generic feature of magazines because it makes the whole magazine feel related to each other. There is a lot of text in this article; it goes over on to the next page as well, which is strange because this magazine is aimed at teenagers who don’t like to read long articles because they don’t have the attention span, so it’s strange that this article is so long. To conclude this is a good double page spread and is very generic looking. I think the simplicity is effective and keeps it simple and matches the profile of the band.

Front cover of Metal Hammer

Metal Hammer magazine front covers always vary due to the main article, unlike Kerrang where they are all fairly similar. The Metal Hammer logo always has a different skin on it, for example this logo has chains on it, but the logo stays the same. The chains are a generic metal feature and in this instance connote that they are holding back the force that is the band and is very effective. The image is posed and has been taken for the front cover, unlike Kerrang where it was album artwork. The band members are all pulling aggressive metal faces which are common in metal photo shoots. The colours are all dark, black and grey and little red are all generic colours for metal magazines as they symbolise death and the red symbolises blood. In the bottom left there is an image of the bands character that has appeared on some of their album covers and metal fans will be able to instantly recognise this. This character is pulling similar faces to the band and is being tied down by the chains like the ones in the Metal Hammer logo. There are only three lines of text on this front cover which is unusual for a magazine but not for a Metal Hammer issue, they often only have an image and a logo, possibly because they always have sleeves. All the text is very demonic and metal, like the pull quote “everyone around me dies!” this makes a direct reference to death and death is the main theme of metal. To conclude I think this front cover is very good due to its simplicity, it shows very little but an image and three lines of text which makes it really stand out from other magazines. The colour scheme is the most basic out of the three reasons and for that reason it makes it easier to look and not look as noticeable as the Mix Mag colour scheme. Personally I think this front cover is the best out of the three because I think it looks the most unusual and it stands out the most and everything matches together perfectly.

Contents page of Metal Hammer

This is a very square contents page unlike the Mix Mag or Kerrang contents pages which were both very different and tried to be more exciting due to the dull nature of contents pages. Like the front cover this is very simple and is not trying to give you loads of information, its saving that for the articles themselves. All the page references are on the left hand side of the page going straight down and is a lot like a list of what’s to come where as both Kerrang and Mix Mag contents pages where trying to be decorative pages and although all the information is confined it is nearly all of the page that is information about the contents of the magazine where as in this Metal Hammer contents page its less than half the page and the rest is about the editors word. The editors word is different to normal editors words because he is not talking about the magazine itself, he is talking about a different topic, for instance in this issue he is talking about Black Sabbath and it contains two images that aren’t of the editor, making it more like a small article. The picture of the editor is very normal of a metal magazine; he looks like an actual metal listener unlike the picture of the Kerrang editor. He also seems to match the little character he’s made for himself, for example it says “the dark lords speaks” and “stay metal” stating that he is an authorative figure whose opinions you should respect and agree with; this matches in with the picture of him, he has long black hair and kiss make up on, he also is doing the generic metal hand shape and is wearing a skull ring. To conclude, I think again the simplicity of this contents page is why it is so effective. It’s not trying to be an extra page of the magazine; it’s trying to be a contents page. Also I like the idea of making the editors word more like a little article and taking up a large part of the page because it makes a contents page more interesting.

Double page spread of Metal Hammer

This is slightly irregular format for a double page spread because there are two pictures and they cover both pages but as a back ground. The other two double page spreads were very generic and had a large image and then some text on a plain white back ground, whereas because this is a darker article about a heavy metal band and so the dark colours are a necessity and therefore this back ground is very effective. The band the article is about only has these two men in it and both of them are very generic metal band members. They both have long black hair, one has a lip piercing and they both are quite pale and this makes them look quite sinister and evil. Also the name of the band is called Murderdolls, which is also a very generic metal name. The colour scheme matches the front cover because they are very metal colours but also makes the articles feel related to each other because of the similarity of the evilness of the bands. However unlike in Mix Mag and Kerrang the font doesn’t match throughout the magazine, in both of those magazines the font was the same on the front cover, contents page and double page spread whereas in Metal Hammer its different in each section of the magazine. There is also a lot less text in this double page spread than in either double page spread from Mix Mag or Kerrang, this makes it more inviting to read in the teenage audience because they don’t like reading a lot of information because of their attention span. To conclude, I think this magazine front cover is very effective because it really fits in with the genre of music and it is very eye catching, it would be hard to not flick the page and not even start to read the article. I like the back ground image instead of half of the double page spread being an image because it matches in better with the colour scheme and also because of the mid shot image means you see the main part of the image and not have to see the whole image.