The front cover of a magazine is the most important as it is the first thing a person will see, so it has to grab their attention in order for them to buy it. The purpose of having a front cover is to make it attractive and give the reader a sense of what the magazine contains. Many magazines have a specific targeting audience and therefore make the front cover based on the contents aimed at a specific group of people. For example, the Kerrang! magazine appeals to a specific audience because it concerns topics and themes that are relevant to people who listen to and are interested in rock music and its background. Similarly, NME’s main target audience is for younger readers in their teens and early 20s; they also mainly target male readers. This is shows by the magazine’s masculine colour schemes of black, white and red. Both Kerrang! and NME are popular music magazine, in which I will compare the similarities of the use of images, but also the difference of the magazines layout and usage of colour to target specific audiences.
In Kerrang! the issue uses a significant colour pallet, the
main colours are white, black, yellow, red and green. These enable the magazine
to be eye-catching and it allows certain cover lines to stand out. These basic
colours are continued throughout the 70 pages creating a dark and moody
ambiance which connotes a typical rock star image. This also reflects the
magazines target audience, people who listen to rock music would enjoy the edgy
colours instead of pinks, purples and blues being used as it would not
represent the music genre as Kerrang! it quiet punk and it has a rock feel to
it. Like NME, the colours are masculine and tend to be aimed at the make
audience rather than females. However, NME has a completely different colour
scheme of more subtle colours creating a more chilled out atmosphere which reflect
the indie music it is promoting. The main colours: black, beige and red helps
certain cover lines appear more important and noticeable than others yet, the
colours used are different from Kerrang! as they are less fierce and bold. This
justifies the target audience for Kerrang! they will be more rock and roll;
whereas, NME’s is aimed at people who prefer more contemporary music.
Kerrang! aimes itself more at the male audience and appeals
to them by using content such as hard rock and iconic male bands on the front cover
pulling silly or violent expressions. In this issue, You Me t Six are displayed
on the cover as the main graphic: with Josh Franceschi (the lead singer) at the
front whilst the rest of the band members being. This is done effectively as
the large image of Josh indicates which band is being presented in this week’s
issues as he is most recognisable as the front man. The angle of the images is
a close up shot which is done to attract the audience creating eye contact
through the photo. The poses are quite silly and harmless which is unusual for
Kerrang! magazine; however, I think their face represents their music as You Me
at Six are not heavy rockers such as Metallica or Slipknot and they are quite
fun and young. Lithe the background the clothing worn by the featured band is
dark but also very causal this may form the image of the magazine being aimed
at working class people. Female readers are targeted by the use of male bands
on free pull out posters and feature interviews on the front cover. For
example, girls are most likely to stick up posters of Madina Lake in their room
and therefore, would make them purchase the copy. On the front cover of NME,
the main graphic used is of the two iconic lead singers: Alex Turner and Miles
Kane. This attracts the reader’s attention as they are staring directly at the
reader and it is posed in a natural shot which is taken from the waist upwards.
Both bands were on tour together, so many fans would be intrigued to hear from
both different band members – this aims at two very similar audiences as both
of them produce indie style music. NME would not have had Josh from You Me at
Six with Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys as the music genre is completely
different. Agains, like Kerrang! both men are wearing black coats quite plain
and simple to make everything else stand out on the beige background. The two
men are standing back to back showing their closeness.
Kerrang! magazine master head is always expressed in the
same way for every issue – the black bold writing spread at the top of the page
makes it very noticeable against the white background. Also, the title always
seems to have looked smashed due to the effect the magazine had put on their on
purpose. This could be because the heavy music is so powerful and forceful it
shows the audience a sign of rock and roll. Moreover, Kerrang! Is the only magazine
to use an exclamation mark at the end of the mast head which suggest that it
should be read out loudly and it gives a hint of aggression which again targets
men instead of women. The mast head of the NME magazine is an abbreviation for
New Musical Express this helps readers indentify the magazine as it was always
branded the same. The words are significant because they sum up the magazine
since it is new music that’s expressive. New has connotations like fresh and
make it appealing to young teenagers because there always looking for something
that’s new and different. Similarly, Kerrang! uses ‘new’ to introduce the band
again showing fresh young faces to music and it makes people want to buy the
magazine to and read about this exciting new band. Just as in NME people would
want to read ‘the first major interview’ with the singers as the word ‘major’
would interest fans. Also, NME cover uses the rule of left third which includes
articles and stories featured in the issue e.g. Tom Clarke Vs Faris Rotter.
They have made the text bold and showed it as if it was a real battle as the
bright red elaborated the importance of the event in history and makes readers
want to buy that particular article.
Kerrang! uses a main image to present the lead article, You
Me at Six are the centre of the magazine unlike NME where Alex Turner and Miles
Kane are more to the right of the cover. I think this is done to cram all the
context of the magazine (cover lines) into the left third which allows
everything to be seen. However, I don’t think this works so well for NME as the
lead article and main image will be covered by other magazines. Both titles of
the magazines are above to show its dominance and people can easily recognise
it, as the title never changes for each issue. In Kerrang! I think the sky line
work well to present the other band that are featured in the magazine and
allows fans to easily see who feature in the copy; similarly, NME’s skyline
represents the other bands and is more noticeable on the red background with
the yellow and white writing. On the front cover of NME the puff works well as
it shows what album is out now just like Kerrang! uses the free posters boxed
off separately to show the readers what the magazine has to offer. NME magazine
uses a callout “I was worried the Monkeys would think I’d had an affair” this
quotation is used to intrigue and tease the reader to what more the interview
with Alex Turner has to offer; making them want to buy it and read the full
article. NME’s overall layout stands out with the darker backgrounds and the
bright colours, and it will help the magazine stand independent, from the rest
of the magazines on the shelf. The overlapping layers adds to the effects of it
all being crammed in one front cover, this can also encourage people to buy it
as there is lots of thing to read about. For Kerrang! I think the title and the
main image work well together as they both have a fun side of rock and roll;
the colours of Kerrang! are basic yet very strong and noticeable compare to the
plainness of the band’s clothing. Likewise, NME’s main images works well as it
is very dull and basic there are not strong colours used; this makes the text
stand out and more readable.
Both Kerrang! and NME are very popular magazines and I think
this is because of how the front cover is presented in order to attract
customers to buy it. As they are both attractive and suitable for their target
audiences they are both successful magazine covers. Their purpose of persuading
people to buy the magazine and informing them of what the magazine has to offer
is clearly presented on the front pages through the use of images and phrases.
I buy both magazines occasionally and this always depends on who is on the
front cover of the magazine; as Kerrang! appeals to a more rock and roll
audience they have a different band on the front to represent the magazine. The
reader of Kerrang! would also like to attend gigs, and be highly influenced by
music to how they lead their lives, for example, their dress sense, therefore
it is important to how people dress in their photo shoots in the magazine and
what clothing companies advertise in the magazine as these will highly
influence the reader. Similarly, NME uses the main image of a band or most of
the time the lead singer to signify to the consumer that they are featured in
the magazine. The audience of NME magazine is people who like listening to
indie/pop-rock music. NME started in 1952 and I think the oldest of the
magazine affects the appearance of the front cover as it looks less hard and
violent like Kerrang! and looks more subtle and old. Overall, I believe that
both magazines suit their target audience and both front covers are attractive
and interesting to buy.
