Analysing front covers. A comparison of magazines front covers.

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.