Magazine Analysis

Before I started creating and planning the sections of my magazine I decided to carried out research into popular music magazines such as 'Kerrang' 'NME' to analyse their layout, language and how they sell so well.
























'KERRANG' Magazine Analyis.

General
According to the publisher's website, it says they reach over 19 UK adults across multiple media channels. Individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty. 'Kerrang' is published every week to keep there readers interested and satisfied. Total circulation sales are 52272 (50128 in UK and Republic of Ireland).

Front Cover
The magazines name is onomatopoeic and refers to the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. The title has lines running through it almost to create a guitar string effect. The title has rough edges and looks like broken glass. This makes it very eye-catching.

'The UK's biggest Gig guide', this strap line identifies the magazine contains the best gig information, which on it's own, will make people who are into the genre of music won't to buy the magazine. Because it's the 'UK's biggest' means that you won't find a better gig guide in the country.

The main image is a medium close up of 'Dave Grohl', the reason for this is because the main story is about himself, also with an exclusive interview. People who are a fan of Dave will find the magazine very appealing to them. The main image of Dave show's he's happy, and his eye's are looking straight at the reader, which almost acts a fishing rod, luring you in too buying the magazine and read all about him. His expression looks suspicious because he has a grin on his face, although it looks as though he is hiding something.You cannot see his clothes as such, however you can see what he's wearing consists of the colour black. The colour black is very common in 'Kerrang', because the colour black is associated with heavy metal music.

Other images which appear on the cover, are what else is in the magazine. There are pictures of posters to show that you receive free photo's/posters. Other images consist of 'Green Day'. 'Rock Legends' and loads more. The fact it contains Rock Legends shows it has the best of the best inside. Making it very more appealing. These appear on the cover too show the reader what's in the issue, because if someone has never bought 'Kerrang' before and they stumble across it in a shop, they have little time to be amazed, therefore they show a lot of eye-catching, interesting articles which are inside.

The cover lines are promoting that the magazine will contain interviews with the band members, it's showing exclusive photos of bands on tour. The fact that there exclusive means there new photos and they've never been seen before. Therefore the fact the photos are 'exclusive' means it will make the magazine more attractive to buyer's. Also the cover lines show that there are competitions to win signed musical instruments. All this makes it very appealing again and makes people want to read into the articles.

The font's are extremely effective. The title is very sudden ad bold, it almost looks like glass smashed over the title which works really well. The cover lines work really well, the font's fit in with the title. The colour's consist of yellow and white. They also have a black background which makes the font colour's very easy to read. All the types of font on the front cover fit the 'Rock' type genre. If you only had font you could tell what genre this magazine is in. Rock.

There are a few quotes on the front cover from bands who are in the weeks issue. This shows you a glimpse of what's inside and what the band are like. Language from the cover lines is very revealing and friendly. Nothing about the language is off putting. Words such as 'Brightest', 'Great', 'Crooked' and 'Incredible' stand out and make the sentence more exciting. Rather than it being plain and boring. The cover talks to the reader by offering the reader many things to do and win.

The cover looks slightly similar to the other magazines because they both have (NME & Kerrang) the same kind of style and structure. Both magazines have quotes and competitions on the front cover. Both front cover's contain band member's and exclusive interviews. However 'Kerrang' offers a variety of articles shown on the front cover. Also it has a lot more pictures and chance's to win prizes. 'Kerrang' is more full of information and gig information than it's rivals because it advertises the amount of bands inside, and its officially the 'UK's Biggest Gig Guide'.

Inside
There are 63 pages in the issue. 22 pages consist of adverts. The advert 'types' are as follows : Beauty products - Shockwaves
Music
Technology - Phones
Music concerts - Gig guides
Clothes - Necklaces
- Bracelet's
Next week's issue.

These adverts which are inside the magazine can tell you what target audience the magazine is aiming for, for example. The fact the magazine is advertising mobile phones tells you its more for the younger generation because younger people tend to be more into mobile phones. The clothes shown in the magazine are either clothes warn by artists or clothes advertising artists/groups. And the artists/groups shown in the magazine are bands/people such as 'The Killers' and a lot of new artists. Therefore clothes have a big part in showing who the magazine is directed for because you wouldn't see many people in the older generation wearing clothes such as these. The jewelry in Kerrang is very 'loud' and bold, you wouldn't see many older people wearing such things. However teenagers and young adults find them attractive, (sometimes because that's what the musicians wear).

List of features/articles - Feedback
- News
- Competitions
- Live Reviews
- Posters
- Features
- Album Reviews
- Gig guide
- Famous last words

There are 12 double pages, based on; Exclusive interviews, Gig reviews, information on the recent month's and concerts for singers and bands.

Prelimary Task

Pre-Lim. Front Page

I like this picture, however did not use it because it doesn't have much resemblance to school, seeing as it's a school magazine. The picture is effective because it's well focused. I took the picture because i was simply experimenting on different backgrounds and trying out different ways of presenting my model.

I started to experiment with pool tables and different way's in which my model can be shown. i liked the idea of taking the picture from behind the '8' ball, as it looks effective. Because your looking up at the model. I didn't choose this picture because i knew i could take a better picture, plus i didn't like the background in which the picture was taken.

Once again i experimented with using the pool table in my final picture. This time with more ball's involved, the angle is different from the picture above. However i didn't use this photo because i didn't like the background. Or the layout in which the model was standing. Therefore i took many more pictures, using the same model/equipment, whilst changing the background.

This is my final picture in which i used on my front cover of my school magazine. The reason for this is because the lighting works really well, there's not too much going on. It's pretty plain and simple. Plus the background is plain and not very eye catching. I then made the picture portrait as a magazine cover is portrait and not landscape.

This is the final result. As you can see i changed the picture from landscape to portrait. Added the title, and created caption's for the magazine. I was going to add more pictures onto the front cover, but i didn't seem this was necessary.






Pre-Lim. Contents Page

I thought it would be a good idea for the contents page, to get a student in yellow and blue. Therefore it would look more like its aimed at WGSB. I went ahead and took many pictures of students to try and get the best picture. In the end it came down to this picture. Because the background and the student work very well together.

This is the final product, for the contents page. I chose the colour font as white because it's really easy to read. For example if i was to use brown, it would be harder to see the writing. The page numbers and headings were pretty straight forward, as i looked inside the current 'School Magazine' for ideas in which to name the pages. I kept the title font and colour the same as the Front page to keep the 'house style'.