Main task - Looking into magazine development and front cover's.

Kerrang.

§  Published weekly since 1981.

§  Focus: Heavy Metal/ Rock

§  Owned by Emap

§  Reader profile: 15/24. 60% Male – 40% Female.

§  80 A4 pages.

§  £1.99

§  Standard layout.

§  Includes free posters.

§  All pages are black and red text.

§  Use’s teenage colloquialism.

§  Editorial content dictates taste of target audience

§  Diary – upcoming gigs.

§  Other retailers promotion.

§  Metal/Goth- Clothing/Jewellery manufacturing.

§  Initially started as a one-time supplement in the Sounds newspaper, which focuses on the genre New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of other hard rock acts

§  Quite mainstream artists included.

Then:

Now:

Analysis of cover:

Having the title in front of the image, in a large contrasting font makes it clear. They have a relatively consistent colour scheme of yellow, white and blue though it perhaps changes too much throughout the front cover. The image has direct eye contact which makes it more effective. The body copy ‘lostprophets’ may be quite bold and clear but the pull quote about this is not and makes it seem relatively pointless in comparison. Even though there isn’t much text it somehow looks too cluttered in my opinion and like there is not a very organised layout, this could suggest that the magazine is quite laid back and informal.



Nme.

History:

By the early 1970s NME had lost ground to the Melody Maker as its coverage of music had failed to keep pace with the development of rock music. Alan Smith was made editor and was given a short period of time by IPC to turn things around quickly or face closure.
The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion Weekly was bought by London music promoter and relaunched as the New Musical Express.


 

New Musical Express:

§  published weekly since 1952

§  Non permanent ink.

§  Cassettes of Indie music 1985 onwards.

§  Melody maker/Sounds-similar template.

§  Merger between melody maker and NME in 2000.

NME:

§  Reader profile- 65% male.

§  Average age: 23.

§  NME reader regularly downloads music.

§  NME sponsored tours.

§  £1.95

§  Free CD’s.

§  Slang terminology. Emo etc.

§  Independent bands. (Niche)

§  Masthead promotes virgin digital.

§  Relationships between retailers and content mutually beneficial.

§  Ads reflect demographic and lifestyle profile.

 New Music Express:

NME then:

NME now:

Analysis of cover:

The title is bold and clear which makes it stand out and catch your eye, the consistent bright red colour scheme also helps this. Even though NME is a music based magazine, here they have incorporated comedy in to their magazine giving it a more varied feel, though they appear to have still tried to keep the music theme by giving one of the models a guitar. This image shows that NME is quite a laid back magazine and isn't too intense, it also makes you feel that the content will be light hearted and comical therefore drawing you in. The image is quite bright and also draws you in. by having a pull quote using a different typeface, this makes it seem more related to the quote. They also have the main body copy larger than the title which is also good because it makes your attention more pulled towards it.