College magazine

Magazine Front Cover Analysis


Because i started to create my magazine near Halloween i decided to base my front cover on a gothic halloween theme. I chose a black background to resemble the gothic theme of my front cover, also the colour white on the dominant image placed in the center of my magazine front cover, would contrast against the blackness of the background instantly making the front cover stand out on the shelves making the cover more appealing to the audience. I think this works effectively for it's suitable purpose, the colour black used for the background, creates the right theme for the magazine.
At the very top of the page is the phrase 'Halloween Special!!!' This is in a red italic font to again link in with the theme of halloween. The colour red is constantly linked with blood and danger and the italic font creates a chilling style of writing which joined together links in with the theme halloween; This style of writing is perfect for this phrase as it physically shows the theme of halloween. This phrase and it's design effectively shows the theme idea of the mgazine, making it easier for the audience to understand what the whole layout of the magaazine is based on.
The dominant image is an image of the priory at Guisbourgh. I took and minulpiated the image my self, changing the contrasting settings on the image darkining the main object of the image and brighting the background light so the image itself has contrasting colours inside the image and creating a sense of mystery surrounding the main object in the dominant image on the front cover. This surrounding mystery of the image creates a theme of mystery and directly grabs the audience attention as they would want to find out why the image has been displayed and minulapted like that. This image is the most important object on the front cover, because it shows clearly the theme of the magazine. It's also one of the main sales point for the magazine as the audience will want to know the story behind the Priory.
I chose a different option to display the name of my magazine. 'Prior' is placed at the left hand side of the front cover going downwards. I have used this effect for the originality, normally magazines place the name at the top of the magazine so it can be seen clearly for the target audience, however by placing the title of the magazine on the left hand side of the cover, the audience will Immediately want to read this magazine as its a fresh look upon the shelves.

On the opposite side of the magazine are the mini tasters showing the audience what is featured inside the magazine. The tasters are in a size 12 font so can be clearly read. The colour of the font is red again linknig in with the idea and theme of Halloween. I think this works effectively on my magazine as the font colour is very bright and stands out to the target audience. The taster are set out like a contents style, one after the other so the audience can read the tasters one after the other. This again works effectivly because the tasters are grouped together so its easier for the audience to look and read them. However, to make my tasters appeal more to my target audience, i would have added in images for the different tasters, again making them more appealing to the audience.
Below this is a quote used from one of the stories featured in the magazine, the quote is used as a hook line.
This quote is used in the same colour, red, to show that the quote is linked in with the theme of halloween.
The colour again, represents the point that the tasters and quote are both linked together, however the quote is in a different font, again showing the audience that the quote is taken from a different story, and therefore isn't entirely linked with the tasters. The quote is placed above the barcode at the bottom of the page,giving the quote a sense of orginality.

The barcode is placed at the bottom of the page, so the barcode isn't in the way, but is yet visble for the leagal requirments.
At the bottom of the left hand corner, theres the quote, 'prior's got talent!!!!'.This is in a bright yellow font so the phrase stands out to the audience. The bright yellow font shows that the phrase in't linked to any other of the magazine. The phrase is placed below the name of the magazine so the audience will directly see the phrase and so their eye contact will be immedatily drawn to the phrase. By placing the quote in another bright colour, the quote stands out and creates a sense of idenity visible to the reader. By the colour of the phrase, the audience can easily see that the phrase 'Prior's got talent' isn't linked to any of the other text displayed on the magazine and therefore creates a feeling of suspense. By only having the phrase kept to a minium, it creates a sense of mystery and suspense what with the reader wanting to find out more about this 'talent show'. I beleive that this phrase is one of the most successful selling points of my magazine. This phrase alone creates suspense and on its own could acterually be described as a buzz word and a hook line, hooking the reader into finding the details about the talent show.
In conculsion, i think that this cover is successfull as it catches the audience's eye, completes the aim and target set for the college magazine and shows a complete theme throughout the cover. The minlipuation of the dominant image on the front cover completes the front cover and brings the theme of the magazine together. The phrase 'Prior Got's talent' is a successful hook line, hooking the readers into finding out more about the details.
However, i beleive that this magazine front cover looks average. The front cover looks a bit bleak, because of there only being one image on the whole cover, the main background image. To add a bit of colour onto my front cover, i could have added more images in, linked to the mini tasters placed on my front cover. If the tasters had images linked to the tasters, then the tasters would have appealed more to the readers of my magazine

photography

For this image, i chose to use a straight angle to make the passage way look bigger then it already was. This image also contains Juxtaposition balance, where the archway of the 'X' is bigger then the passageaway. Again by using a stright angle, it captures and creates Juxtapostion and gives the image a new sense of meaning and possible ideas created by the audience.
What I like about this image is the light at the end. It could be like whatever the audience's imagination decides it should be.





For this particular image I have zoomed the camera in so only the contrasting colours of the flowers will be the only objects that would appearing in the image. I have tried to cut out any unneeded background so the attention can be focused on the contrasting colours of the flowers.
I have chosen to focus on this particular image because of how colourful and eye- catching the image appears to be. Stright way, this image can capture the audience's eye.
In one way this image has a frame. The frame is around the flowers, excluding anything else that would appear in the image. The frame has been added to, again, exclude any other background which not be necessary in the image.

Images

 This image is a great example of juxatapostion showing the contrasting size between the plants and the building. Because the buidling in the centre is the main attraction in this image, i have carefully selected a centre angle so the plants can give the building a great effect and show the building's size advantage.
The plants surrounding the building also gives the vibe of a nature/ coutnry feeling to it and with
the contrasts of the blue sky with faint clouds circling around the building and the green is eye catching for the audience and creates a day dreaming mood for the audience.


This image is the only image that has been manipulated to make the image stand out to a paticular audience. The lighting in this image has been made lighter to make the brighter colours of the bracelet's stand out, making the image more appealing.
The uneeded background has been cropped from the image, so the bracelets are the only object in the image, showing the audience that the bracelets are the only object's that they should be focusing on.The background colour has been darkned and the contrasting colours have been brightned so the bright

Q magazine Analysis

Q magazine is an alternative music magazine. It covers all types of music genres from Rap to pop to Rock.
On the cover of this month's magazine, Q shows the wide range of genres shown in the magazine. Lady GAGA representing pop, Jay Z represnting rap David Ghorl from foo fighters representing Rock. All three images are in a full shot, which means that the editor of the magazine wanted the images to stand out and grab the readers attention, making the three images the more important images and infomation on the front cover. The editor did this knowing that it's advertising to new readers who like those kinds of music, this creating a wider fan base for the magazine.
The image of lady GAGA has been layered over the Q logo, showing the readers that the dominating image of the three music stars are the most important information on that front cover.
The logo for the magazine and the name of the magazine are both the same. Q. The Q is in a white font text surrounded by a red box, making the white text contrast against the red and therfore making the Q eye-catching to passer-bys.
Below the logo Q, there are the headings for the three dominant images centered in the middle of the front cover. Once again, all text are surrounding the images and hardly any text have been layered on to the three images, once again giving the impression that the three images are the most important information on the magazine.
All three of the headings are in a orangey colour accompanied by small black text. The headings are made to stand out to the readers by having them in an orangey text and making them into a big size font. The reason for this is to show the readers who don't know yet, who the three images are so the reader doeesn't have to go flicking through the magazine to find out who they are.
Below the headings is the bar code. This is a legal requirment for all magaziness, to have the bar code on either the back of the magazine or mostly the front of the magazine. On the bar code are the other legal requirements that all magazines have to have on the magazine, date, issue number and price. These legal requirements are put in the corner so they can be easily found however they don't drag attention away from the main infomation placed on the cover.
Layered below the images is an orange banner with black text and white text in, The banner has a white cross with a black background attached on to it, i think this has been done to create an 3D effect for the banner, so the banner stands out from al lthe other big texts. Inside the organe banner, there is black and white text establishing who is being featured for this issue. The black text stands out more clearer then the white text does, this showing that the infomation placed in the black text is more important, or that the words in black are part of a sentence and therefore you have to read the whole banner in order to establish what is inside the banner. This is a clever straterdgy that magzine editors use to get the reader to read the whole banner instead of just snipets. Also the text in black are famous music stars, so the audience of the magazine would reconise them quickly and would want to read about them in the banner.
At the top of the cover, there is another black banner with white font and a semi circle cut into it. The black and white contrast against each other, making it easier to read the text and for the text to stand out ot the readers. The text in white is the slogan for this month's edition of Q. The orange semi circle contains the caption for the dominant images centered in the middle of the front cover.

writing symoblising royalty. This is showing that The Libertines are highly respectable in their genre of music. Another reason for the use of 'royalty font', could be irony. The Libertines are a rock band and most rock bands have public dramatic fall outs creating scandal and gossip among the music inudstry, the use of the heading could mean irony by stating that they do not stand together yet they stand against each other, this creating irony or sarcasm.
The sub heading being in a different font and above the actual heading could mean that the sub heading doesn't acturally have anything to do with the interview in the magazine and is used because its always linked with 'The Libertines'.
The heading is in white block writing making the heading stand out to the readers. Again this is another marketing technique used alonNME is a popular music magazine which features interviews from famous rock bands. The contents of the magzine includes gig context showing the readers which gigs are where, chart lists of favourite and popular singles and downloads forom the past week and interviews and letters from fans and readers who have complaints or fan mail which they would like to share with the magazine. The NME magazine is a conterversial music magazine and has a older audience, pressumably 14 years-30 years. I'd say this age because of the conterversial use of language used in some of the interviews i.e, 'Fucking' and 'Bitch' although this feature would appeal to them, however the actual content of the magazine would not appeal tothem. I'd say 14 year olds would be old enough to understand to understand the content of the magazine as they would have more of a chance of listening to the music displayed in the magazine.
Of course NME would appeal to older generations who still go to gigs and enjoy interviews from the rock bands normally featured in the magazine. NME covers a wide range of rock bands dating right back to the 80s and has interviews with the bands all the time.
The front cover of the magazine is very basic, yet it appeals to the target audience. In the top hand corner of the Magazine is the tittle of the of the magazine; NME. This establishes the idenity of the magazine. The colour of the name never changes so the readers can clearly idenitfy the magazine on the shelves of a convenice store. The colour of the name only changes for special editions with speccial guests or aniversarys. The size of the name of the magazine is a middle size, the name takes up the top left hand corner of the magazine, so the name isn't to big but yet is clearly visible to the readers. The contrasting colours of the white background and the red colour used on the font ,helps to make the name of the magazine to become more clearer.
Above the name of the magazine is the leagal requirments every magzine should have on their front cover; the date, number of issue and the price. This is situated above the NME so when the reader goes to see the name of the magazine they can immidatly look at the legal requirements.
The background of this cover is white, making the name stand out even more with the red and white contrasting against each other. The dominant image of 'The Libertines' takes up the whole front cover, again an advertsing technique used by the magazine. The target audience will see this image, read the headline and sub heading and will immidiatly want to buy this edition of the magazine. The dominant image of 'The Libertines' takes up the whole front cover of the magazine so its clear that this is the main marketing technique used on the front cover. The image cuts of part of the name of the magzine, but because of the colour of the name, contrasting against the whiote background the name is still visibly clear to the readers. Layered on top of the image are the headings for that photo, enticing the readers into reading/ buying that interview. The subheading is above the acterual heading . The sub heading in an italic font with gold g with the dominant image of 'The Libertines'. The writing is in block font so the readers can read the heading clearly and become hooked into buying/ reading the interview; if the font was in a posh ittalic text, then no one would be able to read it, there go no one would buy the magazine becuase they didn't know what the interview would be about.
At the bottom of the front cover are a string of images which come with their own headline. These images are showing the readers who else is being interviewd in this magazine this is, once again another selling point making the reader want to buy and read the magazine. The headline for the different images are in yellow font colour, this making the text stand out because it's so small so its easier to read and can also stand out on the front cover. The images are used to show who is being interviwed so the readers can reconise and will immidatly want to buy/ read the magazine.
At the top of the front cover is a slip covering the whole top of the front cover. This slip is an advertisment showing the readers what else is inside the magzine. The slip is advertsing interviews from Leeds festival 2010, this being a popular music festival has its own logo and colour scheme making the slip stand out to the readers, who have attended the music festival. Two main headings accompained with the logo of the music festival is based on the slip, however that's all it takes to make the slip stand out from the magzine. The yelow text goes with the colour scheme of the music festival and the white text contrasts with the black background used on the slip so it makes the text stand out.
Next to the name of the magzine is the buzz word 'FREE'. This will directly grab the attention of the readers and will want them to buy the magazine to gain their 'freebie'. The buzz word 'FREE' is advertising a free poster for every reader who buys the magazine. The buzz word is in medium text so it can be readable and also it doesn't take up to much space on the front cover. Once again the font colour is black so it contrasts against the white background. It could be said that because the infomation is less important than any of the other infomation, its in a black font, whereas all the other infomation is in a coloured font.
Below the name for the magazine is a rosette like figure showing the colours for leeds festival with guns n roses in the middle. By using these colours the readers can instinctivly know that the rosette like figure has something to do with leeds festival 2010. Also by using Guns N Roses in the middle of the rosette, the readers will be intrested about the interview with guns n roses and to see what they thought about the guns n roses set.
In conclusion, this magazine cover is appealing to its target audience, by using different codes and conventions to make the cover appealing. It uses different colours for certain types of texts, using different types of formations, i.e. layering images onto text. I think the reason why this cover of NME is so appealing to it's audience is because it keeps to the minimalstic look while still gicving enough infomation out to appeal to its target audience.