so , its now time for research into music magazines.
the reason i am doing this is mainly because i need to get a feel for music magazines , and the way they set there own magazines out. I need to know what techniques they use, and what designs. Do they use the same layout over and over again, or do they mix it up and use different ones for each magazine?
the first part of my research is all about front covers of the magazines, and i intend to find out everything about them. What fonts, colours, designs etc do they use?
my first example of a music magazine is this edition of NME.
This Front cover is for the magazine NME like mentioned earlier. The magazine itself covers a wide variety of music genres, including Indie, Alternative, Metal etc. The front cover is full of colour , something which attracts a potential buyer to the magazine. Another thing used on the front cover is large and colourful text, again something which makes the viewer read the text, which in turn could persuade them to buy it, but it certainly draws the viewer into the magazine. The trend for magazine front covers seems to be that the main part of the edition, in this example is it Oasis, take up the majority of space on the cover. This is so people know what they are buying, and are also attracted to buying it.
So from this example, we already no certain trends the magazine uses, but we don't know if these are used regularly, although i would guess they are. They are all tried and tested methods of attracting attention towards the product. But i will continue to look at magazines, and compare them, to see whether this is the case or not.
in order to continue my research and to whether music magazines on a whole use the same methods on there front covers , i am going to look at this front cover. The front cover of the magazine, which is Mojo, features the legendary band The Clash. Like the NME one, the front cover has used a very big band for the front cover( oasis for NME ) there is one and one reason only for doing this, it attracts buyers by catching your attention. If a potential buyer is walking past a shop, he is much more likely to buy a magazine with Liam Gallagher or Joe Strummer on the front than someone who is relatively unknown. There are obvious exceptions to this, but these are few and far between. Another thing both magazines have both used is the use of bright, bold and attractive colours. This again is for obvious reasons, if a magazine has bright and bold colours all over it, it is going to attract attention, which is then going to lead to a sale ( if the buyer wants to of course!) Both magazines have also used large fonts on the front cover. Another thing both magazines do is use the same theme if you like throughout the magazine. With this i mean, using the same fonts throughout the cover, and the same colours etc. In the Mojo magazine we see a stencil font being used, and we also see colours associated with Reggae music etc, like your reds and yellows. This has been used for the clash because of there links with reggae, and dub music which was so fondly used in there music.
so from looking at these two magazines we see that there are several methods used in both magazines, from different publishers. Things like Fonts, and colours are all used to attract attention, and appear to be used in the majority of magazines.
There are also things that we see in both magazines that are used in every magazine. Every magazine uses a logo on there front page, and in the majority these are one of the most prominent images on the cover. This is so people know what they are buying, and so the brand name they are creating sticks in there head for future reference. Other things which are common throughout magazines, and music magazines , in general are things like pictures on the front. For example, a picture of a band which are included in the magazine. Other things used are text , most commonly found at the bottom, which show the viewer what is inside the magazine , and what they can expect from the magazine. This isnt just restricted to the bottom of the page though, text is everywhere on the page, but is most often found at the bottom, top ,and sides of the cover. It will basically list what is in the magazine, whether it be certain bands, concerts etc. Also, another thing which is common place in music magazines, are text or images, showing that the magazine is offering a free cd or poster etc. If it is, they will almost certainly show this on the front cover, this is yet another thing for a potential buyer to be hooked in by.
