Analysis of two music magazine front covers

I have chosen to analyse Kerrang and NME, as although they are not entirely similar genres, they both have similar features. In making my magazine however, it will be more similar in music styles to NME, rather than the heavy music that is shown in Kerrang.

The NME target audience is people aged 15-44, but mainly people in their 20s who are either in university, office workers or professionals. They will mainly be in the A, B and C1 classifications. They will also mainly be males. They will have interests like going to festivals and playing games. They will mainly be individualists who would want to be different by listening to music, or succeeders, who are people who are succeeding and would have the disposable income to buy the magazine. The Kerrang target audience is much younger-it targets people of ages 14-24. It mainly appeals to teenagers. They will mainly be males, however the pink on the cover suggests that the magazine is not all male-orientated. They will mainly be in the E classification, as they will be students at college or university. Their interests will be things like going to gigs, and gothic fashion. They will mainly be individualists: people who are wanting to be different by listening to heavy music instead of chart music.

The titles of the magazines are very different. NME has been given this name as I think that it gives it a more grown up edge compared to the name Kerrang. Also, the name makes it sound this way because it has a name similar to a newspaper, as it is still seen as a music paper-New Musical Express. This kind of name would appeal to the target audience as it sets the magazine apart from other magazines, and makes it seem more serious than other music magazines. The name Kerrang, however, is aimed at a different audience. They have chosen this name as it does now really mean anything, and is not a real word, so it gives the magazine a more fun edge than the name NME does.

The NME front cover is limited in its use of colour for text, however, the picture shows a range of different colours. The red colour of the title of the magazine, NME, really makes it stand out against the photo beneath it. Also, the fact that it has been outlined in both white and black, helps to make it a focal point on the cover. Another text colour that really stands out on the page is the yellow font, which helps to highlight the main flash as an important piece of text on the cover, and also helps to suggest happiness, as yellow is a bright sunny colour. Also, the fact that the yellow colour is used at the top to advertise headliners at Glastonbury that year helps to highlight it against the background. Blue boxes are also used for the headings of the main sells, and special articles e.g. "Blur R.I.P". This helps to make them be seen clearly, so you know that those bands are important in the magazine. It also helps to highlight particular parts of the main sells, as the rest of the text in the main sells is white. The text colours fit with the colours in the main image, as they are all colours that go together, and also because the colours in the picture are relatively dark, this allows the font colours to stand out more. These type of text colours appeal to the magazine's target audience, as they will want text that is bright and fun, but still easy to read. The Kerrang cover also uses colour in a very strong way. It uses pink to highlight certain parts of the text, such as the main flash and the tagline-"life is loud". The pink helps to suggest that the magazine is maybe more orientated towards a uni-sex audience, rather than a mostly male audience. Other font colours that are used are yellow and white, which stand out against the background, which is relatively dark. The yellow in the article is used to highlight names of bands and key words, which makes them clearer to read on the cover. Black text is used for the cover, and this helps to suggest the nature of the music (loud heavy metal) and also makes the title stand out against the plain white background. The text colours fit with the background colour, as black is mainly used in the background, which helps to make them stand out. Also, some yellow is used in the background, which matches one of the text colours. The use of many different colours of the Kerrang front cover would appeal to its target audience, as it makes it more interesting and appealing.

The NME front cover uses about four fonts. Limiting the amount of fonts would appeal to the target audience as they would feel that it is not too overbearing and much easier to read. They use bold capital letters for things like the name of the magazine and the bands featuring in it. The main flash however, is all in lower case but it has been made bolder and is much bigger than any of the other information on the page. The fact that some of the writing in this is slightly tipped over and not straight on the page makes the article look more interesting. The other main sells use lower case for the information about them, and have not been made bold. This is maybe because the names of the bands mentioned in the head of the main sells are enough to tempt someone to read it, without having to look what it is about. Un-bold capitals are used for the caption underneath the title of the magazine, and that is because it is of little importance to the reader as most readers will know what the magazine stands for anyway. The use of different fonts and font styles would appeal to the target audience of this magazine, as they could find the important and interesting information on the cover quickly, and not have to focus on un-important information as well. The Kerrang cover uses a very limited amount of fonts: about three. Most of the information on the cover is all in one font, which is a bold font in capitals. However, some parts of text are made bolder than others, to highlight particular words and phrases, for example "icons" is made the boldest on the page. A smaller font is used for the names of more of the bands that will be appearing in the issue, but this writing is still very bold on the page. A different font is used for the caption of the magazine, and this is a very haphazard font. This helps to suggest the type of chaotic music that is in the magazine. Overall, the text on the Kerrang cover would appeal to its target audience as they would be able to find band names and important pieces of information on the cover quickly.

Both magazines have used language in a very simple way. In the NME cover, they have used quite informal, simple language, which is easy for the reader to understand. e.g. "silly". However, they also use quite specialist language which some people would not understand e.g. "ukulele". This is a music instrument that a lot of people may not have heard of. This kind of language would appeal to the target audience as they would like the language to be informal as it makes the magazine more welcoming. Also, the musical language would appeal to them as it helps to enforce that NME is a specialist music magazine, and is not all about ordinary chart music. Similarly the Kerrang cover has used very simple language, which is informal. It has also used a lot of informal punctuation like exclamation marks, to emphasise points e.g. "live chaos!". The Kerrang magazine also uses numbers to simplify the writing. The target audience of Kerrang would like the magazine to use this simple, informal language as again it makes the magazine seem more friendly, and is also easy to read and find out information quickly.

Images are very important on the covers of magazines. On the NME cover, images are used to show photos of bands, for example the band in the main flash, The Wombats. The Wombats are mainly a UK band, so therefore the magazine is not appealing to people internationally. They have chosen to have The Wombats on the front cover as they are not big international stars, which helps to suggest that the magazine is all about the indie music scene, rather than the mainstream. Also, the fact that the images on the cover are all of males helps to suggest that the magazine is targeted at a male audience. The clothes that the bands and artists are wearing are important, as they help to show a style for the readers of the magazine, and suggest what kinds of fashions are around for more individual people. The bright, old fashioned shirts and girls jewellery help to make the cover look a lot brighter. The people in the image look like they are having fun and just posing: one of the band is jumping in the air, the other is pulling his hair so it sticks up, and the other is doing a mock shocked face. None of the people in the image are smiling, which helps to suggest that the band being featured are cool, and also that the magazine is a high class music magazine. The images on the cover would appeal to the target audience as they help to show them a bit more about the bands and indie style. The Kerrange cover uses many images. None of these images are bright: they are either in very muted colours or black and white. This helps to show the dark aspect of the metal genre. They show the different artists featured on the cover. The main image is of Billie-Joe Armstrong, and he has been posed in a very moody fashion. This helps to suggest the type of music that will be featured in the magazine-moody rock music. The fact that he is from Greenday, a huge international band, helps to suggest that the magazine has an international audience. They have chosen to have him as the main image as he would help to attract more readers. By the make-up and the clothes that they are wearing, the reader can learn a bit more about the band/artist's personality, and also learn more about fashions for people who like a more heavy metal genre. Overall, this would appeal to readers of Kerrang, as they are used to seeing metal artists dressed like this, and would find them useful in seeing change in a band or current fashions for the particular genre.

The NME magazine has a fairly standard layout. It has the photo of the band in the main flash taking up the whole of the cover, with a banner about other artists featured both at the top and bottom of the cover. The main flash is placed in the centre of the cover, and this makes it easy to see. The main flash is about a particular band, The Wombats, and contains an interview with them. The main sells are on both the right and left hand side of the cover. The main sells of the article are about individual bands: Muse, The Cribs, Blur and Panic At The Disco. These kind of main sells and the main flash would appeal to the target audience as they will be reading the magazine because of the interviews, to get a more personal look at different bands. The title is in the top right hand corner, however, as the font is so bold on it it still stands out on the page. Other information presented is things like the barcode, price, date and issue, and these are placed in the bottom right hand corner, as they expect regular readers of the magazine to know things like the price without them having to look too hard. Overall, this layout would appeal to the target audience as it is easy and simple to read, which would help when trying to find out information about a certain article. The Kerrang cover has a slightly different layout. There is a banner both at the top and bottom of the cover displaying important information about bands etc. The main photo on the cover is placed over the title, which is at the top of the cover, as the magazine is so well know you do not need to see all of it. The main photo takes up most of the page, however there are many photos on the right and left hand side of the cover that overlap it. The main flash is placed at the centre of the cover, which draws attention to it straight away. It is a list of rock icons. The main sells are placed to the side of this, with the photos of other artists. These are about individual artists or bands, and are generally interviews with them. Overall, this kind of layout would appeal to the target audience of Kerrang, as it is very chaotic, and suggests the chaotic music inside the magazine.