Analysing music

magazines

Cover of NMEColour Scheme:The colour that is used on the front cover of NME is light blue, black, red and skin colour. The pale blue makes a great contrast to the red haired model. His pale face is also emphasizing the contrast between his red hair and black clothes. The light glowing from his face is eye catching and is the first thing we notice when we look at the cover. His red hair drags our attention and the editing and colours is adapted with reference to the photo. His dark clothes are appealing to boys and how to style themselves.

PhotographyThe photography is set in a studio and is taken straightforward and is a close-up of his face. It is a striking photo posed with an intense look. The cover has a combination between being bright and dark, but the shadow around his eyes makes the cover a bit frightening and fierce. The way he is posing makes his eyes look up and his eyes point straight at the viewer. This is creating a presence.

Writing styleOn the front cover of NME you will find names, quotes and informing text. A good example of showing which age group the magazine is targeting is a quote from “My Chemical Romance”. They are saying, -“ We loathe what Goth has become”. The Goth subculture is a rather new culture and is usually seen amongst teens and young adults. The expression Goth might be unfamiliar within older groups. Other writing that is mentioned on the cover is names of artists and bands. All of the musicians are trendy and popular seen from a teenager point of view. Taking this into consideration I think this magazine is trying to target men between 17-30 years, who are interested in these types of music genres Punk, indie, R&B, Goth and Rock. But it will also apply to teenage girls who are very interested in these types of music.

Text/picture ratioOn the front cover the picture is taking more space than the text. This is most likely done to attract attention to the magazine. Text is not as eye catching as a glowing picture.

FontsNME’s front cover has used a lot of white and black fonts. It is most likely used this way because of the background colours. Both white and black stands out on this front page because it is either black on light blue or white on red and black. This makes it easy to read and spot.

Content of NME

Colour schemeThe background of the content is white and that is carrying on trough the rest of the magazine. The white helps the magazine not looking messy and it makes it easier for the pictures to stand out. They have also used black on the fonts, which is easy to spot on a white background.

PhotographyLooking at the content you will find seven photos and one advert. They are taken both live and in studio. All the pictures have some blue in it, which indicates that it is more of a men magazine. It is used different camera angels on the different shots. Some are mid-shots, one high angel and one close-up. The pictures are usually of the artists or the bands. This makes it simple and effortless for the viewers to recognise. The clothes or costumes they are wearing are there to highlight their image they would like to promote.

Writing styleIn the content it is used quotations on each artist or band. This might have been used because the readers find it interesting to read what their favourite bands are saying, but it is also a good indicator to tell us what the article is about. Again, it is observable that the magazine has chosen to use up-to-the-minute words. Expressions as ravers and hipsters are modern words and would normally not been seen in magazines for elderly people, or to refer to an example from the same age group, a classic magazine.

Text and picture ratio It is notable that it is a difference between the content and the cover of the magazine. On the front cover they have focused on one picture while the content has used seven pictures. The contents main goal is to give an overview of what you will find inside the magazine whereas a cover wants to attract attention.The amount of text is also different. It consists more text then on a front cover, but not as much as an article. The page is informing where to find various texts about the bands and artists, and also the date of the magazine.

FontsThey have used a variety of fonts, which quite fits the magazine in terms of what kind of magazine they are. NME is promoting music genres such as rock, punk and R&B, which are fairly rough and messy styles. On the other hand, the magazine is very clear and easy readable which might tell us that they are not as disorganized as they promote.

Double-page of NME

Colour schemeThe colour scheme that is used at most of the pictures on this double-page is relatively dark. On the other hand we also have a bright side where we find the text. Putting together bright and dark colours makes a good contrast and structure. Dark colours are characteristic for rock magazines and this is shown through this double-page. The colours that are chosen are appealing to the people reading the magazine because many are often dressed in the same colours.

Photography The double-page contains seven pictures. Some is of the artists and some of the audience. A combination shows that both are important. Without the audience the band could not exist and in favour they are creating music. The main picture is a live photo and is also containing an electric guitar, which is usual to be used by popular music and rock music. That means that the guitar can give the readers a clue of what kind of magazine they are reading. They have chosen to use different colours on the photos this makes the double-page enjoyable to watch and attracts attention. It is used a low angle shot on the singer who covers half of the double-page. This is making him strong and confident on stage. My thought about why they chose to use half a page on a live photo of a singer is that this is immediately creating attention towards him and makes people start reading. When the magazine has created this, the readers now have time to look at the rest of the pictures.

Writing style The text written in this article is informing. Although it is informing it is not written formal. There are loads of up to date words used in the text. This has been done so that the readers can relate themselves to what they read. The writers have also chosen to use quotes, which gives the fans unpublished information that can be of interest.

FontsThere is used a headline on the left side of the double-page. The header is not very sensational which is most likely done because the creators of the magazine do not want to drag the attention away from the singer, but still give the readers a clue of what the article is about.

Cover of Rock Sound

Colour scheme The cover of Rock Sound has in this edition used quite dark and gloomy colours. The background colour is black with some traces of red. The boy’s white and bright clothes make a good contrast to the dark background. The same applies for the headline; the white headline is eye catching which is vital.

It is rather fascinating how they have chosen to use the colours on the other fonts. Several fonts are white, but also on a white background. This makes them more difficult to read, which might tell us that this is not as important as the name of the magazine. Although they use fonts on white background they still work very good. The text is fairly brighter than the boy’s t-shirts, which without really think about it, makes them stand out.

PhotographyRock or alternative magazines usually like to have photos of live events. This is not done on this cover. Although, they still have the style of an alternative rock magazineThe photography is covering the whole band. One of the members is put in front of the rest and he is also covering some of the headline. This can tell us that this magazine is a famous magazine and people will recognise it even when some essential information is covered. His tattoos on his chest might be what have decided what colour scheme the magazine should use. As we see the colours on his chest is also the colour decorating the cover. The picture is posed and is set in a studio. No one is smiling which makes the photo rather serious. It creates sort of a tension and the colours emphasize this. Some of the reasons why they have dressed up the artists the way they have done might be because readers find it easy to relate.

Writing styleThe headline of the magazine can tell us a lot about the audience. Since the name of the magazine is Rock Sound it is reason to believe that the readers are interested in music such as rock, gothic, indie and punk. When it comes to the rest of the writing on the cover it is used most names of the bands and albums. You can also come across some short sentences one telling about a tour. The reason why they have used short and not long sentences is to make it easy readable. This also applies for the names and other short words. The cover is giving a quick overview of what is in it.

Fonts Rock Sound has chosen to use red, light blue and yellow as their fonts. As we can see, the red text is the same colour as the bands marks on their t-shirts and the red on the background. The light blue is slightly the same colour as the ends of the t-shirts. Combined this makes a complete feeling that it is well chosen colours and that all of the colours work together. The yellow colour is used as the colour of advertising. Using positive words as exclusive” and “Win!”. Those words makes the product they are selling even better and more attractive.

Content of Rock SoundColour scheme Rock Sound is continuing to use dark and red colours on their content. This is creating a systematic order of what colours that should be used for the magazine. Many people listening to rock, gothic and punk wear dark clothes so the colours might appeal more to them if the magazine uses the same colours. The tattoos on the artist’s arm is essential when it comes to this colour scheme, because he have the same colours on his arm as on the content.

PhotographyIt is not the same amount of pictures on the cover of Rock Sound as on NME. A main difference is that Rock Sound have chosen to use a live photo of an artist. This is very characteristic for a rock magazine because many of the readers prefer to see their artist live. The camera shot is taken from a low angel, which in this case makes him dominant, and in one way confident. The remaining pictures are mid-shots, smaller and not live. This is most likely done to emphasize the attention around the singer.

Writing styleThe content is presenting a short sentence on each of the main features. This is to tell the readers what to expect. The way of writing is not very formal, but it does inform the readers. Looking at the words, Rock Sound is using a large extent of similar words as NME. It would be fair to think that NME and Rock Sound are targeting the same age group of readers.

FontsThe fonts at the content are not as outstanding as at the front cover. The reason for this choice is most likely done because the magazine has already convinced the readers to read the magazine and is not as dependent on catching their eyes anymore. Still they have focused on making the fonts at the content organized and easy readable. The white text is unproblematic to spot on the black background. The red numbers have another colour than the text, this makes is simple to find the pages quickly.

Double-page of Rock Sound

Colour scheme On this double-page it is possible to see many similarities with the front cover of the magazine. An explanation for this is that it is the same band posing, therefore the creators has chosen to use the same colours to create a structure. Red and black is the main colours following by his white t-shirt. The dark shadows around his face makes his expression more clear, but they have also used light to emphasize this. His white t-shirt stands out surrounded by all the dark colours. This is eye catching and attracts our attention towards the double-page. The paragon on the page is also used on the front cover so we can almost immediately connect them to each other.

PhotographyThey have not used a photo of the whole band on this particular double-page. The reason for this choice is that it is not necessary because the article is continuing on the next eight pages. The picture is of Oli Sykes the vocalist of the band. Readers will put him in coherence with the band. That is why it might be a clever choice to put him at the double-page and not one of the other from the band. The photo takes half a page and is a striking photo and easy to see.

Writing styleIt is a notable difference in the way of writing between this double-page and NME’s way of writing. The article does not contain the same amount of up to date words as NME, but it is still very modern and adapted for their audience. The text is slightly more informing than the other double-page. It tells more about the story of the band and is not describing one live performance as NME. This is requiring a different style of writing and other types of words.

FontsSince it is the beginning of the article they have chosen to use a headline. “Bring me the horizon into the future”. The first part is the name of the band and the other part is whether the band will be able to continue into the future. The white font is easy readable and eye catching on the black background, but is not taken away the attention from the picture.

Cover of QColour schemeYou can find many similarities on the front cover of Q compared to the two other magazines. It uses red, most likely to attract attention. A reason to state this is because red is the only real colour seen on the front cover. If not red; black, gold or white is used. Although Q uses a lot of the same colours as Rock Sound it is still not as dark and gloomy. It is a quite bright cover, more like NME. The background is grey and this makes a great contrast to the artist’s dark hair, costume and sunglasses. Also the artists you can see in his sunglasses wear dark clothes, except from one, which creates a sort of tension and the audience will have to use more time studying it.

PhotographyOn the front cover of Q it is used a mid-shot of an artist, which is also the main part of the picture. Looking at his sunglasses you will also see the rest of his band. One reason for making this choice might be because they then have a whole page to focus on one person, but it also drags attention towards the people standing in his sunglasses. Putting three of the artists somewhere else makes it also less untidy.

Writing style As the other magazines Q presents a lot of artists and bands on their cover and gives a clear overview of what is in it. Some typing is bigger than other, because this might be what they have been focusing on in this magazine. This size difference also draws attention towards it. Q’s masthead is very easy to spot and it is also very simple. They have used a red background behind the Q, which makes the white writing extremely easy to see. Regarding the style of writing they use a lot of modern words. That means words mostly people between 15-30 would use. Like “kick off”, “tit” “booze, fags &...muffins”. This can tell us a lot about the audience. It is most likely people between 15-30. Considering the type of words it is probably people who likes listening to Rock and Roll and popular music in general. presenting artists. This might have been done to make it easy divide them from each other.

Content of QColour Scheme The colours that was mentioned before is still the colours being used at the content page except from gold. This shows that it is a well-chosen pattern in how they want to present their magazine. Again they use red as the background where both the name of the magazine is and also “contents” in black. As mentioned earlier Q used a grey background on their front cover. This is again used on the contents page, which fits very nicely in proportion to the front cover.

Photography At the contents they continue using the same style of photos as on the front cover. The one who is posing is the same artist posing at the front cover. It is a very special picture because his body does not completely fit with his head. This makes us audience curious and wants another look at it. The other picture is off a live event and is also black and white. Making it black and white gives a nice overall look.

Writing style Similar to Rock Sound and NME; Q have a headline and underneath explains a little about what is in the article or other content. The writing style is quite rough. An example is from one of the explanations, which write: “Dwarves-bearing-cocaine story”. Drugs is something that is usually more familiar in young peoples life than older people, although not always! Drugs are famous within Rock and Roll, which is something of what this magazine presents.

Fonts It is used very simple writing similar to the other magazines. This is done, as mentioned before, to make it easy to read. They have used some different fonts, but not to many. This makes it look not untidy as the front cover. It is also used different sizes on the fonts to outline what is the most important to notice. Q has chosen to use side numbers on their contents, which is not something you have to do.

Double-page of Q

Colour schemeAs all the other pages that have been analysed in Q, this double-page uses the same colour scheme except from gold and for the same reasons as mentioned.

Photography This photography is a posed photo, but trying to be natural. It is used a grey background, which makes her stand out. Her black jumper gives a contrast to rest of the photo a long with her black eyelashes. She is smoking, which might tell something about her as a person. What you chose to get out of it depends who is looking. She might be a relaxed person and everything is going well or on the other hand she might be stressed out. To analyse the picture could be Q’s intention because this makes you look more carefully and trying to understand. Otherwise is the light on her face and her hand, which makes it easy to see her expression on her face.

Writing styleMany of the words used in the article are similar to what has been used before in Q. Words like “grizzled rock icon” and “alt-rock-man-of-the-moment” is typical words seen in this article. This tell us that we are looking at a young audience, which is correct considering how the magazine have presented it self on the cover and content as well.

FontsQ has used a very simple font for the article. This is very important because the typing is small, which makes it more difficult to read, but even more difficult if they used an untidy font. Also the column next to the article got an easy font. The only font that is a little bit different from the others is the font used on “girl”. It is still very easy to read, but might be different because it is the biggest font and drags attention since it is unlike the others.