As a starter to my music magazine production, I’ve looked at a few realistic music magazine covers myself to get inspiration in helping me towards the final piece. To begin with, I’ve taken the most relevant magazine that I can think of whose target audience would probably fit well with mine, which is ‘Kerrang!’ Firstly, the content which stands out the most on this specific article cover is the main sell-line; ‘LINKIN PARK’, which is the cover artist’s band. The text used is simple yet very professional, because, for all of the masthead and subheadings below and above, the creators have used the same text and around the same sizes too. The colours are bold, yet aren’t too vibrant, therefore I think that this ties in well with the style that Kerrang aim to give across to their audience. This is because the theme of the magazine is quite masculine, however numerous amounts of teenage girls for example, will want to buy this as well, so in a way it appeals very well to both genders.
In relevance to the importance of both genders, the cover model looks appealing to both men and women. Firstly, this is appealing to the masculine type because of his look; he looks very strong and someone who aims to be the best they can in their industry. His pose is somewhat invitational; he seems ready to leap out of the magazine at the reader, which also could give off a rather manly aura about him as it symbolises stamina and confidence. On the other hand, it could be very appealing to the female gender because the cover model has his shirt off, capturing a somewhat invitational and sexual pose, which exposes him in a confident manner.
Dotted randomly around the sides are smaller features in the magazine, including posters and interviews from bands. Although there is seemingly a lot of aspects featured on this specific cover, the whole look is still very appealing as they are individually spaced out, and arranged in a tidy manner, with contrasting borders and headlines to complement the overall theme. In addition to these headings, relevant images from the artists are included with each one, bringing them altogether on a whole.
Lastly, for the magazine cover, the background of the cover model has been taken away and replaced with a faded lighting effect, which gradually gets bolder as it gets nearer the middle, something which I find would be very appealing for my magazine cover, as it was also an effect I used for my preliminary task piece. This background makes the masthead appear more contrasting, and readers’ are easily able to spot what it says even though the model is standing in front of it.
Moving on to the contents page of a Kerrang magazine, there are always several images neatly spaced out on the page, usually over five or so images are used from different artists. Whenever I read an issue of this magazine, I am fondly drawn to the contents page as its text companies the images well, and they all have page numbers as well as a few lines written about what to expect from their feature, along with the colours staying consistent with each one.
Also, the contents page title has the same colour scheme as the page numbers and the smaller sub-lines in the contents overview, creating a look of professionalism complementing the magazine and at the same time, making it easier and very suitable for the reader as there aren’t tonnes of colours popping out at them wherever they set their eyes first.
The colour palette could have been extremely dull; yet adding the hit of a bold yellow makes the theme come together perfectly, and adds life in a way to the blacks, greys and whites used on this page. With this in mind, the images also each have their own thin black border, making them stand out by themselves, and in a way, not emerging into one with the white background. Two thin black lines have also been added to section the images as well as the contents overview, so they don’t look squashed together and have a professional appeal.
Overall, I find that Kerrang would be a good magazine to be inspired by; in every issue I’ve read by them, their theme and styles of language as well as colours for example, have always been suitable for their target audience, and have always had a true touch of effort and professionalism put into them, therefore it could be a really good idea to use these as a helpful start when designing my music magazine contents page.
The double page spreads of Kerrang usually are very exciting to read as they deliver the right use of important aspects in a contrasting manner. This specific spread appealed to me a lot, all down to the overall simplicity. Firstly, the reader will be drawn to the text, “ABSOLUTELY!” as this is the biggest and most eye-catching aspect of the two pages. This text makes you subliminally question what is being talked of; even if you weren’t that struck on the band or artist, it would still draw your attention in further because of the simple colour and text font, which is extremely basic. Bearing in mind of its simplicity, the harsh black background behind that text makes it aim at you directly.
Another thing that really stood out for me was, in addition to colour, the one statement colour; a dark fuchsia, which gave the pages an overall defiant contrast. Another aspect which I found very clever was the cover model and the way that he fit into the background through the editing of his skin colour down a little with contrast so it seemed as well as his shirt being the same colours as mostly everything else. Although this may seem like he doesn’t stand out from the text as well as the background, I think the way he has posed for the shoot has had a very beneficial impact on catching attention. Another feature which I found very appealing was the fact that he takes up one page for himself, and even though he seems laid-back (as he isn’t even looking directly at the camera) this could make him more appealing as a person. It could also help the person to read what’s actually going on, instead of being distracted by his pose that could have been too dominating or masculine for the theme chosen.
The outline of the background creates a contrasting look and brings it all together in my opinion. They could be several camera flashes or even mirror lights, but whatever they symbolise it gives the model a sense of stardom in the industry, and in a way, a sense of importance; he seems to be a well-known person of his genre of music. Lastly, these lights complement the white backgrounds used for the subheadings of each stage in the interview. Subliminally again, it ties in the whole spread, giving it a professional outlook which makes the reader want to find out more on the feature.
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