Analysis of NME front cover
Analysis of NME front cover and double page spread
Layout-
When looking at the front cover of NME there is one picture that stands out this is a picture of lily Allen. The picture is a medium close up and an eye line match it grabs our attention because it gives the effect she’s looking at us. The picture is central and her head is slightly tilted to the side. The front page has articles scattered around the page and this makes the page cluttered. And as NME features mainly indie music this fits in with the indie style. The layout of the double page spread is still cluttered but it had order over it. It has a big title which draws people in to read it “people think I’m an attention seeker, but I’m just honest” underneath is the blurb and them underneath that is the article. The article looks like it’s a long read this could put people off reading it but because they use the next page to have a big picture of lily Allen it attracts people to read. At the top of the right hand page it reads “lily Allen” and at the bottom of each page next to the page number reads the date of the issue. The layout is simple and complex it draws people in and catches the reader’s attention.
Colour-
The colours are the same in each issue yellow, red, black and white. The only other colours you can see are in the pictures on the front e.g. the gold chained necklace wrapped around lily Allen’s neck. The colours used are block, bold and aggressive this makes the atmosphere of the magazine and sets the dark, mysterious tone. The yellow used is very bright and vibrant this adds the likeability to the magazine. The colours are typically associated with boys but with lily Allen on the front I think this makes the magazine much more feminine. The double page spread uses the same colours as the front cover minus the yellow. It uses a white background with black writing and like on the front cover it uses the anchorage text which is white on little blocks with are black. It highlights the names of one the writer and two lily Allen in red. Lily Allen is wearing the same clothes which she did on the front cover and so again the only other colour used is the gold from her necklace and the unnoticeable colour of blue on her shirt.
Text-
The font is all the same apart from two sentences, the anchorage text and the blurb. The text is bold, simple; mainly in capitals and different sizes this is to get more stories on it and to make the bigger/better stories catch people’s eye. The anchorage text is the biggest on the page; it is white text but on a black block background and really eye catching. The font is the same as the front cover just bigger. The blurb is then smaller and the actual article has a smaller font. Next to the page number and symbol where is says the date of the issuer the font is different and italic.
Logo/header-
The logo is NME in is always the same it uses the same colours and is always in the same place on each issue. It’s red with a white outline and with black behind it. The logo is used at the bottom of the pages. It’s really small and almost unnoticeable. I think it’s really clever to place it there because it always reminds you what you’re reading and therefore it will stay in your head.
Cover texture-
The cover texture has a glossy/matt finish. It’s not shiny but it does have a certain glossy look about it. The texture of the double page is different to the front cover it’s dry, thin and feels as if it’s very easy to rip.
Image-
The image on the front is a picture of lily Allen a famous singer/song writer. We can’t see where she is because of the white background. Lily Allen is on the front because she’s promoting her new song. The image on the double page spread is lily Allen in more of a relaxed pose but still looking aggressive. She has her hands on her hips promoting an angry/annoyed attitude. But it fits in with the article and text next to it. The image is blown up to fill the whole page this makes lily Allen look dominating and superior.
Photography-
The picture is a medium close up and an eye line match. This is important because it gives the attitude of the magazine and the attitude of lily Allen. The photograph is a mid shot; you can tell lily Allen it bend forward with also shows she’s superior to the audience. On the double page spread they show her in a slightly more friendly way. Giving the picture the whole page.
Representation-
The representation is indie. Teenagers and young people both sexes but mainly boys and any ethnicity. The representation of the double page spread shows more nice and joking lily Allen.
Gesture codes-
The gesture codes are very dominating, angry and aggressive. The front cover has three pictures. The main featured picture set the tone of angry which sets the tone for the whole magazine. The much smaller pictures are still aggressive with them both staring up looking startled.
Symbol-
There are no symbols on the front cover. The front is very much big shapes like circles and squares. I don’t think that this magazine needs any symbols because symbols don’t match with the magazine.
Information-
The front cover gives a lot of information but it mainly mentions names and bands, this so the target audience will buy the magazine when they see all these bands they like. They put two well known musicians with there stories on the front also is also to get most out of audience sales. The main feature is of lily Allen and next to her picture it says “lily Allen takes on the world” next to it reads “I can’t keep living like this” this is to make the reader get dragged in a wanting to read more. The two sentences both fit in really well with the picture and the magazine atmosphere this is to hit the target audience.
Mode of address-
The language used on the front is simple e.g. “in-the-studio-special”. The reader is being addressed up front and in an aggressive manner you can tell this from the picture. Although in the double page spread it is a slightly friendlier mode of address because then the picture fits in with the article.
Overall I think NME magazine is a good music magazine. I like to read it and think that I will use this magazine as inspiration when I design my own. But I will be careful not to copy it and will add a lot of my own ideas to the magazine.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)
Analysis of my music magazine front cover, contents and double page spread
Analysis of my media front cover, contents and
Double page spread
For my media coursework I had been given the task of producing audience research, writing a product brief, making an audience profile all for a music magazine idea and then designing a music magazine, contents page and double page spread. First I decided on the genre of music I would choose, I choose indie/rock/alternative. This is because I knew most about this genre. I asked 10 teenagers my questionnaire and I found out what there favourite colours were, what they watched on TV. Etc. So I had these answers in mind when I designed my magazine. I tried to get audience input to my magazine design by asking questions about magazine names and colours. With these answers in mind I tried to use them. I had to then carry out such tasks as taking photographs for the images. I choose to take a medium close up because with this shot I could direct my image at the audience. I thought of smaller details too, like I made my model wear clothes that would fit in with the style of the magazine and I choose a background that would give off the same effect I wanted my front cover too.
I choose the colours that I thought would appeal to my target audience and fit in with the style of magazine. I choose yellow, white and black for my front cover even though no one picked yellow as there favourite colour. I did this because I thought the colours worked well together. I used yellow because it was bright and when I asked what colours would you most like to see in magazine Fluorescent colours came out top. I used various different fonts to grab attention and make my front cover interesting. The gesture codes of my magazine were dominate. Even though I had a girl on the front, with the pose she was holding you could see she had attitude like my magazine front cover and like my target audience have. I gave her a hoodie to wear seeing as these are stereotyped with teenagers. I made her put the hood up to show rebel like ways and I choose the background to be quite dull to make her stand out. I choose different colours for the double page spread to make it easy to read for my audience and for the colours to fit in with the type of article I was writing.
I held a lot of information on my front cover to create the messy effect and to make it as eye catching as possible. I used different band names a lot too to interest my audience. I used language that a lot of teenagers use, using words such as “hot”. I used anchorage text which fixed the meaning of the image and told the audience about the double page spread. I used buzz words like “special” and “free” to try and sell the magazine.
I called my magazine XO this is because it is short and snappy. I thought of five magazine titles and then gave my questionnaire audience to choice with the winner being “hype” when I thought about this I thought that XO would be more suitable for the magazine type and seeing as there was only one vote in it I decided to change it. I think this choice was wise because if I was to change to title I would have to change the target audience and music featured.
Originally I designed a front cover and contents page by hand, I was happy with this layout but when it came to it I decided to change my actual layout to make it more interesting and more appealing to my target audience
So I decided to have the layout of my front cover and contents to be cluttered and fairly messy, this is because the people who would read my magazine (my audience profile) are much more likely to be interested and find it appealing. I decided to have my image slightly tilted to one side, this is because I still wanted the photo background to be on the front. So I tried it tilted and liked the impression it was giving off – which is “not perfect” and rebel like. My double page spread is quite different to the front cover this is because I choose to change the colours to fit in with the interview. I choose to write an interview using the pop star “Immy Brown” I decided to make her rebel like but also a good role model this is because when I read NME with lily Allan this is the impression I got. Also I didn’t think any celebrity would come into an interview and reveal all.
My media product represents particular social groups; I suppose you could categorize my product into the stereotypical stubborn teenager, indie scene group although I think my magazine is just for anyone with an interest in the bands I have published. I think the type of media institution that would publish my magazine would be the shops like WHsmith’s where it would sell and be alongside other magazines like itself, they would be competition but also have a very similar audience. If I tried to sell it in a small village corner shop no one would buy it but if say I sold it in a small village corner shop in Camden it would sell. I would also sell it in supermarkets where a lot of teenagers work and go shopping to buy it. I would also allow smaller shops to order in for a subscription basis. My magazine would be on the general sales line. I would put it on this line because this way I would make more money and create a bigger audience even though if I sold it on a subscription only basis my audience would be more loyal I think the general sales way would be better the my magazine, considering it will feature so many bands. One week an audience member may love the bands featured and the next not really be fussed, this would be because the Indie/alternative/rock genre I choose features a wide range of very different bands and my target audience of teenagers don’t always have money to buy magazines when it is such a hard financial time. I addressed my audience with a typical teenage attitude “moody” and I used a mid shot to make it look as if my model was staring straight at the audience, to grab their attention.
I did some research into magazine publishers and found quite a few. One that took my interest was IPC media. They publish a lot of magazines including style, woman’s own and a lot more top selling magazines. I think this would be good publisher company to go with because they have a lot of experience and after conducting research I think they would be willing to have a look at it.
I have learnt a lot about technology while making my product like how to use Photoshop. Before I didn’t really understand where or what everything was but after practicing with my magazine I feel confident in using it. I also feel more confident using a camera for practical shots. After doing a lot of test shots I can now take photographs in various different shots making sure I think about the shot and the effect I want to achieve. I have also learnt about writing articles I tried to keep my article interesting for the target audience being nosey as the interviewer and asking questions I myself would want to know. I have also improved in my designing skills, if you look back at my prelimary task you can see it is very plain compared to my music magazine. I feel as if I have learnt a lot from this task and am very pleased with my overall product, although if I was to do it again I would improve my skills on Photoshop before starting just so I know exactly what I wanted to create.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)Analysis of my media front cover etc.
Analysis of my media front cover, contents and
Double page spread
For my media coursework I had been given the task of producing audience research, writing a product brief, making an audience profile all for a music magazine idea and then designing a music magazine, contents page and double page spread. First I decided on the genre of music I would choose, I choose indie/rock/alternative. This is because I knew most about this genre. I asked 10 teenagers my questionnaire and I found out what there favourite colours were, what they watched on TV. Etc. So I had these answers in mind when I designed my magazine. I tried to get audience input to my magazine design by asking questions about magazine names and colours. With these answers in mind I tried to use them. I had to then carry out such tasks as taking photographs for the images. I choose to take a medium close up because with this shot I could direct my image at the audience. I thought of smaller details too, like I made my model wear clothes that would fit in with the style of the magazine and I choose a background that would give off the same effect I wanted my front cover too.
I choose the colours that I thought would appeal to my target audience and fit in with the style of magazine. I choose yellow, white and black for my front cover even though no one picked yellow as there favourite colour. I did this because I thought the colours worked well together. I used yellow because it was bright and when I asked what colours would you most like to see in magazine Fluorescent colours came out top. I used various different fonts to grab attention and make my front cover interesting. The gesture codes of my magazine were dominate. Even though I had a girl on the front, with the pose she was holding you could see she had attitude like my magazine front cover and like my target audience have. I held a lot of information on my front cover to create the messy effect and to make it as eye catching as possible. I used different band names a lot too to interest my audience. I used language that a lot of teenagers use, using words such as “hot”. I used anchorage text which fixed the meaning of the image and told the audience about the double page spread. I used buzz words like “special” and “free” to try and sell the magazine.
I called my magazine XO this is because it is short and snappy. I thought of five magazine titles and then gave my questionnaire audience to choice with the winner being “hype” when I thought about this I thought that XO would be more suitable for the magazine type and seeing as there was only one vote in it I decided to change it. I think this choice was wise because if I was to change to title I would have to change the target audience and music featured.
Originally I designed a front cover and contents page by hand, I was happy with this layout but when it came to it I decided to change my actual layout to make it more interesting and more appealing to my target audience
So I decided to have the layout of my front cover and contents to be cluttered and fairly messy, this is because the people who would read my magazine (my audience profile) are much more likely to be interested and find it appealing. I decided to have my image slightly tilted to one side, this is because I still wanted the photo background to be on the front. So I tried it tilted and liked the impression it was giving off – which is “not perfect” and rebel like. My double page spread is quite different to the front cover this is because I choose to change the colours to fit in with the interview. I choose to write an interview using the pop star “Immy Brown” I decided to make her rebel like but also a good role model this is because when I read NME with lily Allan this is the impression I got. Also I didn’t think any celebrity would come into an interview and reveal all.
My media product represents particular social groups; I suppose you could categorize my product into the stereotypical stubborn teenager, indie scene group although I think my magazine is just for anyone with an interest in the bands I have published. I think the type of media institution that would publish my magazine would be the shops like WHsmith’s where it would sell and be alongside other magazines like itself, they would be competition but also have a very similar audience. If I tried to sell it in a small village corner shop no one would buy it but if say I sold it in a small village corner shop in Camden it would sell. I would also sell it in supermarkets where a lot of teenagers work and go shopping to buy it. I would also allow smaller shops to order in for a subscription basis. My magazine would be on the general sales line. I would put it on this line because this way I would make more money and create a bigger audience even though if I sold it on a subscription only basis my audience would be more loyal I think the general sales way would be better the my magazine, considering it will feature so many bands. One week an audience member may love the bands featured and the next not really be fussed, this would be because the Indie/alternative/rock genre I choose features a wide range of very different bands and my target audience of teenagers don’t always have money to buy magazines when it is such a hard financial time. I addressed my audience with a typical teenage attitude “moody” and I used a mid shot to make it look as if my model was staring straight at the audience, to grab their attention. I have learnt a lot about technology while making my product like how to use Photoshop. Before I didn’t really understand where or what everything was but after practicing with my magazine I feel confident in using it. I also feel more confident using a camera for practical shots. After doing a lot of test shots I can now take photographs in various different shots making sure I think about the shot and the effect I want to achieve. I have also learnt about writing articles I tried to keep my article interesting for the target audience being nosey as the interviewer and asking questions I myself would want to know. I feel as if I have learnt a lot from this task and am very pleased with my overall product. Although if I was to do it again I would improve my skills on Photoshop before starting just so I know exactly what I wanted to create.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)
