Music Magazine Cover

Research

Kerrang! is an extremely popular rock magazine, with it's circulation (the number of copies released per issue) being 42,077. From this magazine cover, it shows that the target audience for Kerrang! is 18-30 year olds. It seems that this is the target audience because of the sell lines on the cover. For example, the skyline reads ‘Download mega comp: Win! 15 pairs of VIP tickets!’. Download is a popular rock festival, and the primary audience for festivals are 18-30 year olds. The main image is a woman, which could attract both males and females – but is mainly targeted towards males as they have used sensuality to draw them in.

First of all, the masthead seems broken and cracked – this is the same for all Kerrang! magazines. This seems to portray the effect of smashed or broken glass, which represents the genre of rock quite well – for example if someone is angry, there is an idea that they may break some glass – and the word ‘angry’ is associated with rock and is a main stereotype. On some magazine covers, the masthead is often obscured by the main image, but on this cover the masthead obscures part of the main image – this could be because that part of the picture is not that important, and when an image obscures the masthead it is usually someone’s face.

The colour scheme is yellow, black and white – which is quite an odd choice for Kerrang!, but it could be because this issue was out in April; the beginning of spring, and could therefore be subtly portraying the season. They have made sure that Hayley Williams’ photoshoot links in with the colour scheme by instructing her to wear a yellow vest top that has black text on it, and it really makes the whole cover come together.

Semiotics
As she is wearing a vest top that reads 'SECURITY', semiotics suggests that Williams' needs security around and on her at all times. This could be because she needs to be tamed and controlled, hinting at the fact that she's a stereotypical 'rock chick'. The bright orange hair and makeup connotates fire, which then further leads us to ideas about danger. Rock magazines tend to use colour schemes that have connotations of danger, and I have also chosen to use this convention of rock magazines.

The main image is of front-woman of Paramore, and they have manipulated her eyes to link in with her hair – Williams is known for her bright orange hair, and the make-up artists have put an orange tint of eyeshadow around her eyes. This really brings out her eyes whilst still linking with the rest of the image. She is posed with her left arm around the top of her head, whilst her head is tilted and resting on her arm. This gives off a vulnerable look, and as she is looking directly into the camera it is as if her vulnerability is directed towards the reader – I see this as a form of direct address. This is an odd way to represent a rock icon, as they are usually portrayed to have fiery and confident personalities. I will not be using many vulnerable pictures as I think it is important for a rock magazine to have images with attitude.

There are other forms of direct address – in text form, such as ‘Hayley answers your questions!’ and ‘the best album you’ll hear all year’. This technique attempts to involve and include the reader with the magazine, and by putting this on the front cover, it involves the audience right from the beginning, and therefore encouraging them to read the magazine.

I believe this cover really represents the genre of rock brilliantly. Usually Kerrang! is quite a colourful and vibrant magazine (usually to catch the reader’s attention), but this particular cover is mainly black and white. Black is a stereotypical colour associated with rock, which generally derived from dark makeup and dark clothing being worn by icons of rock. The colour scheme also works amazingly well with the pictures, as the main image is of a band member of H.I.M, who has black hair. They have also put green tinted eyeshadow on him, which links to the background colour of ‘FREE POSTERS!’ In addition, the artists on the right hand side of the cover also have black hair, helping everything to link in with the colour scheme.

The main image is a close-up, as it only shows the artist’s face. He is positioned so that his head is tilted down towards the camera, giving off an intimidating and quite a scary look. He also has smoke blowing out of his mouth; another stereotype associated with rock. A lot of attention is focused on the eyes, which are surrounded with black. Black has connotations of death, which again links to the image being quite fearful.

It is noteworthy that this cover is not very cluttered. There is not a lot of information or images on the cover, which can sometimes be better, so that the cover does not become too involved and extremely hard to read – however, I personally think that this cover is too simplistic and that could result in it being quite boring.

Institutional information such as the barcode is in the bottom right hand corner, so that is doesn’t distract any attention away from the main image or the cover lines. With the barcode, there is the price, date and issue number – all positioned in the same place because of that very reason.

This front cover is quite different to rock, and I chose to analyse it to see if magazine conventions on front covers differed between genres. Firstly, NME is known for it’s classic red masthead, which has very noticeably been changed to pink on this cover – most likely to correspond and represent the genre of pop/R&B (Rihanna). I believe that the colour scheme does fit quite well, and they have made each part of the cover link with one another through the colours. The first one that we notice is pink, and next is blue. Pink is used on the masthead, title of ‘Rihanna’ and the cover line ‘The State of Music Today’. Not only is pink used on the text but also on the model – a shade of pink is used as Rihanna’s lipstick, which would have been done purposefully so that everything links well together within the colour scheme. The blue is used on the artist’s skirt, eyeshadow and also the bird resting on her shoulder. To link the colours together through makeup, clothing and a prop is very clever, and it generally results in the cover being more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

The main image is of pop/R&B artist, Rihanna. She is positioned with her head tilted at an angle so that most of her neck is completely exposed. With this style of stance and exposure, it may suggest promiscuity as this sort of image being given off is a good way to sell magazines – as we all know; sex sells. It is a mid-shot, with her looking directly into the camera – this could be considered a form of direct address. Furthermore, Rihanna’s shoulders are pointed in a way that makes the image appear more attractive – once again attracting more and more consumers.

Quite noticeably, there are not a lot of sell lines on this cover. There are also no additional images and with both of these components missing, it makes the cover seem quite ordered and not at all cluttered. However, much like the last cover, it does give off quite a boring look. Although, I personally believe that this front cover is more appealing and would look much more appealing on a shelf.

The masthead is slightly obstructing the main image, however not an important part of it. This is very similar to cover 1, and is usually done to look more professional and linked together, rather than the two components being completely separate. I will most likely be obstructing the main image with the masthead when I produce my front cover.

Similarly to cover 2, the institutional information is positioned in the bottom right-hand corner and top left-hand corner of the page. Again, this is most likely so that it does not distract any attention away from the main image or sell lines. I will be placing the institutional information in corners on my front cover, as it is a main convention for magazines.

All in all, from analysing this front cover, I can see that this pop/R&B special edition cover of Rihanna on NME is really not all that different from Kerrang!’s front covers. The main conventions are the same, and there are only small differences such as posing and colour scheme – which have to be done to be able to represent the genre to the audience.

Layouts

Layout 1

I made this plan first, and decided that it was too simplistic and very ordered for a rock magazine.

Layout 2

After studying other rock magazines more closely, I decided that this was a more appropriate plan and much prefer it to the first one.

Layout 3

This plan is fairly similar to the second one, but this has more information and sell lines on it. I cannot yet decide between the second plan and this plan, so I will ask my target audience via social networking.

Testing on Target Audience

I put all 3 layouts on Twitter and asked people's opinions on which one was the best, and this was the result. The first 3 are very mixed, but the last comment means that layout 3 came across as the most popular. With my own opinion and the test on the target audience, I think I will take a mix of both layouts 2 and 3 and use them when producing my final front cover.

Ideas for masthead

I like all apart from the second one, I feel that whilst it is bold, it is just a bit too plain and boring for a rock magazine's front cover.

Main Cover Line Ideas

'EXCLUSIVE - "It's going to shock a lot of people" KICKED OUT SHOUTING the real story behind their fame'

'EXCLUSIVE - "Unjustified" KICKED OUT SHOUTING's brand new album'

'EXCLUSIVE - "KICKED OUT SHOUTING's" Ava Finn lets us in on their secrets!'

Other sell lines

'Muse's Matt Bellamy - reveals all to us!'

I quite like this sell line as it's quite ambiguous - the readers will see the sell line and want to know what sort of things the lead singer will be revealing, encouraging them to purchase the magazine.

Jeremy Mckinnon - and his stories from tour!'

The layout and style of this sell line is fairly similar to the one above, but I also like this one because it again, makes the reader want to know what sort of stories from tour and, I believe, would make for quite an interesting article.

'ATL vs AVA - who do you prefer?'

I really quite like this one, as it has both direct address and a rhetorical question within it. I may also put an image with this one as it would bring more attention to the direct address.

Possible photos I will be using:

Immediately I love this one for a front cover. The attitude, size and colours all fit in extremely well for the main image of a rock magazine, and I can see where I would put the masthead, sell lines and tag lines just by looking at the picture.

This is also quite a good image as it is part black and white, part colour. I have edited it so that the colour showing is red, which is a stereotypical colour for a main image on a rock magazine as it represents the connotations of the genre. However, I don't think that the pose and stance is aggressive enough for a rock magazine, as she is leaning against a wall which seems too relaxed.

This is a very nice photograph and would work quite well for a cover as it has space for the sell lines and masthead already. However, the colouring seems quite dull and the attitude from the pose does not seem quite right for a rock magazine, so I may not choose to use this one.

1st Draft

2nd Draft

3rd Draft

Final Front Cover