Kerrang! Magazine contents page deconstruction

The masthead is positioned in the centre of the page, with the original ‘Kerrang!’ logo font. The colours used for the masthead are: a black background, the white kerrang! Logo, and a yellow sign that states ‘this week’. The cover date was the ‘08/05/10’ and is printed underneath the contents title at the top of the contents page. The issue number is also printed under the contents page. The website information is placed in the bottom right hand corner of the contents page, where there is also a chance to get magazine subscriptions each month.There isn't any different font styles on the contents page, the font is very much the same on every page. The main colour used on the contents page is black, most text is in black as well.The colours used on the contents page are black, yellow, white and red. The main image of the contents page is almost black and white, the other images are in colour. Black connotes mystery, death, sophistication, power. Yellow connotes warning, happiness, uplifting, and warming. Red connotes blood, love, danger, anger. White connotes innocence, purity, cleanliness. The main image on the contents page would the be male at the top of the page, and next to him there is what page number his featured article would be on. The other images on the contents page are a lot smaller than his is, there is a picture of the magazines editor attached to the editors note, this would make the reader feel as if they know the editor personally. The layout of the contents page is split into half, half with the picture, half with all of the jumplines telling the reader which page certain articles are on. The bottom of the page, all of the jumplines are set out in columns so its easier to read and follow along. I like the layout of this contents page, because it is simple to read. I want to make the layout of my contents page to be easily readable. 

Top Of The Pops magazine front cover deconstruction

The font on top of the pops is simple, which would attract its demographic of 13-18 year old girls, because they would be able to read the front cover without any difficulties. However, in some cases the font does have a swirling effect to it, for example the 's' in 'pops' has a swirl at the bottom of it. This would also make the magazine instantly recognisable  to the demographic. The text on the magazine is almost the same size throughout the whole front cover. The text isn't as fancy as some pop magazine are, probably because the magazine is produced by the BBC so it would be more educational rather than being style based. The colours used on this issue are mainly blue, yellow, black and white. White connotes innocence, purity, and cleanliness. Yellow connotes happiness, uplifting and warmth. The colour blue connotes cold, confidence, intelligence and royalty. The colours used on this issue aren't the standard colours used on a pop magazine aimed at 13-18 year old females, pinks and purples would normally have been used, because they are seen as more feminine as the colour blue which is normally classed as quite a masculine colour. The main models 'One Direction', are sat down, close together which would indicate their close relationships with one another. They are styled in normal everyday clothes to make them appear as 'the boys next door' to their fans and make them feels as if they are just normal teenage boys when the reader knows the difference. The lighting that has been used is studio lighting, really soft lighting since there isn't much of a shadow being cast against the rest of their bodies. The light that has been used doesn't look as if it has been used to create warmth, it looks like it has just been used to illuminate a little further. The front cover doesn't look cluttered with lots of different articles. The magazine set up is simple and would be able to be read by someone of a younger age easily. 

Kerrang! Magazine front cover deconstruction

On this issue of Kerrang! Magazine the font is big and bold, which would make it easy to read for the consumer. The font which has been used is very angular, and structured. This would appeal to the male demographic, because the font is simple, bold and effective. It would also appeal to the male target audience, because the font doesn't have any female influence on it like you would see on a pop magazine with a demographic of 13-18 year old females. just like the NME front cover, the text is all capital letters, and just like the font, the text is bold as well. The main colours used are Black, white, red and orange. Black connotes negative things such as death, evil, mystery. However, it could also connote things like power, sophistication and elegance. this would appeal to a target audience who would be more sophisticated when compared to somebody who buys magazines such as Top of the pops and We Love Pop. The colour red connotes blood, danger, anger and love. Red would appeal to the target audience, because red is a very vibrant colour, which would stand out from the other magazines on the shelves. Orange connotes heat, attraction, happiness and fascination. White connotes innocence, purity, perfection and cleanliness. The first colour the consumer would notice would be the white masthead and the main white article stating "Black Veil Brides". The model on the front of the magazine cover, in this case Andy Biersack from the band Black Veil Brides, is looking as if he is trying to put on some hard exterior, also with the war paint he is wearing, shows that this certain issue of Kerrang! would be aimed most likely at their fanbase, and their fanbase would be able to recognise them instantly on the front cover, just because of how well they know his usual stage dress. In this shot of Andy Biersack, the lighting isn't a harsh light, however the lighting isn't soft enough to be natural light, so it still is a studio light being used. The layout of the magazine front cover is simple, with the main image in the centre of the page, other featured articles to the left of the page. 

NME Magazine front cover deconstruction

The font used on this particular issue of NME isn't what any other magazine company has used before, they used a font which would normally be seen on the front of a magazine. This could indicate that the main star of the issue (Lily Allen) is ready to "take on the world", because they have used a type of font usually associated with something which is mass produced. However the other font used  on the magazine is similar to the font which is used on Kerrang! Magazine, as the font is mainly big, bold and would generally be used to capture the readers attention. Every bit of the text on the front cover is in capital letters, and all of the text is angular, so it has a running theme throughout the whole magazine. The four main colours used in NME magazine are red, black, white and yellow. White connotes innocence, purity and cleanliness. Red connotes danger, blood, anger and love. Black connotes death, mystery, sophistication and power. this will also appeal to the demographic because they would generally be the people who would have some sort of disposable income. The colour yellow connotes happiness, uplifting and warmth. However the colour yellow could also be used to display a sign of warning.The colour yellow is also the brightest colour on the colour wheel, so it would grab its intended demographic's attention when on a shelf in a shop. The body language of Lily Allen would be described as vulnerable, this could indicate about previous events. It also makes her look vulnerable, because the camera is at a high angle making her look at her weakest and at her most helpless against the camera and the rest of the world. In the shot of Lily Allen, you can tell the lighting is quite harsh, because of the shadow being cast from underneath her chin, the shadow is a lot more opaque than it would be if the light was a lot softer. The layout for this issue of NME looks to be more cluttered than a 'normal' magazine front cover would be, however everything has been positioned around Lily Allen's face, this would have been done to show her expression clearly and it has made her facial expression the focus point on this magazine. The front cover could look more cluttered than other issues in the past because of the font they have used. The stylist for the shoot has put the model in an oversized flannel shirt, this makes her look even more vulnerable. The shirt makes her look even more vulnerable, because of the contrast of the size of the shirt to how small and petite she is. I wouldn't use this shot on my magazine, because I want my model to be eye level with the reader. However, I think this shot works for this magazine, because of the article that goes with it. I also don't think that the color scheme for this magazine would work for the genre of magazine I want to create. This is because there is a lot of black used for text backgrounds and contrasting colours like red and yellow for some of the anchorage. 

Proposal Form

Initial Post

Hello, my name is Rhiannon Brown and this is my blog. On this blog I will be sharing my AS media blog. My brief is to create a music magazine for the genre of my choice. For my music magazine I have chosen to do the Pop genre, because its the genre I know the most about and its also a wide genre to cover. For my brief I have to design a Front Cover, a Contents Page and a Double Page Spread. I also have to use my own images in my magazine, which means I need to do a photoshoot of my own.