LO1: Examples of existing magazines

I am making a music magazine, specifically focusing on the rock and metal genres.

Front Covers

This is an issue of Metal Hammer magazine. The cover was made by 'The Walking Dead' artist Charlie Adlard and I like the way his comic book style comes through on the magazine making it less like your typical music magazine.

I also like the way that the free CD carries on the main cover image, helping it to blend in.

The main colours used in this are Red and yellow which both have connotations of danger. This is an important use of colour as danger is often associated with Rock and Metal.

  This is the front cover of an issue of Rock Sound magazine. I like that this one doesn't overcrowd the cover with lots of text and just has a large banner.

I also like the way that the main banner is at an angle and connects to the cover's border. This is something I could add to my magazine as it's a simple effect but looks good.

Again the main colours used here are red and yellow.
There is also some blue on this cover to make other minor features stand out.

This is the front cover to an issue of Kerrang. On this cover the image is set slightly to the left and unlike the other magazines the image's background is also featured on the front cover. The subject (Corey Taylor of Slipknot) is however in colour and the background is not. If I do feature the background on my front cover then I may also experiment with this so that the subject is in full focus.

It is very clear that the image has been taken at a gig and so that suggests to the reader that this particular issue may focus on a particular gig, this is reinforced by the sticker which tells the reader "THE UK'S BIGGEST GIG GUIDE!" is inside.

Again the main colours used for this front cover are red and yellow.
There is also some blue on this cover to make other minor features stand out.


This cover is from an issue of Alternative Press. The models are central and there is only a small amount of text on the cover compared to the other magazines. They also don't use banners so the text does not stand out as well as on the other magazines in my opinion.

The colour scheme is also different for this magazine. Instead they use red purple and green as their primary colours. This is perhaps due to the fact that the main focus of this issue is 'Green Day' and purple is a colour that contrasts well with green.
Personally I don't really like the use of colours on this magazine and so I probably will not be using these colours on my cover.

This is an issue of OutBurn. This is the least known magazine on this list, which is possibly due to the fact that there are only 5 issues published each year.

Because this is a lesser known magazine, the subjects do not cover the masthead like on the other magazines' covers. My magazine will also have to have an uncovered masthead as it is the first issue and it is only a local magazine.

The colours used here are green and blue. I do think that this cover used too many fonts which makes it look a little messy and confusing so on my own front cover I shall be using just 2-3 fonts in total.

Contents Page

This contents page is from an issue of Alternative Press. On this contents page the subject (Billie Joe Armstrong) is set to the left with the article about that Billie Joe set to the right, this is the largest text on the page so that it is clear to the reader that it is related to the main image.

The rest of the text is below the image and gives the reader a brief introduction to what the article is about.

The colours used here are (yet again) red and yellow, though there is some beige used to make the titles of the articles stand out also.

This is the contents page for an issue of Kerrang. The main image and article are set to the left, with the title anchored to the image in large block capitals - this is to make it clear that the text and the image are related.

I personally like the yellow banner at the top of the page to make it clear to the reader that this is the contents page. This is quite an important page as it works as a directory for the reader so by having a large banner like this the reader can find it easily when just flicking through the magazine.

On this page there is also an editor's note at the bottom of the page. This is used to introduce the reader to the magazine and in my opinion is just a nice little touch.  

And of course the colour scheme here is again red and yellow.

This is the contents page for an issue of Metal Hammer. This contents page is split in to two halves. On the top half their are multiple images with page numbers so that the reader can find the articles that link to these images.

Below is the full directory. This means that like a normal contents page they can find the articles and they also have a little insight to what the article is about before they go to that page.

The only colour used here is red. This is perhaps to make it seem a little darker which of course has connotations of the music genre. 

This is from Q Magazine. This is relatively similar to the Kerrang contents page but the image is on the right and the contents is on the left. 

This is also much more simplified which is perhaps as the magazine is aimed at a slightly older audience.
This means that there are no big bold titles 

The only colour used here is red, this is perhaps to give it that simplified look. As the Q logo is also red, the red is used to carry through the House Style.

This is a contents page from an issue of Rock Sound. This, like the issue of Q, is incredibly simplified. On the right side you have your main image and then on the left is the contents.

Again, the colours also very simple with blue being the only colour used here. This seems to be used as it matches the colour of the shirt worn by the subject (Jacoby Shaddix).

 

 

 

 

Double Page Spread

This double page spread is taken from Kerrang. The subject on this page is Corey Taylor. I like the way the image goes over both pages but is still very clear to see and so this is something I shall try to accomplish when making my double page spread.
The only colour used here is red, which again has the connotations of danger associated with rock music.

This double page spread is taken from an issue of Metal Hammer. The image for this one sticks to one page and you can see the subjects full body, this is also so you can see the 'throne' he is sitting off. There are multiple quotes on this double page spread as well to catch the reader's interest and highlight a specific part of the article.
The whole spread has a fantasy type feel to it and that is most likely why Gold has been used as the only colour. Also note that the article use Serif fonts rather than San Serif as they also have connotations of Fantasy and History.

This is a much simpler double page spread from Rocksound. Again the main image takes up two pages. Unlike the other two images it does not remove the subject from the background either. This gives the whole double page spread a darker feel in my opinion as the only splash of colour is the yellow sticker on the left.
I think this makes it look a little more sophisticated and straight forward to read, but it's not very interesting aesthetically.




This is another double page spread from Kerrang. The main image here is also of Corey Taylor whilst performing with Slipknot at Download Festival. It is instantly very clear what this article is about due to Download's well-recognised logo anchored to the image Corey Taylor on the left page.

The colour scheme here uses a lot of yellows and oranges as these have connotations of fire and explosions. So as the word 'Explodes' is used in the title these colours are very good at enhancing the the theme of the article.