Media Coursework
Caitlyn Clynes Y7145
Chosen brief:
The front page, contents, and double page spread of a new music magazine.
Q Magazine.
The logo for Q Magazine is placed in the top left corner as it is the first place the eye will be drawn to, it also extends the logo out to include the heading of 'contents' for the page so that it fills the upper space to keep the layout neat and orderly.
The first page of the contents is often one large picture if it is the major story, while multiple smaller stories will have grouped up pictures together. The pictures range from headshots to full-body shots, but always show the face of the artist. Photos are also grouped towards the seam of the magazine.
The highlight colour of the contents page are the same colour as the logo. As the largest block of bright colour on the page is the same colour of the logo, the audience is immediately drawn to the stories as the highlight colour is the same. The highlight colour being red is also important as it is the brightest and warmest colour, while the rest of the colours are often duller and colder. This means that they can use their highlight colour to immediately bring attention to an area, and the audience can see where the most important information is.
The background for the contents is a clear white colour with each picture having a border around it to clearly seperate it from the background. By having a white background, it allows the stories to be directly pasted onto the background without having to be blocked off and makes sure that the text is easily read and clear. It also makes the layout slightly less chaotic as if there had been an image on the background everything would have to be placed as to block the background as little as possible.
The magazine is fairly vague in the genre it is aimed at as the colours and text do not particularly stand out as belonging to a certain genre. The images used are are also not bound to one particular genre, yet this allows the magazine to cover a wider amount of genres and therefore reach a wider audience.
There is a page number that is easily read on every image so that the audience can spot the image that appeals to them most and then easily navigate to that page.
It may become important to note that the magazine contents has an image of the poster that the magazine contains within itself, as to show all the extra things the magazine comes with.
NME Magazine.
The logo for NME magazine is kept up in the top left corner where the audience will first look, and is one of the brightest colours on the page. It has an outline of both white and then black to help it stand out as other text does not have that. In the black box, it is in colour while the other text is in white so that it stands out more.
The main picture is always of the main story and is placed center, with all the text surrounding it, and takes up more space than anything else. There is no pattern to what the photo is of.
The colours of the NME contents page are black white and red, which aren't bright and colourful as the contents page appears to be quite classically rock based. The black and white takes up the majority of the text, and red is used to highlight certain points and is evenly spread around the page. The only other text colour is yellow, and is purely on the "Subscribe today" block as they want to make it stand out as being important to the audience to do that.
The background for the contents is a bright white and contrasts with the black and red boxes that cover the page, which keep each piece of text and pictures clearly seperated. Negative space is created through the text, and the white background makes the images look darker to keep with the theme of rock while still making sure everything is readable and clear.
The contents page of the magazine seems to be aimed more at an audience of rock fans even though the main cover was somewhat vague. The darker and drearier look of the contents page seems to contrast against the brighter look of the cover page.
The layout of the contents page is more hectic than the cover, and although it is fairly consistant across all of the magazines I think it would be more difficult for an audience to find what they were looking for.
NME magazine had more compressed into a magazine, and contained everything else the magazine contained rather than just the main stories.
Classic Rock Magazine.
The title of "contents" is always at the top of the page and one of the largest pieces of text on the page. The title is always in black to contrast against the white background which I feel allows the audience to easily read the text.
The main story of the magazine is often paired with the largest picture of the page, and has the largest font compared to the rest of the stories. There is often some form of shape or highlight colour to seperate it from the rest of the stories so that the audience could easily spot it.
Unlike it's cover, the main colours of Classic Rock Magazine are focused more on Black, white, and red for the background and text and then have a significant use of colour for the different images. I believe that this use of colour is to try and make the contents page seem more exciting, but I feel as though it doesn't quite match the stereotypes of the rock genre.
The Magazine uses shapes behind the main stories to highlight that story as more important than the rest of the stories.
The background of Classic Rock's contents page is white without any colour. I believe this is so the text can easily be read and to make the images seem clearer against the background and more important.
I think Classic Rock's contents page is aimed towards an older audience as the bands aren't as modern and the text used is a much more classic magazine look, compared to the more bubbly brightness of modern magazines. Even though the colours are brighter, the style of the magazine is clearly aimed at an older audience who enjoy the rock genre.