2. Presentational features of
front cover
• NME is a hugely popular music magazine, that’s aimed at
indie music listeners. The front cover shows the musician
Nick Cave in a medium close up image. This can
immediately grab a select audience, as the people that
know who he is will want to know what he has done to be
on the front cover of NME. The image itself has a black
and white filter applied, to the exception of Cave’s Rose
tinted glasses. The black and white image compliments
the style of NME’s font, white text surrounded by a red
box, it allows all of the text to clearly stand out from the
image. There is no left hand third on this particular front
cover. There is a brief description of what is in the
magazine in the top right corner. In this corner, there is
also a ‘splash’, where there the words “FREE POSTERS”
are written, this will give the buyer an added desire to
buy the magazine.
3. • TIME is one of the most popular magazines across the world.
This particular cover features a close-up shot of the well
renowned, Steve Jobs. There is very little writing on the front
cover, which fits into the style of how TIME structures their
usual front covers. The image of Jobs has a light on one side of
his face, the other side is visible but has a shadow on it. This
could show that we don’t know everything about Steve Jobs
and that reading on would tell us what we want to know. With
the dark image behind, the solid red masthead stands out from
its background. This makes the magazine instantly
recognisable. The only advertising this cover does is that of
Steve Jobs. On the left hand third it includes the words, “Inside
Steve’s Pad” this is clever as the word Pad has double meaning.
It can be referred to as Jobs’ home, but also he invented the
iPad
4. • “Film” is a magazine dedicated to all the latest block busters. The
masthead in this edition is designed in the shape of buildings,
which has relevance to the film, inception. This front cover shows
Leonardo DiCaprio playing his role in the film. The image is taken
from the film and shows him in a medium shot. He is dressed in a
black suit. The text on the cover is mostly in the middle of the
page. The text is in bright colours, white and red, this allows it to
stand out well on the black background. The Splash in the middle
of the page states “The 27 most mind-blowing movies ever!” this
is a splash because it will interest the buyer and will make them
want to buy the magazine to see what the movies are. The picture
of Leonardo DiCaprio itself will also attract readers as he is loved
by a large amount of the world, especially women.
5. • This issue of NME features Jamie T on the front cover in a
medium shot. The image shows him dressed in a way in which he
would wear in general day-to-day life, a white shirt and navy
jacket, which is how he is known by the world. The colour scheme
of the cover is white, black and red, a typical NME uniform. The
left hand third of the page features information about Paramore
and Liam Gallagher. This could also widen the interest for
members of the public as they could have an interest in the other
band members as well. There is a splash at the top of the page
saying “Slicing up Brixton! Pixies Live” this has the ability to draw
in readers in a number of ways, from the confusion leading them
onto wanting to find out more.
6. • This is an issue of a magazine called Billboard. The feature of
this front cover is Eminem, he is shown dressed in black in a
medium shot with his hand on his heart. The hand on the
heart could be linked to the headline “In Recovery” after his
2010 album called “Recovery”. The colour scheme of this front
cover is undoubtedly black, white and yellow. Billboard
magazine doesn’t have a uniform colour scheme, like
magazines such as NME do, so this isn’t unexpected. There is a
left hand third present on this cover. It includes font that is all
the same type, it only differs from white to yellow and a slight
size change. On the right hand side of the cover, we can see a
splash that mentions other big musician. I think they have put
this there because it will help increase sales by grabbing
peoples attention, making them read the splash, and then
hopefully then buying the magazine.
7. • This magazine is very plain and includes a very small
amount of information on it. It literally only tells the basics.
The magazine is called “Sport” and features a medium shot
of Usain Bolt on the cover. He is dressed in his Jamaican
running kit, this has been done due to the fact that it is
what many people first saw him wearing back in 2012
when he won gold at the Olympics. The colour scheme of
the cover is yellow, black and green. This has been done
because they are the colours of Jamaica and that is where
Bolt is from. The left hand third only includes the headline
“One-Man Show”, referring to Bolt. Under that it includes a
small line on the fact Sport has had an interview with him.
The font of the headline is a tall and skinny one, this could
be compared to Bolt as at 6 foot 4 he isn’t the smallest of
100 meter runners.
8. • This is an issue of the “Rolling Stones” magazine. It features a medium
shot of her. She is dressed in a simple black tank top. I believe that she
is dressed this way in order to expose her many tattoos on her chest
and arms. Amy Winehouse was known for her big hair and her vast
amounts of tattoos, this image of her shows both very clearly. The
colour scheme of the front cover is black, white, blue and red. The red
text on the cover could be due to the colour red being in a lot of her
tattoos that are already on show in the image, where as the blue could
be due to the small amount of bra strap The Rolling Stones doesn’t
particularly have a set uniform in regards to colour on the front covers,
so it is no surprise of to how the cover is presented. The left hand third
is present, showing the headline of the Amy Winehouse feature, as
well as other information. The masthead “Rolling Stones” is situated
behind the head of Winehouse, this is because of how well know the
rolling stones magazine is and that it doesn’t have to be the centre of
attention on the front page in order to sell copies. There is a splash on
the right hand side of the page that is a small headline, I believe it has
been placed in a splash because its not got relevance to the
Winehouse front cover, but can still be used as an advert for the reader
to read on.
9. • This edition of Q features Paolo Nutini on the front cover. The page has quite a
busy layout, with a lot of things going on at the same time. There is an image of
Paolo in a medium shot, he is shown with his head held high, giving the impression
that he is confident in himself and his music that he is producing. The main
headline of the cover simply says “Paolo Nutini” with a sub heading under it telling
the reader a bit about what will be in the article. There also features information
on the left hand third of the page, calling itself a “Motown Special” this includes
smaller headline, splash's and images of musicians. This would draw in an interest
from the audience that have an interest in Motown music, as it is not often
featured in magazines, let alone the front covers. The instantly recognisable
masthead “Q”, stands out in its uniform and bold design of a white Q in a red box.
This allows buyers to be able to see this particular magazine at a quick glance.
There is also things going on in the top right hand corner of the page. It clearly
states in bold letters the headlines “Arctic Monkeys”, “Britpop” and “Metronomy”
this again will widen the target audience even wider from what it already was,
drawing in fans of another 3 topics of interest. There is also a small splash at the
bottom of the page telling the reader that there are “30 pages of reviews!”. To
finish off, there is no particular colour scheme on this front cover as there are a lot
of different colours spread all across the cover, from whites and blacks, to yellows
and greens. This could be because the magazine has a wide range of target
audiences and each sets of colours are individual to each musical interest.
