Supporting Images

1. SUPPORTING
IMAGES

2. Rock
Supporting images are not featured on every front page and I believe
this is because they’re not always needed.When images are used
they either support the main image’s story/cover line/strapline or they
relate to a different story/promotion inside the magazine. In this
example the first supporting image is an image of Dio; a rock artist
who passed away. I believe that they put this image as a way of
showing respect and remembrance to him.They also may’ve used an
image as it is an important story and therefore the image will help
catch peoples eyes and get them to read about it.This example also
features 3 supporting images in the bottom right corner supported by
the puff ‘5 awesome posters!’. I believe that these images are used to
show people a few of the posters that are available to help promote
the magazine. Once again using images is a way of catching peoples
eyes, especially if they’re a big fan of the person(s) that is on the front
cover.This therefore shows how supporting images can help
advertise the magazine further and draw in peoples attention which
could possibly boost sales. After researching this I have decided that I
will also include some supporting images as it is a convention of a
rock magazine and will aid me in creating a realistic product.

3. EDM/Techno
When researching EDM front covers in search for supporting
images I couldn't’t find any that used supporting images. I
found that Rock magazines use them more often than not
which means it could be a convention of rock magazines, but
not EDM magazines. One reason why they may not used
supporting images is because they do not want to distract
away from the main image as they feature some of the
biggest known EDM creators such as Steve Aoki which could
be considered enough to get the publics attention. I also
found that they feature a lot more cover lines than other
genres which they could use in place of images as it can be
argued that cover lines and straplines are better at getting
peoples attention and encouraging them to purchase the
paper.As well as this Rock can appeal to a lot of young
people so images can help get their attention, whereas EDM
is a much more niche genre that typically interests adults as
it is often played at raves and festivals for people 18+
meaning that the supporting images are not as useful for this
genre compared to others.

4. Indie/Alternative
In relation to EDM indie magazines are quite similar in
terms of supporting images. More often than not they did
not feature supporting images, however there were a
couple that did feature an image. In this example the
image could have been included for a similar reason to
why the image of Dio was included on the Rock front
cover.The image is of the band REM who split up so the
image is for the remembrance of them which is supported
by the cover line ‘the original indie icons remembered’.
One reason why they typically don’t include more
supporting images on the front page could be due to
funding. Indie is also quite a niche genre with a small
group of listeners in comparison to things like Rock and
Pop.This could mean that they do not have the funding
to pay for loads of images, especially magazines like NME
who is an independent company that gives their
magazines away for free. After researching this I have
decided I wont follow this approach to supporting images
as it may result in my product looking less authentic.