1. Compare and contrast how two music magazines attract the reader
Magazines today use many different techniques to attract the reader to it. The front cover
and contents page play a big part in this as they are usually the first things to be looked at. I
looked at two music magazines to compare and contrast them to see which one was most
affecting. I looked at the December 2011 edition of ‘Q magazine’ and I also looked at the
October 2011 edition of NME.
The front cover will be the first thing the reader looks at so it is the most important part of a
magazine to attract the reader’s attention. A front cover is made up of lots of different
parts. Such as the layout, color scheme and main image. Both of the magazines I looked at
had similar color schemes, using reds, yellows and white. Each color can have a different
meaning, red can show masculinity but on the other hand it could also show love. I think it
can vary depending on the image and genre of the magazine. Yellow can show happiness
but I can also show wealth. The white is quite a neutral color which can be seen as a soft
color not bold but still a good color to use. This color scheme works well to attract the
reader’s attention because it is appealing to both genders so it does not limit the audience
that it can appeal to. Also they don’t stand out because they are the same so it can attract
the reader in that aspect because choosing the odd one out can sometimes be a bad choice.
Another feature that both of the magazines have is a group of people as their main image.
They have a group of four people on the front cover (bands) which is in front of the title of
the magazine. However, I noticed that ‘NME’ used one single picture for their foreground
and background whereas ‘Q’ used four different photos on a white background. By having a
front cover than you can edit and move around you can change the way it looks. In my
opinion as a reader I prefer the picture on ‘Q’ because it looks more professional and having
a plain and simple background, such as white really attracted my attention. The ‘NME’
background is a blurred red which think makes it look dull and unattractive. The text on
both of these magazines is different, but both draw the reader in further to make them buy
the magazine. In my opinion ‘NME’ is similar to other magazines you would find of the shelf
because it leaves very little blank space. They you puffs, sell lines and the main anchorage
text to do this. These are very closely related to the contents page as they link to the
contents of the magazine. All of them are used for linking and drawing the reader in. the
difference with ‘Q’ magazine is that it used very little text on the front cover; it is filled
mostly with the main image and blank space. However, the text used and the blank spaces
also draw the reader in.
Another thing that attracts the reader to buying the magazine is the contents page. The
layout of the contents page can change the effectiveness of the magazine. The layout of
‘NME’ is a single page with lots of pictures and very little text, whereas ‘Q’ has a DPS for its
contents page. It also has many pictures that are taken from later in the magazine. By using
pictures that occur later in the magazine the reader wants to read about that picture and
how it relates to the caption. The text in the contents page is in small quantities. They have
a small line explaining the story then a quotation from the article. This is very affective
because it doesn’t give too much away and this makes the reader want to find out more.
In conclusion both of these magazines use the front cover and the contents page. The front
cover with the picture(s), puffs and sell lines, also the color schemes. The contents page
uses pictures and cuttings from the articles in the magazine. Which help attract the reader
to the magazine.