The document provides details on the design elements of magazine covers and pages for different genres of music magazines. It analyzes the use of color schemes, images, text styles and layouts on covers, contents pages, and double page spreads for the rock magazine Kerrang, the metal magazine Metal Hammer, and the indie magazine NME. Across all magazines, the document discusses techniques used to grab readers' attention, convey key information quickly, and appeal to the target audiences for each genre through visual styles that fit genre stereotypes.

1. Existing product research

2. Kerrang-Front cover
Kerrang is a rock/metal magazine that is published by Bauer
Consumer Media publishing house and their target audience
is people who listen to rock/metal music. The colour scheme
for this cover bright colours on dark colours or vice versa to
create contrast and grab the attention of consumers this is
good because that is what a front cover should do it does this
because the colours stand out more also dark colours are
commonly associated with the genre of music they cover as is
standing out. The text/ picture ratio is heavily leaned towards
pictures as there is a lot more space taken up by pictures but
the pictures are bigger than text which grabs the consumers
attention. Something I picked up on is the writing style of this
cover is to use a lot of exclamation marks as if they are
shouting at the audience this is also backed up by the fact
that all the text is written in upper case and some are also
bold this fits in with the stereotype of this genre of being loud
& noticed, Another good way the cover grabs the consumers
attention is that any headings, sub-headings and the title of
the magazine are in upper case and bold.
The photography on this cover is of these to singers posed in
that position to fit the stereotype of this genre of being loud
and aggressive so it is more appealing to it’s target audience
also the photo is placed in the centre and is quite big so it
grabs the consumers attention

3. Kerrang-contents page
The colours on the contents page fit the colour scheme of dark
colours on bright colours or vice versa. The photography is a
mixture of posed and live both types are used to draw attention
to a specific article about the band or artist in the picture the use
of a live picture at the top instantly lets the reader know that the
article is a live review as the picture is of a band playing live in
front of a crowd also the bold upper case text draws attention to
the type of articles that the magazine has, these things are good
techniques because it quickly lets consumers know what is in the
magazine without having to buy it like a try before you buy to
draw people in this is also backed up by the advertisement in the
bottom right to buy a subscription by having this on the contents
page people can know about it without buying the magazine.
There is more text than pictures in this contents page because
the purpose of a contents page is to inform the consumer/reader
of the articles in the magazine and what page they are on the
only pictures are used to further explain articles and draw
attention to the text.

4. Kerrang-Double page spread
The writing style in this double page spread is like a
commentary of what happened when they
interviewed the two singers and isn’t really aimed
at any one based on their literary capabilities for
example the use of the word “antipodal” not
everyone who reads this will know what this
means. The image in this double page spread takes
up much more space than the image and the image
has been set up to reflect the personality of the
singers. The colours on this double page spread fit
with the colour scheme as it has a white
background that makes the text stand out more as
it is mostly dark red and black also there is a good
use of red to emphasise certain parts of text (like
the question asked and the band names) as they
are important pieces of information.

5. Metal Hammer-Front cover
Metal Hammer is a heavy metal magazine published by future
publishing and their target audience is people who listen to heavy
metal music. The colour scheme for this magazine is bright colours
for the text and dark colours for the background this is used
especially on the cover as it grabs the consumers attention so they
notice and pick up the magazine, the large image is also effective
at grabbing consumer attention, also black/dark colours are
associated with the metal genre as is standing out. The cover is
mainly covered by the large picture which is a good technique for
a cover as it draws attention to the magazine more than it would if
it were the other way around. The style of writing uses all upper
case letters this is good as it fits with the fact that most metal
music is loud so the upper case letters make it seem like you are
being shouted at, also by using upper case letters it makes you
look at the text so you can get a brief summary of the articles in
the magazines. The photography is a posed picture of this singer
so he fits in with the genre’s stereotype of being loud and
aggressive so it is more appealing to it’s target audience also the
photo is placed in the centre and covers the length of the cover so
it grabs the consumers attention

6. Metal Hammer-contents page
The colours in this contents page are mostly white, red and
black and if the text is black the background is white and of
the text is white the background is black and red text is on
both this technique makes the text stand out more so it is
easier to read and it grabs attention more effectively. The
heading of the articles are written on upper case so they
stand out more this allows the reader/consumer to find
out what articles are in the magazine quickly without
having to buy the magazine. There is more text than
pictures in this contents page because the purpose of a
contents page is to inform the consumer/reader of the
articles in the magazine and what page they are on the
only pictures are used to further explain articles. Also in
the bottom left there are pictures of text so they stand out
more probably because they want you to see the articles
more than the other ones or they are articles they know
their target audience will want to read.

7. Metal Hammer-double page spread
The writing style in this double page spread is
rather informal as it has several expletives in it but
you can tell it is meant to inform as it has facts and
opinions as well. The image takes up most of the
double page spread and is a posed picture to show
the bands image and personality but it has a
background edited in that fits in with what the
article says about the band being the future of
metal and the background is futuristic. The colours
on this double page spread fit with the colour
scheme of standing out as the background uses
dark colours and the text is written in white or
yellow not only does this idea fit in with the
genre’s stereotype of standing out but it also fits in
with the article as it says that the band stand out in
the metal world

8. NME-front cover
NME is an Indy magazine published by IPC media and their
target audience is people who listen to Indy music. The
colour scheme is lots of bright colours this is used
especially on the cover to grab the attention of consumers
so they pick it up and possibly buy it, The size of the text at
the bottom and the image dominating the background and
centre are also effective at doing this yet another way of
grabbing consumer attention is by using all upper case
letters. The picture is a posed picture of the band that fits in
with the Indy stereotype of being out there doing
outlandish and rebellious things

9. NME-Contents page
The colours on this contents page fit with bright and
standing out as the entire background is white. The
contents page is mainly dominated by images that
are quite large so they draw your attention towards
the article they are associated with, there is also
quite a lot of upper case text so you are drawn in to
read it after the image has grabbed you this also
makes it easier and quicker to read, these things
summarise the article quickly and this is a good
technique as it quickly lets consumers know what is
in the magazine without having to buy it like a try
before you buy to draw people in this is also backed
up by the advertisement in the bottom right to buy a
subscription by having this on the contents page
people can know about it without buying the
magazine. Also the way the page is composed and
the font size and type they have used make the
contents page make it seem like the contents page of
a newspaper so you know instantly that this page is
going to inform you of something

10. NME-Double page spread
The writing style of this is very descriptive as it is a review of
a gig and it has quotes from members of the bands as well
as describing some of the stage set up. The image takes up
all of the page as it is the background, the image is a live
picture as the article is a review of the gig the picture was
taken of. The colours on this page fit with the bright colour
scheme of the rest of the magazine it also uses neon pink
and blue to highlight the names of bands and people in the
description at the top of the article to make them stand out
possibly because they are important pieces of information
about the article. Also the heading for the article is in upper
case and is bold because it fits in with the stereotype of
hardcore being aggressive and loud so when the text looks
like it does it is like your being shouted at. Also neon pink
and blue are strange colours and being strange fits in with
the Indy stereotype of being out there doing outlandish,
strange and rebellious things