Anaylisis of NME magazine

Here is the front cover of NME magazine it agrees with the conventions of a modern music magazine as the masthead is obscured by the main photograph the title of the main feature is bold and overlapping the front covers main photograph. The front cover seems very edgy and underground a bit like my magazine " Break Out !". The front cover is very busy and competing for space are plugs and pulls all are surrounding the splash headline " Arctic Monkey's".

Here is the same magazines contents page, the different areas of the magazine are spilt up using boxes and sub headings the areas are news, features, reviews, live, gig guide and radar. Most of the conventions are met although usually there is no: Radar section.

This is the image from the double page spread from the same NME magazine i really like the photograph/image and i may use some of the ideas of this shot in my double page spread.

Anaylisis of Q magazine.

These are some recent Q magazine covers.

All of these magazines share common trades such as the positioning of the masthead with is a square in the top left hand corner. The two magazines on the Right ( Razorlight and Kings of Leon) share the fact that they don't have much text on the front covers although the one in the far left does this may be because it was a review of the year edition. Personally i prefer the Razorlight and Kings of Leon editions as i believe they look more sophisticated and i would be more tempted to buy them rather than the Led zeppelin edition.

This is a Q magazine contents and it is split into sections; Features, Review, This Month and Every month. They are separated by boxes and headings a convention of a contents page of a modern music magazine. it also agrees with the convention that there is a main image of some of the contents in this instance Arcadefire, with there name write above them. it also applies to the colour scheme of the magazine with is vital.

This is a double page spread from one issue of Q with the them/topic of the magazine being reviewing 2007 there is a main picture of the artist, Mika with quotes overlapping the images and the oposing page an interview with mika. This page like the front cover and contents page agrees with the convenstion of a modern music magazine with the colour scheme.

Publisher Drafts

These are my first drafts of the double page spread, Contents and the front cover, both produced on Microsoft Publisher, using the conventions of modern music magazines such as Kerrang!, Q and NME to influence my design.

Comparing three Music magazine covers

Theme Ideas for Music Magazine

The Narrative/ Theme of my magazine will be that of reviewing 2008 as a year in music. This is why I have collected music magazines reviewing past years (Q Magazine reviewing 2007). I am doing this because at this moment in time in my design of my music magazine it is January 2009, therefore at the moment it is common in music magazines to review the year gone by in there January edition (first week of January if publicised weekly). In these January issues the connotation is to also look forward to the upcoming year as well as reflection, so my main story (Double page spread) will be to look ahead at a upcoming band who will be “Big” in 2009 (fictionally).

LIIAR of my music magazine.

L-Language:


the layout, font of the text, the text itself, images ( photographs), the process of photograph( black and white to colour), Masthead, puffs, the colour, the size of text and the colour of text.


In Music Magazines there is a lot of colour used on the front page, contents page and on the double page spread. The use of font is also very important as music magazine used very busy photographs as there background images so therefore the text has to be bold and recognisable. The plugs are positioned all over the front cover and contents page seemingly spread randomly although a lot of thought will go into creating a successful front cover of a magazine. The plugs are usually distributed around the central image using bold font and a using a witty choice of words.


I - Institution:


The audience of a young adults, students, and some teenagers. exiting stories as well as light hearted fun stories with mainly music stories although some stories are about modern occurring news articles and popular culture.


I - Ideology:


The message i would like to represent music in the media in a print publication. The genre of modern music which i would like to represent is roughly around Rock, Alternative and Indie music, much like magazines like "Q magazine" and "NME magazine"


A - Audience:


My Selective audience would be a young audience, pretty much the same as Q,NME, Kerrang! or Mojo. The target audience will be young people who are attending secondary school ,college or university or who have just left one of these. The music magazine will also be about in trend modern music ( indie music, indie rock, rock and alternative rock).


R - Representation:

Representation in a music magazine will be re-presenting the target audience in some instances interviews and letters from readers/target audience, talking about the magazine, upcoming events, gigs ect. As well as representing them it will also represent the modern music industry, and the people who work within the industry e.g. Artists ( Music), song writers, band members and managers etc.

Conventions of a modern music Magazine.

The Conventions of a modern music magazine include:

Front Cover

The front cover of any magazine is vital, it is what attracts the customer to your magazine and what determines if the magazine is bought or not. Here are some conventions of modern day music magazine front covers:

• Masthead although usually impeded by the main image on the front cover.


• The main image is usually a picture of the main story, double page spread.


• The front page is usually very busy with very little space without text.


• There is usually a colour scheme with in the magazine demonstrated on the front page.


• Plugs are used on the front page, to entice readers to buy the magazine.


• Under the Masthead there is usually a sub masthead with a sell line.


• The headline is big and bold ( splash) and draws attention to the front page.

Double page spread (main article)

The double page spread is the main article of the magazine and usually the main reason why readers buy that certain music magazine The conventions of a modern music magazines double page spread (main article) are:

• The double page spread conventionally has one full page photo with the article ( usually a written article or interview) on the opposing page.


• There is usually smaller images included in the article/interview.


• The main image is always to do with the band on the next page.


• There is different coloured font to show the reader that is a different and separate font, usually to show questions and answers.


• There is usually a title on the double page spread of the band.

Contents Page(s)
The contents page of a modern music magazine is usually accompanied on the opposite page by some sort of advertisement ( Music/album or a product which would appeal to the selective audience reading the magazine.

• The Contents page is usually split into sections usually include features, this month, every month and reviews.
• These sections are usually split up by using boxes and sub-headings.
• There will also usually be a medium close up of someone in the magazine with there page highlighted or repeated.