Music Magazine Analysis

Analysis of two music magazines: Kerrang! and Metal Hammer

There are clear differences between these two magazines, although both feature the metal genre, Kerrang is more mainstream and crosses several types of rock to appeal to a wider audience. This is clear from the layout of the Kerrang cover, as there are various cover lines spread across the page, featuring a variety of bands from punk to heavy metal. The "explosion" of colour and dominating text make it impossible not to look, and with the text cramped together it helps to reinforce the idea of how packed the issue is. Essentially it is showing the reader that are getting their money's worth with the magazine.

• Featured artist Slipknot dominates the cover, even obscures some of the magazine masthead. Shows that Kerrang is such a big institution in the world of music that the masthead is not even essential, fans will know immediately what it is. 
• The tabloid style layout suggests it is aimed at a wider target audience than publications such as Metal Hammer. It makes it more accessible and gives the reader a lot more content ready from the start. 
• Magazines like Kerrang are more likely to include "freebies" or extra content like posters, it's useful method of attracting readers. Since the magazine is fairly cheap compared to others, occasional readers/ passers by in the shop may be more inclined to purchase because of these offers.
• The Slipknot-Paramore contrast on the cover reflects the big spectrum of rock that Kerrang covers, and helps to reach out to a wider audience.   
• The way in which the members of Slipknot are staring directly at the camera, into the reader's eye makes it slightly intimidating, and in a way adds pressure to buy. 

Metal Hammer is a polar opposite to Kerrang in its cover layout and content. There are no other cover lines, as often with this publication the focus is one particular group, normally quite a prestigious group with a massive fanbase. The emphasis is more on quality of production rather than masses of content, as readers are normally subscription based or will buy regularly regardless of the featured act. 

• Like on the Kerrang cover, the mast head is obscured again, this is common as regular readers will recognise which magazine is it purely through other elements. Having the full cover image also helps in attracting potential new readers to purchase. 
• The quote featured on the cover, "Everyone around me dies!" is very direct, and should intrigue the reader. 
• The masthead logo itself is "chained" down. This not only helps reinforce the seriousness of the publication but an aggressive side (perhaps the content) that needs to be chained down to be contained. 

Design Work- College Magazine Contents Page

This is my design for the contents page of my student magazine

Original Images:

Design Work- College Magazine Cover

This is my final cover design for my student magazine

Original Images

Planning Work- Magazine Proposal (College Magazine)

My magazine will be aimed at college students, between the ages of 16-19. This will be a college publication so it makes sense for my target audience to be students who use the facilities on a regular basis, and gain the most from the magazine.

My publication will essentially be about college life, and tips for students. There will not be a huge emphasis on the college itself, although some news will be included. Instead of trivial, bits of news regarding the college, I will include the actual interests of the students. These will range from fashion, and clothes, to the latest movies and games. I am hoping that by focusing on these rather than news it should appeal more to the student.

I have decided to name my magazine “Switch”. I chose this name because I think it best summarises the purpose of the magazine, to switch the student away from the fast pace of college, and to just take a break and read up some of the latest news reflecting their interests. I rejected a few ideas prior to deciding on this one, such as “Represent” and “Break”. I did not choose these because I didn’t think they were quite as memorable as “Switch”, and the titles are not as snappy. There are also several connotations with these names that I didn’t think reflected the magazine to its intended purpose.

For a tagline, I had several ideas. I finally decided to go with “Everything the student wants and more”. This summarises exactly what the magazine is, a variety of pop culture and college news mixed into one.

The magazine will be released termly (spring, summer, autumn, winter). This so there is always lots of new content to put into the magazine, and students may feel more willing to pick up a copy since it only comes out at these times.

Since this particular publication I design will be winter term based, the colour scheme of the cover will consist of a range of darker blues and a slightly de saturated image.  The cover image itself will be of myself, as I wanted a student to be on the cover since this is the target audience. In order to save time, I took it outside my house in order to get the brick background, and this way the background of the cover is still reasonably clear and the taglines/masthead will not clash. 

Planning Work- Flat plans (College Magazine)

These are my initial flat plans for potential magazine layout (Placing of the title, tag lines and picture)

Cover Layout Ideas:

Planning Work- Initial Ideas (College Magazine)

These are the initial ideas I had when first starting the college magazine coursework. Below I have listed some potential names, cover/tag lines and other conventions including the type of font I would use. 

Magazine Name Ideas

·      SDC

·      The Student

·      College Life

·      Refresh

·      Switch

·      Academic

·      College Empire

·      Represent

·      BreakWise

·      Break

Cover Line Ideas

·      Back to College: Tips for the return of college life

·      Student Style: Finding your look for the new term.

·      The Tech Special: Previews and Reviews of all the latest movies, games and gear.

·      Gig Guide: The definitive guide for the best music events on the south coast.

Article Ideas

·      Back to college: Tips to getting back in the routine of college life, including an in depth look into everything you will need. (Equipment, books, bus passes renewal, and so on).

·      College Clothes: A guide on where to find the best designer and “in” clothes for the best deal.

·      Movie section: Previews and reviews (by students) of the latest films.

·      Tech Review: A look at the must have gadgets.

·      Games Reviews: Reviews of the latest video games.

·      Gig Guide: A look at some of the best upcoming gigs in the area.

 Potential Fonts (Mast Head)

·      Arial

·      Bank Gothic

·      Futura

·      Apple Casual

·      Far Sine

·      BlairMdtc

Tag Line Ideas

·      For Students. By Students

·      Everything the student needs and more

·      The ultimate guide for students

Planning Work- Analyzing two images

In this work I was given two images to deconstruct, below is my analysis of each and why each picture is successful, and what works effectively. 



In this image, the emphasis is clearly on Lady Gaga’s attire, as it dominates the shot, filling up the upper two thirds of the picture. Your attention is immediately drawn towards the sides of the dress, which are also the brightest colours in this photo making it a direct contrast from Gaga herself, who is extremely pale in comparison. The dress is a massive contrast from her face, hair and the grey background; it is there to grab your attention. The lighting is also used effectively in this photo, where it is concentrated on Lady Gaga’s face it adds an almost angelic like quality to this shot, making her seem “God like”. This is emphasized once again by the dress, which could be perceived as a symbol of power here. 

This shot of Madonna is very different to the Lady Gaga picture for many reasons. Overall, this picture is a lot “calmer”, and plain. Nothing paticulary out of the ordinary is featured in the shot, and the black and white style creates an old fashioned theme to this photo. The kitchen environment with food on the table, and untensils in the background also gives off a “homely” vibe.   Whereas the Lady Gaga picture is very direct, and “in your face” this picture is very welcoming. 

Planning Work- IPC Media

IPC Media Case Study

History of the company

IPC Media was formed in 1963, originally under the name “International Publishing Corporation”, when the three leading magazine publishers of the time (George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications) merged to form a mirror company which would later be known as IPC Media.

Publications

IPC Media has a currently huge selection of titles, ranging from sport and leisure to home and health. Some of the biggest selling titles include:

• NME
• Ideal Home
• Marie Claire
• Loaded
• Nuts
• TVTimes
• Golf Monthly
• World Soccer

Altogether, IPC Media has over 85 iconic brands in their repertoire, over 350 million copies each year. Their magazines reach out to two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men, whilst online brands reach in the combined region of 20 million users every month.


Company Structure


IPC has 3 main publishing sub-divisions that each focus on a various genre/area of expertise.

·       Connect- Mass market women’s weekly publications, such as “Look” and “Now Magazine.

·       Inspire- The male focused division boasting a huge range of lifestyle, leisure and specialist magazines. Titles include “World Soccer” “Yachting World”, “Nuts” and “Country Life”.

·       SouthBank- The up-market female division, focusing on fashion, lifestyle and home.

As well these, there are two other divisions who are focused away from physical publishing.

• Advertising-  Main emphasis on online brands and publications, such as mousebreaker.com, a popular flash games site.
• Marketforce- Affiliate of IPC. Handles sales and distribution, “successfully marketing 23% of the magazine company”.

What types of magazine and target audience has IPC been associated with over the years?

There has been a huge range of titles associated with IPC, however from the very beginning IPC has always had a big hand in “women weeklies” and the female market in general. Now with two separate divisions, Connect and SouthBank, it can focus on both the mass market and up-market audience whilst still delivering excellent content thanks to their dedicated teams.  This is just a small percentage of IPC publications however. The men’s lifestyle division is huge, with massive titles such as nuts and loaded pulling a huge readership. There are also many specialist titles for the niche market, such as Yachting World, and the Shooting Gazette.

Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new magazine?

IPC would be a very good choice for a number of reasons. Firstly, they already have experience in this specific area with the popular “NME” magazine. With this reputation, it would be easy to promote the new magazine through NME, knowing that fans of the genre are going to see it. Secondly the fact IPC has it’s own division for specialist magazines guarantees the content will be good and well informed.

What sorts of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish?

In terms of genre, it is typically mainstream music that is popular amongst teens and the younger generation. Indie/alternative rock is the main focus of NME, as that appeals most to its readership. 

Why might alternative publishers like Bauer be appropriate?

Bauer have a greater range of music magazines, so they would be more appropriate in the sense they have a greater experience in the music division, and a much larger team of people who could help to produce the magazine. The fact that it is a Bauer publication might also bring its own reputation, and lead to an increase in sales of the magazine because it is such a well established name with titles such as Kerrang! and Q.