This is part of the contents for ‘Classic Rock’ magazine. Its contents are spread out over two pages; the other side of the page has the regular articles that appear in the magazine every month. The first thing that is immediately noticeable is the layout of the page. It is very crisp and clean with no faffing around with unnecessary images and too many selling lines. This page is very clear and to the point. It could also be described as sophisticated. The reason behind this is the age of the target audience, the average age will probably be between 35 and 50 and be in the B, C1 and C2 bands. This is reflected in the style and the image used.
The image is the only image on the page and was taken when the band where at their prime. Because of this the target audience (which should have been fans at about the time the image was taken) will instantly recognise it and its subjects. This will draw the audience into the magazine and make them want to read further into the magazine. This was also the cover story as it says towards the top of the image and one could assume that they used a similar iconic image to achieve the same effect.
This cover has some codes and conventions of a magazine for example it has a contest, two selling lines and separate sections for regular articles and features. It also has a word from the editor of the magazine on its own separate page that I don’t have an image of.
The text is also an indication of the audience, it has small serifs which adds sophistication but not to the extent of a magazine like ‘Opera Now’. It offers symmetry to the previously mentioned age and class of the audience. The text is cleanly laid out and concise, following the colour scheme, and dividing the page up nicely. It is clean and refers to the no-nonsense attitude of its audience.
The colours of the page are interesting. The colours white, black and red together usually refer to rebellion and certainly the fans of the band in the image would have been rebelling against either the state or their parents. However juxtaposed to the sophisticated edge, it s a metaphor for their audience in a way (organised and sophisticated but still have a hint of rebellion in their taste of music). It’s this juxtaposition that gives the page its edge and is the reason I really like this contents page.
The next contents page is from ‘Kerrang!’ and immediately you can see the difference in the style of the magazine. This contents page has a lot more going on but I’m going to start with what the magazines have in common. First of all they both have two distinct areas of the page. The first being the contents itself, and the second is the main image. They both have comments from the editor; however ‘Kerrang!’ has a short paragraph as opposed to an entire page dedicated to it. They both distinguish between regular articles and features, although the layout is different. The main image is related to the cover story, and it is using a similar tactic to ‘Classic Rock’ by putting an image on an iconic band on the cover. Finally it also has competitions and freebies advertised in selling lines, similar to the other magazine.
The similarities, however, end there. This cover has far more images compared to the other. This is because the audience is younger (aged 14-20) and therefore more visually driven and will respond more to images than a wall of text. This is why some of the articles at backed up by images and the advert is to.
The organisation of the text is different also. There is far less of a description for each article (another reflection of the audience) and it what was in three pages in the ‘Classic Rock’ magazine fits in half a page for ‘Kerrang!’ This shows the visual motivation, impatience of the audience. They will not want to read blocks of text, they would rather be shown what the article is about in the form of images. The font of the text is also broken and scruffy which gives an informal feel, a touch of rebellion and is also strongly associated with the genre of music that the magazine is catered for (rock music and its sub-genres).
The colours of this contents page are similar to the other, page with a lot of black, white and red. However they are not juxtaposed as in the previous one and because of that lose their edge and stray into the territory of the cliché. Overall this contents page has a lot more going on and it tailored well to its target demographic. But is less effective than the one from ‘Classic Rock’.
No comments:
Post a Comment