The image is also very powerful, this is because it focuses directly on the emotions of the persons face allowing those feelings to be projected throughout the front age of the magazine. Additionally language such as ‘Exclusive’, ‘Plus’ and ‘Revealed’ also help in attracting the audience.
There are also many quotes of people or bands published in the magazine. These quotes allow the reader to believe there has been some kind of interaction between the magazine and these famous stars.
Overall I believe this magazine is a good example of a NME music mag, the colours used are effective, bright and attractive and the representation of the bands appeal to the target audience.
This issue of the NME Magazine is another of my favourites. It is very similar to the issue above, however the main sub-heading ‘THE AUTOMATIC’ really captures my attention as the groovy font is bright and has an element of character.
Moreover there are lots of small stories dotted around the page. For example, in the top right hand corner of the magazine there is a small story on ‘The Killers’, this also helps to attract the audience as, in most cases, music plays an important part in the lives of the readers.
Overall I believe that this magazine is another well designed piece. The colours used a bright and attractive and the pictures capture the personalities of the band members very well. I would defiantly consider using some of these design features in my work.
This issue of the NME Music Magazine is much more ‘busy’ than any of the others I have annotated. However this adds to the idea that the magazine is packed with information on the up-to-date news and gossip from all the latest bands. The use of colour is also limited to the use of reds and darker colours – I believe this is the desired theme that the designers were trying to create when producing this issue.
I have also noticed that the main band being interviewed or pictured have their name printed in large text towards the centre of the page. This is also the case on the other magazines created by NME designers. Doing this allows the audience to focus on the main story of the magazine and further persuades them to buy.
Overall I believe this series of the NME magazine is less well designed than the previous mags. This is because of the lack of bright, distinctive colours and the lack of design features and signposts.
Total Guitar Magazine
This is an issue of the Total Guitar magazine and I believe it is the best music related magazine I have seen yet. I love the use of editing to create the lightning effect between the fingers/hands of the band members. I also believe the expression on all of the band members faces really illustrate the personalities of these people; from mad and eccentric to calm and sophisticated.
The ‘craziness’ theme is carried out throughout the magazine – the use of red (which have connotations of blood and madness) really helps to express this theme. I also like the idea of the columned text, down the sides of the magazine. This helps to structure the written text and allows it to be put into categories. i.e. ‘LEARN TO PLAY’.
Overall I think this is a great magazine to base some of my design ideas on. I believe the ideology of the front cover really exemplifies the stereotypical Death Metal bands around and the use of dark colours really demonstrates the theme created by the Total Guitar designers.
Various Music Magazine Contents Pages
When searching the net for certain contents pages, this one automatically captured my attention. There are various reasons why I like the design of this contents page. Firstly the images on the page are very well designed and placed. I love the idea of the dynamite stick – and the theme of explosion and tension.
I also find the top half of the magazine very striking; this is because it seems that nothing is aligned and it all seems very bizarre. Additionally the colours used aren’t colours that I have come across before. The use of creams, orangey yellows and peach really fit nicely and almost conflict with the idea of suspense created by the dynamite.
Overall I think that this contents page is very well designed and I believe I could use some of the features used in this magazine in my own work.
However I would suggest the use of most headlines and pictures, I understand that the designers may want to keep a clean and tidy page, but the use of more images might be enjoyed further by the readers.
It is fairly hard to find contents pages from the internet using a search engine. However I have managed to find this example of a music magazine contents page.
There are various images used from well know musical artists involved in music, some of the pictures are more serious. Such as ‘Good Charlotte’, however others are more fun and enthusiastic, such as ‘Fall Out Boy’. This is an aspect of the magazine which would really attract the audience as it not only shows the artists on the photos, but personalities associated with each artist.
The design of the magazine is fairly moderate as all the pictures are in columns, as well as the text. This may be the layout the designers desired, however, it is not a layout I would consider.
Overall I believe that this magazine contents isn’t as successful as the above contents page. This is because there is a lack of colours used throughout the page, additionally all the pictures are placed in a column which doesn’t seem as attractive as they could be.