NME research

The New Music Express or NME is known globally and is considered one of the most influential music magazines in the world. They named the magazine this purely because they bring us new music and it wants to make that point very clear, the word 'express' at the end suggests that NME is an almost like an incredibly fast train that is only bringing you the best up and coming acts as well as covering the hottest acts in the world. They have been publishing since 1952 and have covered a lot of storied including

• The Break-Up of The Beatles
• The Death of Elvis Presley
• The Death of Kurt Cobain

However they have also;

• Created The First UK Singles Chart
• They were the first magazine to cover Punk in the 80's
• Being the first in the world to cover acts such as, Nirvana, Oasis, Jimi Hendrix and that is just a few of them.

Target Audience.
NME often present their target audience with brand new bands which is most likely appealing to 15-20 year old males, as they want to hear about the new up and coming bands as well as what their most liked bands have been doing. However, they can also attract other age ranges because it includes older bands, with details about them what they are doing now ect. and other people besides young males are going to find this interesting. This magazine attracts different people in different ways and this is because it covers a varied rang of music within the magazine. Another thing I noticed is that most of the people that appear on the front of the magazine are of a young age, take the issue that I have analysed late on in this post for example, both Kane and Turner are 22 years old and this is going to make the magazine appealing to people that age because they have something I’m common with the people on the front cover.

However one of the main reasons I have chosen to look at NME is because it has some of the most individual photography I have ever seen.

Both these pictures are what I meant when I said individual photography, because you wouldn't find images like this on many other music magazine out there. On both these issues the text is very bold and visible although there is not a lot of it with out including the title and the barcode. The layout is very basic and very similar on both issues with the photo on one side and that being the main focus with pictures like this you don't want to cover them up, you want people to see them and for your readers to be interested just by this.

April 2010

March 2008 Issue.

Front Covers.
The front covers of NME are a lot more visually interesting than text focused. In some cases this can attract readers as pictures say a lot more than words and people can know more by looking at an image than reading a large amount of text, but this can also turn away people because they think that there is not a lot of content within the magazine its self. Another thing I noticed about this magazine is that the date of issue is featured next the barcode and it is incredibly small which can make it hard for some readers to find out which issue it is and when the information given in the magazine is dated to.
Mast Head.

This is the NME logo, it is always the boldest piece of text on the front cover, the bright red letters are eye catching but then it is outlined with white and placed on a black background which is adding layers to the title as well as all of these colours together are creating contrast on the cover of the magazine. On NME, the title is always in a fixed position it is always at the top of the left third, the font and size also remains the same for every issue and this has helped developed a brand identity for this magazine. On this issue the title is obscured by the head of Alex Turner. This is showing the brand identity that I just mentioned, it establishes their prominent reputation.

Left Third.All of the main stories are mentioned on the left third of the magazine and this is to attract peoples attention. For example the 'Tom Clark Vs Faris Rotter' they have made the text different from the rest by making it bold and have done it is a style that makes it seam although it is a real fight. The brightness of the text and the bold style makes everything on that front cover seam important and it makes the reader want to know everything they can about it.

Main Image.
The band in the main image of the magazine is 'The Last Shadow Puppets', in the image it is almost like they are being defined as genius and the positioning of them in the image is deliberate as it insures that their faces are fully visible and bold, their eyes are wide and it gives the reader the almost instantaneous feeling that they are involved with the magazine this interests the reader from the word go basically. Both Turner and Kane are dressed very similarly and this signifies the fact that they are in the same band, the fact that they are wearing black against a white background makes them stand out more and the red from the title also adds contrast to the colour scheme of the cover.

Cover Lines.The cover lines are meant to inform the reader that is why they must stand out the way that they do, the main article of the magazine is shown by the cover line 'First Major Interview As The Last Shadow Puppets'. The fact they put 'First Major Interview' on the front cover is trying to suggest that they have the scoop or new story to attract the readers. The text is surrounded by an image of the band and it reinforces the story even more. Another appealing cover line is 'SXSW Special - 12 Brilliant New Bands We've Found For You'. Like I said at the beginning of this post NME are famous for covering up and coming artist before they hit the big time and all the readers of this magazine will like this fact, music is almost a trend and you need to know whats hot now and all the up and coming artists. It is almost like the target audience have to know about the new bands and they use this to fulfil their demographics as people will buy the magazine just to find this out.

Call Out. This magazine features a small extract from an inside article on the front cover and it is a very good idea, it is almost teasing the potential reader of the magazine to buy it so they know what is going on. It is again to fulfil their demographics because people want to know what it going on with this new band, and how they got together.


Colour Scheme.
The colour scheme for this magazine is very simple, there are only 3 main colours used on the front of every issues of NME and they are Red, Black and White,(on special issues the colour scheme does change slightly) this is how the magazine has manages to develop the identity that it has used the same colours and similar layout for a long time but they change it slightly each time and this is why people find the magazine so easy to recognise. Contents Analysis.

- NME have developed a identity with there contents page as they have the same house colours as the contents page Red, White and Black which has now instantly become recognisable as NME.
- Each week the layout of the contents is the same, which is the same as the cover. The NME logo is situated at the top of the page in exactly the same place and all of the above is why NME is a prestigious magazine and it appears so professional.
- However the yellow text that they have put in the subscription box is a very clever idea, it is outside the usual colour scheme for this magazine and the readers are going to be instantly attracted to what it has to say, the fact that it is also placed in a black box makes it seam separated from the rest of the text, the images of front covers they have inserted in there have some of the hottest musical acts in the world on them and this is what the readers of the magazine are interested in.

Terroriser Magazine Research

This is a Death Metal magazine, this is the type of magazine that I want to create but the audience to this magazine is reletivly small compaired to that of Kerrang or Rolling Stone. I reailse that to make a music magazine aimed at my specific audience I also need to make it appealing to some other people. This magazine had a price of £3.99

-Usually a dark background with a colored title starting in the left thid and working its way across the page. The colour and place of the title often changes and that is something that I like about this magazine, the cover always looks different for every issue not all magazines do this.

-They use varried images for their front cover, from people to cartoon images to album covers and that is again something that many magazine don't do but it something unusal that I like and think that it works well. If the front cover had the same lay out for every issue I would of lost intrest and so would many others.

-The title of the magazine very rarely appears with a date next to it and they tend to have all of the coverlines down the left third were they are going to be most noticeable. This is an appealing idea and I like having the image spread over the rest of the cover with cover lines, bar code ect positioned around the image so that everything look equally balanced.
-The skyline of the magazine often has incerts of pictures are usually advertises a free CD complete with the magazine, I think that this is something that I would like to put on my magazine because it will attrackt the attention of the readers and also encourage people to listen to the music if they are buying a magazine with a free CD.
These are the 3 covers that caught my attention and I can see myself using ideas from and I have come up with a few of my own ideas based on this magazine.


March 21st 2011 Issue



July 13th 2010 Issue

June 14th 2011 Issue

-I have not be able to find a cover for this magazine with a female on it which is something that I am rather annoyed about. I want to creat a magazine similar to this but as I said when analysing the cover for Rolling Stone I want to have a female on the front cover. I have no idea what the target audience will be looking for when it comes to a woman on the front cover of this genre of magazine. Something Dark and quite heavy is what im thinking of but at the same time I like the elegence of the Rolling Stone cover with Amy Winehouse and the whole upper body shot. However im not sure that this is something that would work with this style so I think im going to have to experiment with my photoshoot.
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Rolling Stone Reseach

Rolling Stone is a magazine that is published in the United States of America, which is different to all of the other magazines I have looked at. It is a magazine that isnt just focused on music but also Liberal Politics and culture along with Movie and T.V Reviews, Artists, Blogs, Photos and Videos. I think that this is an interesting idea to combine all of this within one magazine but I would not put it in my magazine because my target audience would not find some parts of those topic interesting. The magazine was first published in 1967 and has changed and updated its self since then. 

Target Audience.


Front Covers.
I have looked at a lot of front covers from Rolling Stone Magzine and I have chosen 3 that I find I can take ideas from and these 3 also seamed really unique and stood out from the rest.
Masthead.


August 2011 Brazil Issue



Best of Rock 2011
Special Issue



June 2011
Special Edition

-Usually a white background with a coloured title placed in the centre at the top of the page. The title is always in the same place but the colour can change but mostly seams to stand out from the white background, along with whether or not it is placed on or under the image. This has developed a brand identity for this magazine as it had done with NME, by keeping things similar but changing the layout and the images used they have managed to keep it fresh while still remaining within their identity.
-Looking at these covers I have decided that I want a female model on my front cover, they seem to make the magazine more appealing and also I like the idea of having a female on the front cover because it is something that you don't tend to see very often with the metal music industry.

This is the Rolling Stone logo and it is normally the boldest piece of text on the front cover. It is bright red letters which is outlined with white and then placed on the grey background of the magazine's cover image. This adds layers to the cover of the magazine and the colours also create a contrast and makes the front cover of the magazine eye catching. The targer audience tend to see the title of the magazine first, the title is always in a fixed position, it starts underneith the skyline in the left third and works its way over the top of the magazine, because this has remained the same for every issue the magazine has developed a brand identity. On the August 2011 issue the title of the magazine is obscured by the head of Amy Winehouse, but you still know what magazine it is, this is evidence of brand identity. 

 Cover Image.
-The image is mostly placed in the centre of the page and is mainly a maximum of 3 people. Most the issues that I looked at had mainly one person and that was the main story on the inside of the magazine.
-Rolling Stone Magazine has various style of taking an image, some images are looking directly at the camera, others are looking up at the sky, a small amount are over the shoulder.
- In this issue they have made the face of Amy Winehouse clear and it is looking straight at the reader, giving them an almost instantanious feeling that they are involved in the magazine and that they need to read it to find out what is going on.
- She is wearing a red dress which stands out from the grey background but also works with the title as the masthead runs behind Winehouse's head. 
-There style of image has helped my decided to have an upper body shot on the front of my magazine, I like the closeness and the detail in all of these images and that is what I want to show.
- The text on the front cover is placed around the image, I noticed that mainly the text is up and down the sides with very little on the bottom of the cover.

Cover Lines.
- The main cover line is the event/issue that has happened and needs to be shown in a way that the target audience find it attractive so that they want to know what it is and they feel the need to read the magazine.
-All the text on the front cover tends to be in the same colour except from the title but the font and size change, this is mainly to get attention the main points tend to be bigger than the explanations and detail under neither. I like this because it adds a lot of variation to the cover and I would like to have something like that but maybe with a different twist, possibly including some boxes (incorporating ideas from Kerrang) because they don't seam to use them on the front cover of this magazine.
Colour Scheme.
With every issue of Rolling Stone the colour scheme is basically the same, all the colours have been chosen from the primary pallett and this creats a bigger impact with apperiance the colours stand out and create contrast imidiatly grabbing the target audience's attention. The title has been linked with the red dress that Winehouse is wearing, this makes the cover work and people find it intresting. Most of the colours on there are different shades of the same basic colour, this limits the colour scheme but it does work well as the text around the image stands out  and catches the attention of the target audience.

Contents Page.

- Rolling Stone Magazine has developed a house style, they use the same colours on the contents page as they did on the front cover and they have also kept the font's similar.
- The main text is on the right third on this page and this is unusual in a magazine as normally all text begins on the left third, also the word 'Contents' is written at the top of the page and is in capital letters and in white with a red background, this is slightly different to the front cover but it is still within the identity of the magazine.



Kerrang Reseach

Kerrang is a music magazine, you can tell by the title. The title uses onomatopoeia 'Kerrang' sounds like the strumming on a guitar, this is the instrument most associated with rock music, which is what Kerrang mainly looks at. The images on the front cover of the magazine could possibly be viewed as violent or aggressive and this is what most people associate with this type of music. Kerrang is published by Bauer Consumer Media in the UK and is the Worlds biggest selling Rock Music Magazine. It was initially devoted to the new British Heavy Metal when it was on the rise with brand new rock acts like AC/DC who appeared on the first issue of Kerrang. When it was first launched it was a monthly magazine, however with increasing interest and more and more new artists appearing on the scene it became a fortnightly published magazine then a weekly one, which is the version we know today.

Target Audience
The magazine has a niche audience which is very specific, it only covers topic and themes that attract people who listen to a rock music and are interested in the background behind the music. Kerrang is aimed mainly at the youth (teenagers) as most of the bands featured in the magazine have mainly teenage fans. The style its self can appeal to people as old as their late 20's because of the design with the up-to-date look and the down to earth feel that the magazine gives. It aims itself at attracting a mainly male audience with the images it uses being from iconic hard rock metal bands that often pull angry faces and appear violent. However they do also attract a female audience and they say that this is done by the interviews that the magazine contains as well as some of the pull out posters were the stars are often featured topless. It is also aimed at their lifestyles, it has full page advertisements for concert tickets to the bands featured in the magazine as well as alternative clothing and custom made jewellery. It also advertises Xbox, PlayStation, HMV, Play.com and a few others.

Front Covers

The front cover of this magazine usually has a varied colour scheme that always attracts attention. They use colours that work well in catching someone’s eye such as black on white, red on white. The background changes from black, white, dark grey when the back ground is darker the text seems to be a brighter color, yellow is often used.

I have looked at a varied amount of covers from Kerrang Magazine and I have chosen the 3 that I like the most and have taken the most idea and inspiration off. I am going to analyse the June 2009 one as I go through this research as that is the one that I like the most.



May 2006 Issue

October 2010 Issue

June 2009 Issue

- On each issue the pug is in the lower right hand corner. In some cases attention may be drawn to it because it is under the bar code, the pug contains information such as the issue number (useful for people who collect the magazine), the price, the date of issue and in this case the website is also included. There could possibly be an idea behind placing the website there, a lot of people are going to look at that area for date of release etc. and by putting the website there it is going to be seen by a lot of people.

Masthead.

This is the Kerrang logo. It is displayed at the top of each issue of the magazine. The font and the way that they have chosen to do the title shows that the magazine is about music. It appears to be cracked once again using the idea of onomatopoeia because that is what most people associate with this type of music. It has also created its own house style, on the front of many issues the name is covered up by the main image on the front of the magazine, but many people are still able to recognise it as Kerrang!. The title usually clashes with the colour scheme or stands out from it making it more noticeable. The title always begins in the left third of the magazine and makes its way across the top. This is something that I like about this magazine.

Main Image.

June 2009 Issue

The main image is spread over the front cover and this is done to show the main article on the inside of the magazine. If the band or solo artist is unknown to the reader the cover line is the anchorage. The name if the band on this front cover is Slipknot. Everyone on this front cover is looking directly at the reader, or that is the illusion given with the masks. The clothes that the band is wearing a dark and the masks could be seen as quite scary in some cases. These masks are something that the band is never seen without and have become part of their persona, this image reflects the band and there music. Although this image is dark it isn’t depressing it is one that is unique and something that people will see on the front of the magazine and wonder what it is. Working on the rule of Thirds the one wearing the white mask with his teeth visible appears to be the lead singer of the band, he image is bigger that everyone else’s and he has been defined from the rest of the band.

A couple of other things that I noticed by looking at the front cover of a lot of Kerrang's issues;
-I noticed that it is predominantly males on the front cover of the magazine. This could be because there are not many solo female rock artists, the few that were on there were accompanied by males.
-The banner that runs along the top of the title always has some form of appealing English in it to catch attention.
- Picture is mainly in the middle and has the effect of the person looking at you, the main position is leaning over and there is a focus on their face, this makes it seem that they are almost coming at you from the magazine cover. Their makeup is usually quite dark and elaborate and this makes is more appealing to the target audience.
- The text on the cover moves depending on the image on that issue. I noticed that there is always text running down the sides of the magazine but it can vary across the bottom and also varies in amounts.
-There are different fonts used on the front cover of the magazine, the title is always the same font although it does change color, however when it comes to the stories on the inside of the magazine they tend to use different fonts and colors for each main story. This adds contrast to the cover and adds a range of color and text.
- Sometimes the text can be in boxes, usually to separate it from the rest of the text and make it stand out or sometimes to add effect to the cover.
- The text of the front cover can vary in size; the key points are often bigger than the explanations and sometimes can be different colors.

Other Areas on the Front Cover.
In the left third of the magazine just under the masthead there is a small banner advertising winning tickets the K! Awards. This will attract attention as people love to enter competitions and they winning tickets to the K! Awards is the only way most people are going to get to see them without having to watch them on T.V because tickets are not sold.

In the cover line the emphasis on the word 'pain' attracts the reader’s attention to wonder what the article on the inside could be about. The artist’s name 'Slipknot' is not only in a larger, but it is also in a different font and a different colour. It is also made bold by being outlined in a thick red line and works its away across the page from the left third.

The 2 inserted pictures are the second ones on the front cover and are based in the left third and work their way across the page. They have a title under neither that states there is Free posters inside. The word free always stands out to the reader because it is thought of as receiving something without paying of it, in some cases people can view it like a gift.

Contents Page

- Of all the contents pages I have looked at I find this one really interesting, the word 'Contents' is in the top right hand corner of the page which is something that I have not seen before. Most of the contents pages I have looked at have had it placed in the top left of the page or in the middle. The word 'contents' appears to be the biggest word on the page, they have clearly labelled the page so that people are very clear as to what page they are reading.
- There is a kind of subtitle under neither the title 'Contents' but it is in very limited detail so people wonder what it is about this gains the interest of the readers and makes them wonder what it is all about.
- The labelling of pages is clearly set out with a very brief description of what each page or article contains. It had also been sectioned so that the reader can easily find any section of the magazine that they are wanting. All of this has been done very well so that each reader can find what they are looking for with ease. I like how they have continued the colour scheme from the font cover and the way they have sectioned the contents with the black and yellow it really does stand out. I really like this idea.
- On this contents page there are different images. The first image I noticed was the image of the magazine cover of the magazine its self. I have seen this on other contents pages in other magazine and it has given me an idea for my own magazine, because the issue number and date will be displayed on the contents page and I would also be able to link up my main cover stories with there page numbers through out the magazine with ease. All the individual images on the contents page have been labled with a page number and a brief description making it easier for the reader to find them. All the images give the reader insight into what each article is about. All of the images also vary in size, the bigger images give the impression that the article to accompany it is more important than the rest.
- The editor has their own small section on the contents page and this allows the reader to find out a little about them and it gives the magazine a almost personal touch. It also allows them to find out about who wrote certain parts of the magazine and find out what they are like.
-Usually on the contents page of 'Kerrang' there is information about signing up/subscribing to the magazine, it usually has a completely different background to the rest of the cover allowing it to catch the attention of people and creat more contrast. However this particular issue does not have one.

My Overall Impression.The layout and the design of the magazine suits the type of music that it is looking at very well. All of the issue of Kerrang that I have looked at have been bold and loud with a lot of information crammed on to one page, and I think that it is purposly done to attract the target audience. Rock music is known for being dark and disorginsed and very often there is a lot going on at the same time and this magazine uses these codes and conventions really well and that is what makes it such a success as a Rock Music Magazine.