This double page spread is very similar. The quote at the top of the page is from the article. It fits with the genre of the magazine as it is bold and looks like the type of rockerish type of font. The colours on the page are harmonious and are clear to read although the background is such a dark colour. There are several images on this page therefore very little text, this may appeal to some readers as it is clear to read and less cluttered however other readers may prefer to have more text as they like to know as much information about their favourite band as they can.

In the top right hand corner there is a red box which inside says ‘world exclusive’. This box is eye-catching because of the bright red colour which it needs to be to get the readers attention. When readers see this they may be more inclined to read it as it is world exclusive therefore no other magazine will have it. This is backed up by the slogan underneath the quote near the top on the right hand side of the page, this says ‘ My Chemical Romance invite kerrang to their recording studio’ My chemical Romance is in a bold font therefore to make it stand out more as the article is about my chemical romance. The other bit of the slogan however is just as important as Kerrang went to My Chemical Romance’s recording studio which doesn’t happen often and that’s why its world exclusive. A lot of readers will be interested in this.

This page obeys the conventions of a double page spread and I will take into consideration things like the ‘world exclusive’ box and the slogan underneath the quote when creating mine.

This is a double page spread out of the music magazine NME. People who know who the artist is on this double page spread (lily Allen) have an advantage however readers who may not be familiar have to read into more depth to know whether to read on or not, Lily Allen’s name is highlighted in a bright red which does stand out to the other text surrounding it however is not noticeable when you first look at the page.

This double page spread is easy to read as the background is white and very plain(not cluttered) which drags the readers attention to the picture and text, especially with the text being jet black and Lilly Allen dressed in red with jet black hair. The colour of her hair and shirt also is very similar to the text, she could be seen as more of a masculine character in this photo as her tartan shirt makes her look more manly than womanly, also her wrists are pointed up which shows off her tattoo on her wrist, this makes her look more rebellious which tells the reader a bit more about her without even reading into the text.

The text in this article is written in columns and is separated by gutters. This is a convention of a double page spread as is the image on the right hand side of the page. There is a big clear subtitle on the left page at the top which says ‘people think I’m an attention seeker, but I’m just honest’ the colour of this text works really well with the black against white. This is also a quote from inside the article which covers yet another convention of a double page spread. There is also a page number at the bottom of the pages, another convention obeyed.

This is another example of a contents page from a music magazine. Just like the contents page from the NME magazine it uses similar colours (red, black, white).
The white yet again works well as a background for other coloured text to be placed on top. However like the NME magazine it only includes one big photo and one little photo, this means that there is more text which makes it looked very packed and not that easy to read.

I like the way the editor has put the page numbers and what the magazine features down the left side of the page. In the bottom right hand corner there is a box which says ‘the worlds biggest and best music guide’. This is important information especially for attracting new or existing readers as they need to know it’s the best magazine for music guidance, the colour of the box stands out to the rest of the page in a way as it is blue however the colour is light therefore is not one of the things you may look at straight away.

At the top of the magazine it has the name of the magazine, the page in which the reader is viewing (contents) and also has the date, issue number and the web address. This is something else that is handy to add into a contents page as it is at the top of the page where the title and the magazines name is which could draw more readers into reading it, letting them know it’s a rather big magazine company having its own website(institutions).

This magazine obeys the conventions of a contents page however does not feature a picture of the editor or a message form the editor as a lot of magazines do.

This magazine is more of a pop music magazine. Therefore the colours on the contents page are slightly different. The colours used are pink, black, yellow, white and red. Pink is normally seen as a girly colour and pop music can sometimes be stereotyped as music more for girls than boys. However the white background yet again works very well against the colour of the text. The pink box in the right hand bottom of the page stands out because of the colours (bright pink and bright yellow) this is good as it may encourage more people to buy the magazine as it says ‘£2 off’ and ‘cheap entry’ which readers may be interested in.

It obeys the conventions of a contents page. It includes page numbers with what it features inside. It is clear and easy to read which has been helped by the colour of the text. It also uses more than one image which makes it a lot more interesting however draws you in to one particular image in the centre of the page.

The text on the contents page has been split up into two sections. One section is with the page numbers and what they feature and the other section is down the left hand side of the page which is information about different events, what they are, where they are and where they are happening. I like the way this contents page is set out and may take into consideration the design when I am creating my contents page.

The purpose of a contents page is to give the reader an idea of other stories/ information within the magazine and what page numbers you can find it on.
It also needs to be easy to read and follow, with this particular magazine this is helped by the white background enabling the text to be any colour for it to show up clearly. The colour scheme of the contents page is usually similar if not the same to the front cover; this is the case with this particular magazine. Also the magazines featured in the black box in the bottom left hand corner also have similar colours to this magazine too. The idea of the black is to attract the readers to it for them to subscribe, the colours the editor has used has worked well with achieving this as the important text is in yellow which is a very bright colour especially on top of black, it is very eye catching.

However this contents page only features one big picture and a lot of text which may be boring to the reader especially if it’s someone wanting to know what is in the magazine before buying it but at the same time shows the importance of this photo/ story as it’s the biggest thing on the page. Although it does include page numbers, a small bit of information about each page/story and band index for people to find the band of their choice easier. There are also black arrows next to some of the features which lets the reader know they are stories which featured on the front cover.

Something else that may get more readers attention is the red arrow in the right hand bottom corner of the contents page which says ‘The UK’s number 1 gig guide’. I feel this contents page obeys the conventions of a contents page well and this could help me with choosing my colour scheme.

kerrang analysis

Kerrang is another well known music magazine; It is the worlds biggest selling rock magazine in the world. The mast head on this magazine is the title of the magazine, this is usually expected of the mast head. It is the largest font on the front of the magazine, making it stand out for readers to notice. There are black lines going through the mast head, I think these lines look like guitar strings and the producers may have done this as it is a rock music magazine and in rock music they very often use guitars. The colour of the mast head is white therefore contrasts with a lot of darker colours especially the colour of the background of this magazine; it makes the masthead stand out more. The white against the blue, as the blue is quite a darkish colour.

Above the mast head is a cover line which says ‘Reading and Leeds 09: Rated! 8-page pull out!’ this means that inside the magazine Is another smaller magazine which has information about a recent festival, because the masthead stands out a lot when the reader picks up the magazine, above is the cover line about the free pull out therefore this could have an effect on more people being interested in buying the music magazine.

The main image is of a well known modern artist, Green day. This band is loved by a lot of people therefore when they see green day on the front of the magazine that also may persuade more people to buy it. The guy in the main image has a guitar in his hand; this is the ideology of the band green day as it is a rock band. Another reason why more readers may buy the magazine is because of the main cover line which is also about green day. The main cover line is the biggest font on the front cover other than the mast head, its says ‘This is the best show out there. Greenday exclusive us tour report’ this cover line will be another reason why more people buy this magazine. The colour of some of the text is a gold/ yellow colour; the editor may have decided to use this colour to express the fact that their magazine is a top class magazine, as the colour gold is usually used for things like 1st place winners in a competition. I think this magazine uses conventions of a magazine cover. It has a main image, a main cover line, other cover lines, plugs, the barcode with the issue no, date and also includes a website for the magazine.

NME magazine is also another popular music magazine. There is not much information on this magazine cover, I find it quite boring however people who are committed to buying it every week would not think it was boring. The main image is a picture of a singer La Roux. La Roux is quite new to the music industry, this is shown in her face as her face has been edited to look clean, fresh and new. For example the teardrops down her eyes have a sparkle on them like they are new and shiny, her eye make-up also looks fresh also because of the fact it is blue. Water is represented as the colour blue therefore is another reason why she is fresh and clean. The idea of her being new and fresh could also be the idea that she is rather different to any other pop star, the way she dresses and the way she does her hair and make-up. The top she is wearing is kind of shell like which could represent her coming out of shell to become a pop star.

The mast head is the name of the magazine which is NME. The colour of the mast head is red, the colour red is a quite passionate colour therefore it could mean they are passionate about their magazine. The font of the mast head is quite big and looks like it has been stamped on the page. This draws readers in because its like the producers are telling them you must see this, kind of like a letter which has IMPORTANT stamped on it. The producers being passionate about their magazine is also shown in the cover line at the top right of the magazine, it says ‘special magazine, the future of music’ they make their magazine sound the best out of all of the music magazine. The fact it says ‘special issue’ also draws the readers in more too because it obviously has some information in that is exclusive or it could mean the magazine is bigger that certain week.

The main cover line relates to the main image. ‘Starring LA ROUX, I’m a whole new kind of pop star’, this catches the readers attention especially if they are a fan of La Roux because inside the magazine there is going to be some sort of interview with LA Roux and because of her being a new pop star people will want her to know about her and what she is like.

Another cover line which is just like a main cover line is ‘The future 50, the bands, the artists, the innovators’. This cover line doesn’t really make much sense for example the future 50, the bands could mean the 50 bands in the future however the reader could be left asking, future bands for what? Or how do the producers know what the next 50 bands are going to be? That’s why it is a good cover line to catch peoples eye and make them want to buy it to enable them to find about these future 50 bands. Also the cover line is big and the best bit of information is the part that is in a big font this catches peoples eyes.

Just in front of the mast head is a circle with a cover line inside it which talks about ‘exclusive, arctic monkeys new secret single and how to get it’. The positioning of this cover line catches the readers eye as it is right in front of the mast head which is one of the first things that the reader looks at. Also the reader will feel more obliged to buy it as they can find out how to get this new single exclusively, which could mean that hardly anyone else will be able to get it unless they buy and read this magazine.

At the bottom left corner of the magazine is another cover line which says ‘plus’ then says four artists/bands names, the reason that these names are at the bottom of the magazine where they are not noticed as much as some of the information on the magazine could be because they are not as popular or good as the other artists mentioned in the other cover lines. Also the font and colour of the cover line is rather boring and small therefore that is one of the reasons it is not noticed as much as the others.

The price, and date/issue number of the magazine is just underneath the cover line about arctic monkeys single however it is quite hidden, this could be because a lot of the readers of this magazine buy the issue every week therefore already know how much the magazine costs.

This magazine cover obeys the conventions of a music magazine it has the price, bar code, cover lines, main image, mast head and main cover line, however I think it is rather boring therefore it could have some more interesting information and add a bit more colour.