The first magazine i began to research was the Rolling Stones. This is an extremely popular magazine which is sold in the United States and includes music, politics and popular culture, that is published every two weeks.
The image of Lady Gaga has been used on the front cover. She is an extremely popular new popstar that has had a couple of number one hits. Using Lady Gaga would straight away draw attention to the magazine as she is very popular and many teenagers see her as a role model. The heading 'rolling stones' in the bluey/grey font contrasts but works well with the pink background. The fact that the image of Gaga is in front of the heading really draws our focus to the image of her. The photo of Lady Gaga itself is very eccentric, however that is Gaga's character; with the big hair, minimum clothing and the bubbles. Many shades of pink have been used from a light pink to a purple which adds interest and effect to the cover. The text over the entire cover apart from the heading is in the same font which adds profesionlism as if it was in different fonts then it would look too much and that there is too many things going on. The text is in white which stands out with the pink background, especially with the black outline on the text. Also the font is placed around the image of Gaga which shapes out her figure, instead of putting the text on top of the image. The use of bubbles i believe to be very effective as the text says 'the rise of lady gaga', which i think resembles the bubbles as they rise to. Overall i believe the front cover of this magazine to be a sucess. The colours and font that has been chosen works well and the image of Lady Gaga with the bubbles is very effective.KERRANG!
The second magazine i researched was Kerrang. Kerrang is a rock music magazine published by Bauer Consumer Media in the United Kingdom. Kerrang only focuses on rock music including all
new rock bands which is brought out on a weekly bases. Kerrang's main target audience is male's aged between 17-21.The front cover of the magazine uses a significant colours which are white, black , yellow , red and green these colors enable the magazine to be eye-catching and it allows certain cover lines to stand out. The main image on the magazine is of the featured band which is called' You me at six'. The image uses the facial expression of surprise with the angle of the image used to attract the audience attention. Also as it is eye catching there some sort of eye contact formed by this image. The images at the bottom of the cover all have borders around them, which i think is quite effective as helps them to stand out. Doing this helps as the main cover photo is very strong and draws your attention to it, having the borders on the images balances out the readers focus. At the very bottom of the magazine it has to the word 'plus' with it written in an arrow pointing at everything that is also included in the magazine. This just adds different things to the magazine and the way it is laid out with the writing going along the bottom looks better than if it was just written in a list. Throughout the cover to this magazine little details have been put in; for example having the band's name in a different colour to the writing around it. Also having the writing slaunted adds effect as the other text is straight so it contrasts to that. Other details that i have taken into encount would be the fact that the word 'free' is in a different colour to 'poster special'. This makes the word 'free' stand out and as it is free it could draw the readers attention straight to it and it helps advertise the magazine.
HEAT
'Heat' magazine always stick to same layout which i think looks good and the public remember the magazine. If this project was a long term i would stick to the same layout. I think the title
being in lower case works well and stands out in the red with the white background. The title being simple and plain helps it stand out more, as if the title was fancy it tends to draw the readers attention to that and not what is actually going on around it and in the magazine. When designing my front cover to my magazine i will stick with a plain and simple title, so that the readers focus will be on the cover stories and images on the front cover. At the top of the magazine the word 'scandal!', is a technique of drawing the reader in, as they will want to know what it is and the 'gossip'. The magazine covers sticks to a clear colour scheme of having the red, black and white.However at the top they used the colours blue and yellow, which you would think would clash but it actually looks very effective and helps again to stand out. Lastly the magazine designers are very clever by putting the price in a very small font, which i might consider doing with my magazine. However if i am selling it for a cheap price i will make that clear that stand it out so that the readers can see it. I could also use words like 'only' to show how cheap it is.
