AS Media
AS Media Coursework
Front cover textual analysis
On the front cover there is one single picture of the main artist of this magazine. The image is an extreme close up of his face and is in a muted toned colour scheme. The fact there is no eye contact from him connoting that he is a very unconfident, antisocial, introverted person. This contradicts his current fame as he is a very popular artist. The expression on his face connotes that he is a very antisocial person and you can tell from his sad face what kind of music he produces and therefore people know just from the image of his face what type of music this magazine has in it.
The headline is one word and is straight to the point. It is also in a very basic yet bold font. This reflects what sort of magazine it is, as it is an indie one, the simplistic kind of naturalness of the music is shown on the magazine. Kerrang is a rock magazine and uses a too, large header, but the font is very violent, matching the genre of music, rock, that it based on. By using such a simplistic font it shows both what genre it is and also what age group it caters for. It shows it is for a more mature audience as bright colours and ‘violent’ fonts are not used or needed to catch the reader’s eye.
The magazines layout is spread out and very modest. This reflects the type of person who would be buying this magazine and would attract them due to it’s relaxing nature rather than other magazines such as Rock magazine that is very busy and poorly laid out.
It has the main cover line in the left side of the magazine and uses a unique font that would appeal to the people who like unique music. It signifies this magazine is unconventional and different to other magazines.
This magazine is clearly for the older audience as it uses dulled colours and a ‘straight to the point’ logo as apposed to a wild childlike one such as kerrange.
Front cover textual analysis
The logo it big and simple meaning it is easy to remember and the red catches the readers eye. The red of the logo could make the reader think of blood and that kind of dark connotation which reflects the sort of rock magazine it is. The model is stood in a very angrily and is striking the logo with his guitar this connotes that this is a very violent character and, ergo a ‘violent’ magazine. He is wearing very stereotypical rock star clothing, showing that he himself, is a rockstar, and that people that liker the rock genre will enjoy this magazine.
The masthead is only one letter and is very plain however this means it is recognisable, it also means people take more notice at the other things on the page such as the artist and the cover lines. The selling line is extremely effective as, put simply, it is one of the best ones you could have. “the UK’s biggest music magazine” is definitely going to convince people to buy it as they know that if it’s the UK’s “biggest” then it must be the best.
The magazine is more spread out than kerrang is which is good as it seems more organised and more professional. However, it isn’t as simplistic as Clash. The cover lines and main cover do, however, fit around the picture of the model. And it is clear what the main cover is as the word “MUSE” is in massive bold text on the front, bolder that the logo, it’s as if it doesn’t matter what magazine it is if it has MUSE on the front. This would therefor attract Muses fans and people that like rock.
The magazine seems to be for a similar audience to Kerrang, however, it looks as if it is for and older audience as it is more professional looking and the text is more spread out, using a wider vocabulary and more mature logo.