The first magazine front cover I looked at was this one from 'Classic Rock' magazine. The target audience for this magazine would be a Traditionalist, Hedonist/Post-Modernist Male/Female aged 28-60 with also a small focus on the younger music fans beginning to listen to classic rock and would fit in any category of the Jicnar scale. The magazine is about Classic Rock, as the title tells us, and focuses on the style of Rock music that was most prevalent during the 1970's - late 1980's, the magazine also publishes articles from newly produced bands who have the same mindset and style as the older and more achieved bands.
The front cover has a masthead in a thick, white, upper-case, Serif font with stars either side of the 'Classic' sign, a main image of two 'AC/DC' band members in black and white, there are four coverlines down the right hand side of the page and a freebie CD covering about a third of the page.
The Masthead being in upper-case, serif font connotes dominance and simplicity so it is not to detract from the music. The serif font with stars either side of 'Classic' could be connoting that classic rock fans are important and worth an almost prestigious or exclusive title, this is also a parody of a set list for a gig. The colour choice of white with no outline connotes that classic rock is a pure form of rock and is a respectable music genre. The main icon being in black and white connotes a classic and vintage style of magazine. The four coverlines are promoting the material and articles inside the magazine. They are all very famous classic rock bands/performers e.g. Van Halen, Slash etc. This connotes that the magazine is of good quality and has the reputation and funds to include four famous performers in just one issue of 'Classic Rock' magazine. The 'freebie' CD is in a substantial, full bodied CD case rather than a small CD sleeve and is of the '15 High-Voltage New Bands', this also connotes that the magazine is of a high quality and has an extensive knowledge of the genre of music they portray, excercising this knowledge by creating a compilation of the best new bands in that genre.
I think that this magazine has a very large focus on quality and conveys the idea that the audience is paying for a great deal of information and entertainment when buying the magazine. The amount of high profile artists that are included on the front cover is a good example of the high quality image that the magazine attempts to portray.
The next magazine I am looking at is this front cover from 'Classical Music' magazine. The target audience for this magazine are aspirers, achievers and succeeder traditionalists in the A and B section of the Jicnar scale. The gender would be female or male and from an age group of 35-70. The subject of the magazine is classical music as, once again, the title tells us. The focus of the magazine is to report the news from all areas of the classical music profession and make it available to the masses.
The front cover has a white masthead, the font used for 'Classical' is a thin, curved, serif font without an outline. The font used for 'Music' is a straight, thin, serif font, also without an outline. The main icon is a respectable looking man wearing a suit, shirt and no tie, sat on a wooden bench in front of a plain brick wall. He is sat with his legs crossed looking off screen at something to his right hand side. At the top right hand side of the front cover there is a small 'reversed out' coverline, this is promoting an article inside the magazine and is written in a white, rounded font with a red background.
The serif, curved font used for 'Classical', in the masthead, connotes a level of sophistication and a feeling of high class that is related to this genre of music. The serif, straight font used for 'Music' in the masthead connotes a level on simplicity in the magazine as well, showing that the music genre itself is complex and sophisticated, but the magazine is simply about the music without any distractions. The main icon connotes that the magazine is tailored for the middle-upper class citizens who would wear a suit and shirt as leisure wear, once again promoting the idea that the music is for sophisticated and educated people to listen to and enjoy. This icon is playing with the old fashioned belief that individuals involved in classical music are always wearing a tuxedo and looking stern, and changing this into a slang version of a man sat, open collared in a leisure suit, smiling with his head over to one side. The reversed out coverline connotes that the magazine has a lighter side as it is a slightly comedic feature. The rounded white sans serif font creates the idea that the magazine is friendly and on the same level as the audience, creating a better customer - seller relationship.
I think that this magazine has focused mainly on creating a sophisticated and intelligent feel to the content, this leads to a certain psychographic/demographic audience who would stereotypically be associated with listening to classical music and being interested in the news that surrounds classical music.
No comments:
Post a Comment