The two magazines I will be comparing
are ‘Guitar’ and ‘Total Guitar’. Both are specifically aimed to be read by the
audience of people who like guitars and music by guitarists or the guitarists
themselves. Both magazine covers share similar features which can explain why
they both attract similar audiences.
The cover of
‘Guitar’ is presented in a way that shows all the information in a spread out
way. The title ‘GUITAR’ is coloured bright pink with a white outline around it
that makes it stand out. The colour of the title could also attract females
because of the pink, associated with girls. The title of this magazine is the
only text on this page which is bright pink. The other magazine cover ‘Total
Guitar’ has also done the same thing with the colour. Words such as ‘Greenday’
and the background of ‘100% Accurate’ is bright pink, made to stand out, but on
this cover, other text such as band names; ‘Mumford & sons’, ‘Arctic
Monkeys’ has been written in bright pink font, which is different from the
cover of ‘Guitar’ as the bright pink text has only been used for the title.
The title of
‘GUITAR’ at the top of the page is blocked at the end of the word by the
picture of Jimi Hendrix that overtakes the page. This shows that the picture is
the selling point of the magazine and the item that attracts the most attention
because it’s the biggest thing on the page, and is the only picture. The
magazine cover designer has done this because it’s easier enough to read
without being able to see the whole word of the title ‘Guitar’. A similar thing
has been done for the cover of ‘Total Guitar’. The picture of the guitarist on
this cover blocks off the ‘I’ of ‘guitar’ in the title. This has been done for
the same reason, that you can understand the title without needing to see the
whole word.
The pictures
on the covers also play a huge part of selling the magazine. For ‘Guitar’ the
only picture on the cover is the picture of Jimi Hendrix holding up a guitar, a
very famous guitar player. Because it is big and takes over the page, no other
pictures have been put on, purely because no other pictures are needed. Other
multi-coloured graphics are splashed across the picture of Jimi; this is to add
colour and more excitement to the cover. For ‘Total Guitar’, there are 4
pictures on the cover. The main and biggest picture is of the man holding the
bright yellow guitar. The rest are smaller and one is a small picture of a
guitar to add entertainment, and the other two are pictures of bands that are
explained on the cover. The both are similar with the big picture on the
magazine, but the ‘Total Guitar’ magazine cover is slightly different because
it’s got 3 more extra pictures than the ‘Guitar’ cover.
The text
used on both magazine covers persuades the reader to buy the magazine. For the
‘Guitar’ cover, it uses words that get the reader involved. ‘Poster! 9/11
tribute guitars’. The stories the designer has included can be known by most
people, and using a ‘poster’ in the magazine keeps the audience involved and
interested of what the poster is of.
From these
two covers, I have learnt that music magazines can differ and be similar
depending on the features including on the cover. Even though music is a big
industry, the pictures and text used on these covers are related to the genre.
From these covers, it has helped me and given me ideas for when I create my
magazine cover. The ideas it has given me are; to use pictures related to the
articles, to give a variety of stories, not just the same ones and to use bold
font and colours to make it stand out to my audience.
