comparison to Kerrang!

FRONT COVER

The similarities between my front cover and that of Kerrang!s are not so distinct, but I have followed the conventions that Kerrang! have used. I have used one dominant picture in the middle of the page, which allows the reader to identify who is featured in the magazine and also the type of music that the magazine looks at.

I also used a big bold title, but mine does not go all the way across, simply because it is only three letters long. I decided to do this as I felt a short, snappy main coverline would be much more attractive than a long one.

I have used a slightly smaller cover line to show the main feature of this certain issue, and chose to place it in a very similar place to the one on the Kerrang! cover. I did this as I felt following the conventions would make it seem a lot more realistic.

I have used similar colours to those on Kerrang!. After looking at various music magazines, I found that many of them used these colours. Using a typical music magazine colour scheme makes my magazine seem more true to life, and also eye catching.

Using a different background colour means that my magazine would look original and bright on a shop shelf if it was to be produced, and this was my intention.

CONTENTS PAGE

The contents page I have created is not so similar to that of Kerrang!. This is because this certain issue of Kerrang! has used a number of images on the page, and the over all layout is completely different. However, I feel this makes my magazine both original and my own as well as following the conventions of a music magazine. My reason for not using more than one image is simply that the image I have used is very dominant on the page and sends out the message I intend on sending out. Also, it is easy to identify then who the magazine is featuring, and it is made obvious that the issue I have chosen to make is a "SEX BRIGADE" special.

The colours are too quite different. I have used a yellow background as I felt a white one would be quite boring to look at and I think having a brightly coloured contents page would encourage the reader to look further into the magazine. The colour scheme I used on the cover has been carried on to the contents page which makes the magazine look continuous.

The titles on both Kerrang! and my magazine are the same, in different positions. I felt using a similar title would make my magazine look as similar to Kerrang! as possible, and doing this makes mine seem more realistic. I also did this as I have used a bold and dominant picture, I felt using a bold title too would even out the page and make it look a lot more effective.

After analysing my contents page and comparing it to an existing product, it made me realise that the contents page I have produced doesn't follow the conventions enough to give it that professional finish. Therefore I need to further develop my contents page.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

My double page spread is quite similar to that of Kerrang!. I say this because the layout is pretty much the same. I have used a very dominant image on the left hand page, which was purposely done to immediatly attract the reader. Both the image I have used and the one in Kerrang! are black and white. I used very little colour on this page as I felt my front cover and contents page were very colourful, and having a page that contrasts to this would create more of an impact.

Similarly to the image on the left, I used a big, bold, eye catching title, that equally dominates the page along with the picture. This is so that it is obvious what the following article will be about and who the it is featuring. Using as little text as possible would make the reader want to read on, as the little amount of text I have used gives only an insight to what the following few pages will contain.

This is different to Kerrang! as their article is on the same page as the dominant picture, I felt using less text would make the image seem more dramatic, and it would have more of an impact without much writing.