Analysing Title Blocks

Kerrang!

The target audience for Kerrang magazine is 15-25 years olds who are interested in to rock/punk/grunge/ indie music. More males read this magazine than women. The publisher of the magazine is Bauer. This is a niche music magazine and from the front cover I can tell that there will a lot about bands and music inside. They have a range of bands and artists; this is so they can attract a wide range of audience. The title is bold and black as it made to stand out and make a statement. The word Kerrang is the sound that a guitar makes when it is struck really hard, this is known as onomatopoeia. The exclamation mark helps to emphasize the sound, make it seems as if it is really loud. The design of the block title tells me that the magazine is quite edgy. This is because the title looks like it has been smashed. It has the effect of a smashed glass or mirror which is quite edgy and again alternate. Showing the recklessness and loudness of the rock music also including their many sub-genres. The font type looks similar like graffiti and looks as if it has been stamped on to the page making it seem as if the name is being branded and will be able to be easily recognized, this gives an informal representation of the magazine. The colour scheme of black and white and the fort type portrays and image of roughness, edginess and uniqueness, which can be easily stereotyped throughout the audience. The white background helps the black font stand out but contrasts with the image as it can be mistaken for a formal text.

Rolling Stone

The target audience for Rolling Stone magazine are people from the age group 18-40. This magazine is devoted to people who enjoy music, politics and popular culture. The font used for this main stream magazine looks very classy and stands out due to the bold red colour and the white and black outline. This American magazine has a celebrity that it hot at the moment on the front cover to draw in the readers. Much like a tabloid newspaper, the title block is red making it stand out and possibly indicating that the information given is slightly more biased. The writing is really curvy and rounded joining together at some points making it look as if it could be a laid back image, as the magazine is easy going on what is published. The fact that all of the title has a dark shadow makes it stand out more. For some reason the font reminds me of an American dinner from the 60’s also from the band.



NME

NME, which is abbreviated from New Musical Express, is aimed for teenagers from 16-19 who are interested in indie/rock music. The publishing company for NME is IPC. This is a rebellious newspaper that started out as a newspaper but is slowly braking out to become a magazine. The magazine includes youth culture and what is the popular music at the moment. Not only does the red colour of the font match a tabloid newspaper the articles published are also like tabloids as they are much more like a gossip magazine. The font stands out as it is bright red. However it looks as if it is indented into the magazine as there is a darker shadow around the harsh edges, giving the wording some depth. The font type is kind of basic, but it is bold and capitalised making it stand out. Q

Q magazine is for music lovers from the older generations, who buy CD’s rather than downloading music. It is a sister magazine to Mojo, both are published by Bauer. This magazine includes in depth interviews and new released and up and coming talent. The magazine gives away promotional gifts such as cover mounted CD’s or books. The font type looks as if it is the classic “times new roman” making the title look formal as it is only one letter it is short and sweet and easy to remember. What does Q mean, the font style is very formal so does it mean, Queen or maybe it could mean Question as the questions that people have on the music industry can be answered in this magazine.