Friday, 30 September 2016

David Carson's magazine designs



 
 
 

David Carson is best known for his magazine designs along with his experimental typography. His magazines designs challenge traditional ideas of magazine cover designs through his choice of main image and the way he organises and presents the text. In the two examples above we can see that David Carson's designs differentiate from the stereotypical magazine cover; the use of the clear font in the first example with random bold letters and the way some of the words continue on to the next line is unseen in other magazines. The second example of David Carson's design coveys his individuality through the lack of text, which passes all of the attention onto the main image. The main image challenges traditional ideas through the use of flipping the artist's image; this image isn't very clear, it has the effect of a painted or drawn image which isn't usually seen within other music magazine cover designs. The contrast of colour also emphasises David Carson's individuality within his designs. David Carson also moves the barcode of the magazine from the usual space of the bottom right corner to meet his design style.


 
David Carson reinforces his individuality through these two magazine covers; by having the main image of the magazine inverted he represents how he moves away from traditional designs. He further represents this in the second example as the design has the look of a stamp or scrapbook which is not usually seen. This creates a personal feel to this magazine cover and is an inventive way to portray the magazines main article titles and featured artist.
 
Overall the inventive and unique style of David Carson's magazine design is something I would like to attempt within my work to help my magazine design stand out and show some creativity.

Thursday, 29 September 2016

Examples of different music magazines

 'Top of the Pops' is a generic music magazine with the target audience of young girls. They appeal to this target audience through the choice of the colour pink. Pink is seen as a feminine colour and so can be seen to be used throughout the majority of issues of 'Top of the Pops'. Further more the use of the boy-band featured stories are also used to appeal to the younger target audience of around 12-16+ of whom would be themselves the fans of these popular/mainstream groups.
'The Source' is a popular hip-hop magazine. Their target audience are usually from urban inner cities, over the age of 25+, with the majority of them being male. 'The Source' appeals to their target audience through the use of masculine colours, such as the reds and grey. The suggested violence within the main image also appeals to those who like rap as violence is incorporated within this type of music genre.
 
NME is a music magazine associated with rock, alternative and indie music; as well as then later in the magazines life, punk rock. This magazine appeals to individuals of  25 years+ and mainly male. The magazine cover, featuring Nirvana, appeals to this target audience through the simplistic image which contrasts the rock stereotype but complies with the indie genre. Therefore, this specific edition of NME appeals to those who prefer indie music; this is due to the black and white image along with the bold yellow font that stands out. By having a bold colour and simplistic, large font it would appeal to the target audience as it is captivating. 
 

Magazine Cover and Contents anaylsis

 
 
Front Cover: This magazine cover by billboard is quite minimalist in the amount of text. It is quite simplistic and traditional in its basic colour scheme of greys, whites and black.
Convey Genre:  Billboard magazine covers a wide range of music. Here the magazine itself, does not convey the genre of music through any of the text or the main image unless you know who the musician is. Usually in a music magazine the text or main image represent what genre is the main feature of the edition but there are no signs on this magazine cover.
Own Magazine:  I like the bold white text of the artist's name and the title of the article about him, this is captivating and so would attract the purchaser. I would use similar techniques in the use of text of my magazine as it is very simplistic yet eye-catching and appealing. The positive main image is also appealing through the artist smiling/laughing, which is something I would also like to represent in my music magazine. The lack of colour works well for this edition but in my magazine I would prefer some depth through my range of colours.

 
The contents page once again does not convey the genre as Billboard conveys multiple genres of music within editions of their magazines. Although it conveys the range of genres through the different images of the musicians and the colours used are not conventional for any specific genre. This contents page functions well due to the main featured stories being written in a bold blue text and the other articles being placed on the left; this then makes it easier for the reader to focus on the main articles. Further more from this organisation the contents page is quite simplistic and uncrowded which would appeal to readers.
 
 

Feautures for a magazine cover


Essential features for a good magazine cover

  • Eye-catching main image
  • Continuity/repetitive themes
  • Title-clear & bold
  • Colour
  • Pull quotes- captivating
  • Clear genre
  • Mode of address- how it speaks to the reader

Social Constructionism and Music Magazines



Social Constructionism and Music Magazines

  • Magazines and their readers and both partaking of a socially constructed reality. Hegemony.
  • The relationship is one of mutual dependence or symbiosis (co-exist).
  •  The magazine's ideology is encoded in all aspects of layout and mode of address (both written and visual).

Music Genres