Sara McGranaghan

Front Covers

Vibe is a bi-monthly magazine which is sold in the USA; it targets more of a mainstream audience unlike NME, mainly a young audience who follow the hip-hop and RNB culture. Vibe is known for the unique and creative designs of the magazine and the repeated use of using the RNB star Mary J Blidge as the cover star. This will appeal to the target audience because the readers of the magazine are likely to be big fans of her. The magazine includes featured segments such as the back page list 20 questions, a celebrity gossip column and profiles of up-and-coming celebrities. There is also models featured frequently throughout the magazine and many clothing brands that are linked to or created by hip-hop celebrities are associated with the magazine. Both of these will encourage young people who are fans of this particular genre of music to purchase the magazine.The use of colour appeals to the target audience also as the black and white image over the light blue background creates a very modern look for the magazine. The layout of this cover is quite plain which is very effective as the cover star

stands out well and overall the magazine looks more eye-catching. The masthead is in sans-serif which is quite an informal font which relates to the young audience which the magazine targets. It is very large which means it stands out well and it is the only font on the magazine in white so the title is very clear. On the right side of the magazine there is a list of celebrities that the readers will be fans of, this is giving them a hint of what is included in the magazine so that they will purchase it to read the articles. Rihanna & Chris has been wrote in large bold font in the corner of the magazine, these are both very famous and as they are a famous couple that are in the lime light a lot more people are likely to buy the magazine.The target audience has also been reflected through the main image which is of a very popular RNB artist Rihanna that has a main fan base of young people. This will encourage them to buy it as seeing a star that they are big fans of they will want to read an article about her. The rule of thirds has been used here as she is placed slightly to the left leaving space for article headlines down the right side of the cover. Although this is very basic it is extremely effective and the magazine looks very professional and set out well.Finally, in the bottom right corner there is a website for the magazine and considering the magazine is targeting a younger audience in comparison to NME this is important as it is this age range in which use the internet more and are much more technically advanced.

Sara McGranaghan

The New Musical Express or more commonly known as NME is a music magazine which is published weekly in the UK. It started as a newspaper in 1952 when it was first published and gradually moved towards a magazine format in the 1980s. The magazine is mainly associated with punk or rock and targets an audience which prefer this genre of music. Unlike Vibe, NME targets more of an older group of people in comparison to the younger generation as these are the people who are more likely to be into the music that the magazine is based around. The house style of the magazine is more compact than Vibe; there is a bright blue background which allows the masthead and cover stories which are in red to be very eye-catching. The band a name of Muse and the Artic Monkeys are in red allowing them to stand out and as these are famous bands it will draw attention to the magazine. There is a variety of fonts on the front making it

seem informal and the use of sans-serif font re enforces this. The colours used contrast much more than Vibe which seems more punk which is the effect the magazine is going for. The magazine is a ‘Green Day Exclusive’ who is a popular band and this will encourage the target audience to purchase it. Also, in a large white font is the name ‘BILLIE JOE’ who is an American rock musician and the lead guitarist of green day. There is a quote from him which is quite intriguing and people that are fans of him would want to buy the magazine in order to read more about what he has to say. Guttenberg’s design principle has been used because the cover star is slightly moved to the right which gives the cover balance and leaves room to put the masthead and other cover lines to the left of the magazine. The main image is of Billie Joe who will appeal to the target audience because he is an extremely popular musician with people that are fans of rock and punk music therefore these people will be encouraged to purchase the magazine. We can see that the magazine is popular as the cover star is partly in front of the masthead and as the magazine has 5 million users per month it is understandable that the editor does not think that it has to be as noticeable. Also, because the magazine always uses the same masthead it is easily recognised and the fact it is red means it stands out amongst the blue background.

Both of these magazines are extremely different as they have completely different target audiences. The NME uses vibrant colours which contrast against each other to represent the genre of music the

Sara McGranaghan

magazine is based around. A very punk effect is created by the use of colour on this magazine and this is what would attract the target audience to it. Whereas, on Vibe softer colours are used which mix in well with each other and looks very modern. Vibe magazine looks more glamorous which represents the world of RNB and hip-hop and appeals to the younger generation. The cover stars are both very different too as Rihanna on Vibe magazine is portrayed to look very glamorous which is the look that the magazine seems to go for. She is a popular RNB star so this goes well with the theme of the magazine whilst NME has used a rock musician with tattoos and black spiked hair, showing that this magazine is based around a completely different genre. Vibe is a much plainer magazine than NME and has less cover lines and tag lines, NME is very compact and looks very busy which emphasises the wild side to punk and rock music whilst Vibe seems much more elegant.

Sara McGranaghan