Research and Analysis into the structure and content of existing magazines of the rock genre

Due to the lack of choice and difficulty finding an example of a magazine that solely focuses on the genre of indie-rock magazine, I have chosen to analyse NME Magazine in more detail. NME covers a broad range of music under the rock genre, indie-rock being one of those included. I have decided to gather some front covers of NME editions that feature an indie-rock band as the cover band/artist, which are shown below:
Front cover page examples:

The first thing I notice about this issue of NME is that the cover band is the main focal point of the magazine, the photo of the band appearing large and clearly on the page, even appearing in the foreground of the magazine’s logo itself. The name of the band: ‘Arctic Monkeys’ is placed larger than any of the other text on the page, justified left and spread across a large chunk of the magazine page. Though I noticed that the colour scheme of this text-aswell as the majority of the other text on the page- is kept fairly dull, in order not to attract too much attention away from the logo and name of the magazine, which is shown in a bright, eye-catching, red. There doesn’t seem to be much other crowded information on the page other than this focus on the main band-the band photo seems to be doing most of the work in terms of attracting the magazine’s target audience-although there is information about the rest of the articles that can be found inside, listed along the bottom and top of the page. ’15 new bands to get excited about’, can be read along the top - this text is noticeably typed in quite large capital letters, however, I noticed that again, the colour scheme of the font is fairly neutral and doesn’t seem to vary from the rest of the colour scheme that is used for the other text in order to keep the magazine’s logo the brightest object on the page.
Conclusively, this magazine’s layout is quite simple, basic, and spread out. There is no confusing clashes of colour or an assorted jumble of photos and blaring, loud text, which may represent the indie-genre as it is simply focused on the music, rather than the personality or image of the band.

On the left is another example of a cover page from another NME magazine. This cover presents Kasabian as the cover band. As opposed to the previous cover, this cover is straight away noticeably louder, with more brighter, bolder red font that contrasts strongly with the black and white of the band photo, helping them to stand out also. On first look, the reader’s eyes will immediately be drawn to the bright red of the logo, or the title of the band which is centred and spreads across a large chunk of the middle of the page, which reads: ‘The return of Kasabian.’
As before, this cover band seem to do most of the work in terms of attracting the target audience in, with the rest of the information about inside articles justified left and placed almost at the bottom of the page, in far smaller font than the main article. The page layout is fairly simple again, with no clashing photographs, and set out in almost a sophisticated way, although I think that this cover is more interesting and exciting than the previous cover example. I particularly like the contrast of red, black and white, an effective colour scheme to use in catching the eye of the target audience and effective in conveying the genre ‘rock’, and something that I will certainly consider trying to create when I produce my own magazine.

Contents page example:
The picture on the left shows the NME contents page. The masthead ‘NME this week’ dominates the page and immediately attracts the reader’s eye due to the black background it is based on and the contrast of the red and black in the title. Beneath this, there is a large photo of the Astoria, a London music venue that has, in recent years been closed down, and this photo takes up the majority of the page space. The caption below it, in quite large, capital letters states: ‘The End of the Astoria’, which sums up what the article is about almost instantly, as well as slightly dramatizing the sound of the article which may entice more readers into reading it.
The actual entire index is justified left, and listed down the side of the page, surprisingly small and narrow for the contents of the magazine. The font alternates between red for the name of the article and black for the page number, in order for ease of distinguishing between the name and page number, but also for the presentation of the page. On the right side of the Astoria photo, there is a more in-depth summary of what can be found in the index, every few articles classified into sections under headers, such as ‘News’, ‘Radar’, ‘Reviews’, ‘Live!’and ‘Features’. Conclusively, the contents page of this edition of EMA appears to be very detailed and makes ease-of-access for the reader for the easy to follow page layout, and two index lists. The contents page achieves its purpose of providing all the information about what is inside and available to read throughout, therefore, I am going to try and incorporate some of these elements found on this contents page into my own work. The only thing I would consider changing is to include more photographs on the contents page alongside some of the other articles rather than just the one, as I think this would make the whole layout more absorbing and certain articles more appealing to read.

Double page spread:
On the right is an example of a double page spread from NME magazine. The spread features the band as the main image, the photo expanded out to the far corners of the page to make up the background of the page for maximum impact on the reader when they turn onto the page. I particularly liked this example of a double page spread above others as I think it reflects the theme of indie-rock well, with the dull, monotone colours used for the photo and blue/white/black colour scheme that seems to run through. The text box is located on the right page, and takes up the majority of that bottom corner. The message that is trying to be portrayed through this article is a rebellious image –the band seem to be situated in a remote area, their expressions and poses serious and determined. The idea of this anti-authority ‘rebel’ image is also reinforced by the title of the article heading the body of text located in the bottom right: ‘Young rebel set’. The message that is trying to be portrayed across doesn’t seem to be that of fun-loving, lively image. I like the whole structure of the layout of this page, the simplicity of it, though in my own magazine I would like to include more photographs, images and information to portray the youthful, fun-loving image that the band represent.

Conclusion

This research has helped me to decide on what kind of layout and structure I need to base my own magazine’s layout on in order to portray the genre of indie-rock through my work. I think the layout I will try and achieve will be fairly simple to reflect the theme of indie-rock, but also incorporating other images and elements into the photographs and general layout of the page which will hopefully capture the youthful, energetic vibe I am hoping to achieve through the band that is fronting the magazine. More details of my plans for each part of the magazine will be included in my next blog, which will consist of individual briefs for each the front page, the contents, and the double page spread.