Comparing two magazine covers

                                                          Comparing two magazine covers

 

In the two magazines I have compared (Kerrang! & Total Guitar), I found many similarities and differences between the two covers and what language and presentational devices that they have used. Both of them fit into the ‘rebel’ rock genre and it is very interesting to see what both of the magazines put on the cover for it to sell and how they differentiate and also how they’re similar.

A similarity in both of the covers is that Billie Joe Armstrong is the key figure on the cover, and in both of the magazines his head covers the title of the magazine but the big subheading ‘Green Day’ goes over his picture in both of the covers. This is showing that usually, the readers from Kerrang! and Total Guitar will know what the title looks like as they would have most likely purchased the magazine before so they will be able to spot it in the shop easily without the worry of the title being unclear to the customer. This means that both of the magazines can allow themselves to put a key icon such as Billie Joe Armstrong on the cover of the magazine.

The subheading which is going over both of the cover pictures which says ‘Green Day’ is there incase someone is unaware that Billie Joe Armstrong (in the picture) is in Green Day as they may like the band, they will be more likely to purchase the magazine based on the fact that they like Green Day but just may not know what the members look like. In both of the magazines, Green Day is in big bold writing in bright colours (In Kerrang! it is a florescent red colour and in Total Guitar it is a bright hot pink), this automatically grabs the reader’s attention.

A difference in Kerrang! and Total Guitars is the colouring used on the covers of the magazine. Total Guitars generally have used dull faded out black and white colours throughout the cover (apart from the subheadings) and Kerrang! have used bright eye-catching colours such as yellow and red on their magazine. I think that Total Guitars have showed a more sophisticated approach in their cover whereas Kerrang! have just used eye grabbing colours which would most likely catch the eye of more people who are interested in music rather than Total Guitars.

Both of the magazines have used pronouns such as ‘your’ on the cover of the magazines. This speaks directly to the speaker and makes them feel like the magazine is speaking out to them. Kerrang! have even underlined the word ‘your’ which is allowing the reader to feel apart of the magazine and like they are interacting.

I have learnt from comparing and looking at both of these magazine colours that presentational devices and language used on magazine covers are highly important because presentational devices such as colour could effect on how many readers the magazine has due to some magazines such as Kerrang!, using eye catching colours and getting a huge amount of readers and possibly being more well-known than Total Guitar which uses more dull colours throughout their cover which grabs less readers attention. Language is also important because when pronouns such as ‘your’ are used, they allow the reader to feel involved and I think I will be including pronouns on my magazine cover to allow readers to feel involved.