Ideas Behind Covers

Metal Hammer is aimed towards audiences that enjoy listening to the metal genre. The genre of metal is stereotypically darker than other genres and the cover of this magazine reflects that by not being very colourful. The fonts are also quite aggressive in the way that they look. The main image that has been used is of the band Black Sabbath which are a very popular and respected band from this genre. The costume used represents the band as they wish to be seen by the audience and the mise-en-scene of the cover is dark and plain. The main image also covers the masthead of the magazine, this is because the magazine is well known and has a regular target audience so therefore because the masthead is consistent, the magazine is still easily recognisable. Cover lines are used under subheadings on the cover to inform audiences of the articles featured in the magazine. The mode of address for this magazine is serious because it fits in with the style of the genre.





Mojo Magazine is aslo a very popular magazine focused around the rock genre. The cover of this particular issue is based around The Beatles, because of this the cover has been done in mostly black and white because it is simple and matches the artist. The costume used on the artist as the main image is quite smart showing the style of the music as well as the style of the magazine, this also shows the target audience of the magazine to be older/mature. Again, the masthead has been covered by the main image, this gives the impression that the magazine has followed the same style for a lot of its time and is known enough by its audience to recognise the magazine without the title.

NME is a hugely popular music magazine which is focused around the alternative/indie genre. The cover of this particular issue shows that the masthead has been edited to fit in with the main image, the fonts on the cover have all been used to create a house style of this issue. The artist has been put into black and white to emphasise bright clothes and the bright cover that has been used. The masthead of the magazine is normally red but has been changed suggesting that this is a special issue and will be interesting to their audience. The costume in the main image is bright and outstanding, adding colour to the magazine and focusing the attention where it is wanted.