Magazine 2 - Rocksound

General Information.

- Founded in 1999
- Aiming to be more underground and indie.
- Published by Freeway Express Inc.
- Circulation: 15, 000.


Colour Scheme


Rocksound uses a lot of different colours in their design. Blue, yellow, red are the most used colours, but the magazine also features colours like green and purple. These are very "playful" colours, and it tells us immediately that Rocksound is aiming towards a younger and more playful audience. In compare to Metalhammer, that is more serious, tougher and mature, Rocksound is younger, fresh and playful.

Photography

Rocksounds pictures is for the most part studio pictures taken exclusively for the magazine or they are normal press-photographies. Rocksound has a open-minded, young audience. So it's important for them to feature a lot of new bands. The photographies itself are usually neutral or even portrayed with an high angle. It's important to Rocksound to make the bands seem as natural as possible, to make it easier for the audience to connect with them.

Writing Style

Rocksounds language is more gently and serious then for example Metalhammers. What's interesting is that Rocksound doesn't use a "young" language in their articles. The language is actually quite formal and analytical despite the youth approach the magazine has.
Rocksound is a monthly magazine, so they have the time to make longer and more articles. Rocksound definitely focuses on making a lot of articles. Although they have fewer pages then Metalhammer, they have more articles and they are featuring more bands.
In the review section I think we really get an essential part of Rocksounds image.  The review section is long, and it features a lot of bands. Rocksound is a relatively new magazine, compared to most other music magazines. Because they are "new" it's very easy for them to relate to "new" music. Most of the music in Rock Sound consist of young, usually British bands making their best music now instead of older magazines like Metalhammer which tend to also focus on old bands.

Text/Picture ratio

Rocksound definitely features more pictures then text. In many articles the text is actually written over a picture. Rocksound is a very visual magazine, it makes it at once more exiting to a younger audience, but may seem a little messy and less serious to others.


Fonts

Rocksound uses very clean fonts throughout the whole magazine. Rocksound is not a "metal" magazine like Metalhammer, and this shows on the fonts they have chosen. The simple, sightly retro fonts used for the cover lines are especially a thing about Rocksounds design that makes it "non metal" and maybe more accessible for listeners outside the genre.

Overall Look

Rocksound is a strange magazine. Visually it's colourful, young and childish, but when you start to go in depth in the articles and the language it's mature, serious and even analytical.  Rocksound have managed to have this unique combination of being relevant, young indie and yet a mature magazine. The audience of Rocksound may be teenagers and young adults, but obviously thinking teenagers and young adults. It's also good for the magazine's part. Because they aren't to contemporary, so they doesn't "lock" themselves to a certain music phenomena or wave. 
Maybe the most interesting thing about this issue of Rocksound, the dubstep, dance artist Skrillex on the cover. It reinforces Rocksound as a youth magazine, not necessarily locked to one genre of music.

Magazine 1 - Metalhammer

Cover.

General Information

- Founded in 1986.
- Considered the ‘underground’ magazine to competitors Kerrang! and NME.
- Published by Future Publishing.
- Circulation: 41, 800.

Colour scheme

Metalhammer usually contain the colours red, white, grey and black. And it’s the same red colour (#a23823) for the whole magazine. Although this varies as we go into the longer articles/interviews. Metalhammer uses these colours because it’s typical 'metal' colours, and an important part of Metalhammer’s trademark is to 'stay metal'. Since Metalhammer got a less mainstream approach it’s important to apply to the underground audience, and the underground audience often expect magazines like Metalhammer to be conservative and reflect them.

Photography

Metalhammer got a mix between studio, location, archive and live photographies. In small articles, reviews and notes there are more natural posed archive photographies, but in the longer interviews and articles, Metalhammer have been consciously deciding location, setting/costumes and pose. Often the photographies in the longer articles are building up under the image of the band. There is a long article about the band Slipknot, which features them in a series of relatively dark photographies. Another example is an article about Manowar, which only consists of live photographies. Live shows is a thing that a metal fan would associate with Manowar (they actually hold the world record of the longest concert ever). Again, Metalhammer is displaying this "we give you what you expect" attitude towards their readers. They know this genre of music, and so do their audience.

Writing style

Metalhammer is a monthly magzine, so in compare to weekly magazines like Kerrang! and NME, Metalhammer contain longer and more articles and a long review section. This also makes Metalhammer a more relaxed magazine, and it doesn't rely so much on fresh news like Kerrang! and NME. I have mentioned the "we give you what you expect" attitude already, this is clearly displayed in the writing style. The themes in the articles is often this "be yourself, do what you want" rebellious individuality, and it reflects this genre music itself.  The language is quite informal, relaxed and sometimes uses a lot of expressions and words associated with the genre. (as the numerous of sub-genres in metal). 

 

Text/Picture ratio

in Metalhammer there is a lot more text then pictures on the "normal pages", but when we move into longer articles there is larger pictures, sometimes covering a whole page or even a double page spread. In the longer interviews/articles Metalhammer often opens the article with a huge picture on a double page spread. This makes the article seem more "epic", "huge", interesting and serious. 

Fonts

Metalhammer uses a thick stencil font to headlines, but a thin Arial in the main text. This reinforces the magazine's "tough" look, without damaging the readability. 

Overall Look

Metalhammer has a tough look. Every element of the magazine, language, pictures, colours, layout and the overall design is tough, but it doesn't make the magazine unreadable. Metalhammer reflect this genre of music very well. The colours for an instance, is the "metal" colours, red white and black, colours. It’s a magazine that focuses on being connected with it’s audience, not making big changes in layout or which bands they would like to cover.