Case Study Magazine: Rock Sound

Rock Sound:Rock Sound is a British magazine which focuses

on rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts. It generally looks at the pop, punk, pop-punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, heavy metal and extreme metal genres of rock music.

"For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist“

Although primarily aimed at the British market, the magazine is also sold in Australia, Canada and the United States.

Facts:

Target audience is male and female fans of rock/alternative music. It is mainly aimed at teenagers.

Sonic PublishingEditor is Ben PatashnikFirst published 11 years ago.It is a monthly magazine priced at £3.99It can be bought in stores such as Borders and

online via their website.

Front Cover:

Main Image: Covering the masthead, medium shot with direct mode of address of the band which the main article is about. One of the guys is winking, this kind of image is usually on this magazine (the cover star pulling faces or messing about) as it adds to that stereotypical and fun rock image.

Masthead: Large and bold font. The title is relevant to the genre of music the magazine focuses on.

Colour Scheme: Bright and colourful which appeals to a younger audience instead of adults. Dark colours such as blue, red and white. Matching what the cover stars are wearing. It also usually uses yellow to make things stand out –WORLD EXCLUSIVE! Puff: “Free! Official sonishpere festival guide” and “+3x Free Posters”. They are shown in the typical FREE font and stands out against the blue background as it’s red.

Typeface: All of the fonts match the rock style of the magazine.

Coverlines and Quotes/Information: Main coverline is in a different and more interesting font and is bigger. The other coverlines are smaller but still bold and in capitals they are in a slightly different colour to the information that goes with them. The information is also slightly smaller than the coverline.

Issue information: Placed in the bottom right corner being ‘held’ by a young woman with the stereotypical rock image look (dark eyeliner, black nail polish, pale skin, dark hair hair. Contains the price of the issue and what issue it is –in this one the Aug 2009 issue. It also contains the barcode.

Images: related to the articles inside ‘BRAND NEW they speak!’ and related to the bands for example logos ‘avenged seven fold’

Contents Page: Columns: used to keep the

page looking smart and organised. They are also organised into groups using banners, for example where it says ‘regulars’ and ‘Rock Sound new music first’.

Page Numbers: In read so that they stand out and are the same size as article titles. Also are placed with the images large enough so that they can be noticed easily find the article that relates to the image.

Colour Scheme: The colour scheme is still dark and rock like colours such as reds and black.

Editor’s note: There is a note from the editor which is a typical magazine convention it normally thanks the magazine team and readers and explains a bit about the issue.

Images: Two of the images have been ‘cut’ out probably using Photoshop. They make the page more interesting and the image at the top left has been took in black and white which adds to the rock theme. The other images have also been photographed with dark colours and stereotype the artists as ‘reckless’ –using a fire extinguisher for the band and the guy being in a boxing outfit.

Features: Each feature has a title and a brief description in a smaller print.

A washed out black line has been used on he left side which adds to the detail of the magazine as the effect of it being ‘inky’ and ‘brushed’ adds to the style more so than if it was just a normal black line. Also circles that are in grey against the red background and inks into the grey background gives it a notebook look.

Double Page Spread:

Main Image: Full page image of the band sat down on a sofa chair in low key lighting dressed casually.

Text: Large letter to start the article then the rest of the article is in a small font.

Quotes: A quote taken from a member of the back –Alex Gaskarth is in a large bold font in italics.

Images: Photo shoot of the band with images of them messing around and having fun. A Full band shot at the top. The images connote fun and rock ‘n’ roll.

Captions: Each photo has been given a caption in a small, white font describing the reasoning behind he image and who is in it.

The band name is shown in the top left corner in a blue arrow to show that the article is about them.

Use of shapes: The blue arrows make the page look more interesting and shows more skills.

Elisa Narborough

Aspects of the magazine I intend to use/imitate in my magazine:

Typeface: I adore the crazy and cool fonts and will definitely want to include eye-catching and interesting fonts in my magazine

Photo Shoot: I like the style of photo shoot where the band are acting stereotypically troublesome and reckless.

Shapes and other small details: The small details to the magazine are what make it so great and interesting to look at.

Colourful: I intend to also use a simple but colourful scheme except maybe not as bright.