Front Page Analysis - Louder Than War
The first noticeable aspect of the front page is the masthead, which reads the name of the magazine : "LOUDER THAN WAR" in capital lettering. The typography is rugged and worn, which has connotations of erosion and violence, as if something or someone has been hitting it and wearing it down. This signifies strength as despite its violence, it is still there, bold and large. This shows that the audience are reading a magazine with strong views and they won't back down, which creates a powerful brand identity. As a denotation the colour of the masthead is white, which has connotations of purity, innocence and peace. This contradicts the afore-mentioned characteristics of violence, strength and wear & tear. The word "LOUDER" is larger than the "than war" text on the right side, which is contextual imagery to physically represent how this magazine, and music in general is "LOUDER" (in this case bigger) than war. The main colour scheme for this front page is yellow, black and white, which creates brand identity.
The second most prominent feature on this page is the two models standing in the centre as the main focus point. The pair form the duo "Sleaford Mods", the name of which is shown in a handwriting style of typography on the front page around their waist height. The duo look very masculine, with short hair and one wearing a working shirt. The man on the right smokes a cigarette which shows he doesn't care about damages to his body, implying he is strong. This relates to the masthead, which idealises being strong and pushing through pain and harm. The men seem successful as one must be slightly successful at least to feature on the front page of a magazine. Therefore, the men that read this magazine will aspire to be like these two because they are fans of the indie / punk music scene and would want to be successful also. The image itself has various smudges indicating dirt and tear, such as superficial dirt marks on the man on the left's jacket and right hand. This represents the grunge and underground theme of the magazine, its different and alternative compared to the clean-cut, politically correct mainstream magazines.
The subheadings along the left side show what artists / bands are featured withing the contents of the magazine. The main text is the name of the artist e.g. "Pixies", which is a paintbrush - type font, in capital letters, in yellow. This is encased in a horizontal black rectangle, to bring out the yellow of the text. The text below is a very short piece of text briefly explaining why the artist (s) are featured in the magazine. This is in white text, also in caps, for example "We are a viable band". These help the audience to decide whether or not they want to purchase the magazine, as they want to know who is featured, and they may look at these headings and like the artist (s) therefore they purchase this magazine instead of another. On the right hand side is another heading which is also comprised of yellow font enclosed within a black box, which reads "New album new danger". This would apply to the image of the Sleaford Mods in the middle, and the heading of their name in the centre. This is important to the front page because it adds more information to help the potential customer decide whether or not they want to purchase it, they may be persuaded by the promise of the new album. "New danger" also relates to the masthead in the sense that it is about violence and harm. This reinforces the dangerous and edgy brand identity of the magazine.
The bottom section shows the names of other artists featured in the magazine, to further entice customers to read the magazine. Each band / artist name here alternates between yellow and white coloured font, to reinforce the brand's colour palette which in turn promotes the brand identity. A similar set up is featured at the very top, with three names of artists / bands. In white coloured font beneath the masthead is "Indie... Punk - Weird !" , the text between indie and punk is blocked by the right model's neck. This shows the audience that this magazine is aimed to punk and indie music, therefore they can attract the right, subjective audience. This ( like every other piece of text on the page) is in capital letters, which reinforces the brand identity. There is also a silver circle pull - out with the text inside that reads "Albums of the year " in blue and "Your essential guide" in black. These two colours have not been used for text anywhere else on the page (unless for small black text near the bar-code) which means they stand out and attention is drawn to it, especially the blue because it is a bright colour. This will also help to attract customers to the magazine because they might want to know the albums of the year, so seeing this pull out will entice them to purchase it.
On the top right, rotated 90 degrees anticlockwise is white text that promotes "WWW.LOUDERTHANWAR.COM" - the magazine's website. This in turn promotes exchange because readers will go here and react with the editors and writers, which is much easier on the internet than it is if they were to send mail. This feature is also important because magazines are a dying industry, therefore adapting and moving over to the internet is a viable option because that is where the future of news is. This way, avid fans can stay up to date with Louder Than War even if they don't have the magazine. The bar-code is in its conventional place, bottom left of the front page, as it is not in the way of any images or information, but the reader knows where it is because that is where it typically is on most magazines.
