Lexis vs Ideology

The ideas behind 'MOSH':

In my magazine I shall be selling the idea of rebellion, fury and authentic music. The images featured on the cover must reflect these elements, therefore i must include pictures of band members in aggressive poses in order for my magazine to appeal to my target audience. It would be wise to include multiple images on my cover, having more bands will increase my magazine's readership.
The text featured on the front cover must be about the Artist's lives and depict them as rebellious and dangerous, for instance popular stories in other Metal magazines include stories about run-ins with the police and dealings with drugs and alcohol.

Creating a masthead

Masthead ideas:
Rush, Rage, Riot, Mosh, R, Metal, Metann (Russian spelling), Lord, Overload, Over lord, Metall (German), Crank, Thrash, Amp, Kage.

The masthead ideas I like the most are: Rage, Mosh and Overload.
I like the name Rage as it exemplifies the anger and feeling behind Heavy Metal music, although I do not want to present Metal in a negative fashion as the feeling of Rage could be considered a negative entity.
Mosh is my favorite out of the three ideas. Moshing is an activity that occurs at every Metal concert, FACT, therefore it is something people will recognize and understand. The masthead 'Mosh' will make it clear to readers that the genre of the magazine is Metal.
I believe that Overload is also an appropriate name for my magazine, as I wish to include a vast amount of information on the Metal genre and therefore provide an 'overload' of info. However, I think Mosh would be a more appropriate name due to it's involvement in Metal Music concerts, whereas Overload is in no way associated with music itself.

Music magazine cover analysis

The masthead for 'Kerrang' works well on this cover as it's white font contrasts with the darker colour scheme used below and in the background. The chunky/cracked font style serves to represent the rock/metal genre that the magazine conforms to. The word itself sounds like a guitar noise, this appropriately represents the rock/ metal genre. The smaller font used on the cover page is very noticeable due to the it's yellow, white and blue colour scheme on the dark background image. The language used on the cover successfully represents it's younger readers by using words like "Battle" and "Massive". In order to increase it's readership the magazine cover features through names of more than one band, this cover in particular features 12 big band names.
The main image on the front cover of Kerrang features the band 'Lostprophets', a band that is widely recognised by rock and metal fans. This image will therefore appeal to readers who are fans of the band. The cover also features two other images of well known bands that will help to increase the readership. The layout of this magazine seems to be going towards busy and cluttered in order to reflect the genre and the people who read the Kerrang. Kerrang is aimed at a young and rebellious target audience, for instance teenagers and young adults who listen to Rock and Metal music.

The masthead of NME does not stand out as well as that of Kerrang due to it's light on light colour scheme. The large chunky font that is similar to that of Kerrang serves to stand out to the audience, the masthead is positioned in the top left corner where the eye is often drawn to when the magazine is sitting on a shelf. The masthead text overlaps the Central image, this allows the reader's gaze to flow over the cover. The smaller informational text on the cover does not stand out so well, the light on light colour scheme fails to stand out from a distance. However there is a small amount of black text featured that does stand out well. The language used by NME is much more sophisticated than that used by Kerrang, words like "Amazing" and "Loathe" are likely to appeal to a more mature audience. There are 14 band names featured on the NME cover, the fact that these bands are featured will help to increase the readership of the magazine.
The front cover of NME features an image of the lead singer from My Chemical Romance, a band that has a huge fan base and will therefore be widely recognised by NME's readers. The three other images included on the cover feature other artists on posters that are included with the magazine. These featured artists will also aid in increasing the magazine's readership. The layout of this cover is much more formal and structured when compared to Kerrang's cluttered cover. The text featured does not intrude on the images on the cover, the headlines and feature previews stay out of the way and remain subtle. The more subtle fonts and colours of the text help to make the Central image stand out more. This cover seems to appeal to a more sophisticated audience, possibly an older, mature audience who enjoy Rock music.

The masthead for 'Q' at first glance does not stand out well at all. The masthead is positioned behind the main image, this to me implies that the name of the magazine is not as important as what it contains. However the red and white used for the masthead would stand out on a shelf. The elegant font used for the masthead suggests that this magazine is aimed at a mature and we'll educated audience. Like NME, Q's masthead is positioned in the top left corner of the cover page which is where the eye is drawn to. There is a sparse amount of informational text featured on the cover. The text is dark with a white backing to it, this ensures that the information stands out on the dark central image. The  cover only contains two band names, this may cause the magazine to receive a lower readership than the other two magazines that feature many more artist names. The language used on this cover is simple and readable to a wide audience, this implies that Q is aimed at more of a mass market.
The only image used on the cover is of a popular group, (Kings of Leon) having only one image may limit the magazine's readership as people who are not fans of the band are unlikely to purchase the magazine. The image used represents the Rock genre well as it features chaos and excitement, two things usually associated with teenagers. The layout on the cover is very orderly and plainly set out, this will make the cover easy to read on a shelf. The main image does intrude on the masthead, which I believe is a negative element of the cover's layout. The text stands out more than the central image which helps to prioritise the information over the image. Q seems to be aimed at a mass market audience who enjoy the Rock genre. The simple language and layout give me the impression that the product is for all ages