Rock Sound magazine cover ...

Rock Sound is a monthly magazine that costs £3.90. It's aimed at a young 16-25 year old audience who are interested in all varieties of rock music and enjoy knowing all about the bands music, their latest gigs and backstage gossip and news. It reaches out to people who want to know what gigs are coming up, who sounds best at the moment and what bands are biggest. Due to it's reasonable price, messy layout and 'rebellious' content I would assume this magazine is aimed at the social classes C1, C2 and D.

The cover of this magazine is bright and bold, but still simple. It's not over loaded but is still bold enough to catch the readers attention. The colours are eye catching and co-ordinating. They aren't too much but they're bold enough to catch attention. A peachy pink and bright red are featured across the cover as the most eye catching colours with a yellow spread out over the page in small sections to draw the eye. The rest of the colours are neutral black, white and grey, including the person on the covers outfit and the masthead. This really works due to the eye being pulled to the brighter parts of the cover, meaning we focus on these brighter parts and are drawn to the highlights of the magazine, encouraging people to look inside.

They have a large number featured on the page in the bottom right corner stating '50 songs of love & hate'. Large numbers make people believe there's a lot included for their money. There is no selling line, similarly to other music magazines but instead, a list of popular bands that are featured within. This magazine also follows the trend of using their main featured band as the main cover line. This proves to be popular because it's very effective. If it's a popular band, they will have thousands of fans who will see their favourite band on the cover and instantly want to buy it to see what they're up too and what's new. It's a very effective selling technique! the mast head is half covered by the cover image. It is still recognizable due to it's fond and the only the middle of the name covered. It also has the website 'www.rocksound.tv' listed below in case people cannot determine what it says. This means the audience is forced to look at the cover image which could be the difference between sale or no sale.

The main cover image, again going with a very effective trend, is the front man from the main cover line band, a very popular band among young people, Lostprophets. This is a visual aid for the fans who will see him and instantly recognize him rather than having to stop and read the cover lines. His outfits fashionable, his facial expression is inviting and friendly, almost smug, and his hand gesture is rebellious and slightly aggressive, co-ordinating with the main cover line 'the fightback starts here'. The eye contact with the camera gives the effect he's looking at the audience creating a personal connection which is always important for the reader to want to read. There are also images to go with the other cover lines such as an arty, tattoo like picture of an arm holding a heart declaring love and hate and covered in tattoos and blood. The audience of this genre love blood, gore, tattoo's, love and hate. Interpreting all of these into an image and then co-ordinating them with song lists to match from this genre is very clever and will really appeal to this audience who are permanently looking for songs that will help them express themselves. Another image is of the band 'my chemical romance''s front man. It again gives a visual image to match the cover line about their band for their fans to instantly recognize them. I've also noticed that in the image, he's looking up at the face of Ian, the other cover man, insinuating that all eyes should be on this, that it's a big story.

The left third of the magazine is always important and could be the make and break of the magazine. The masthead starts as far to the left as possible to catch audience attention so their regular readers can recognize it straight away and the main cover line usually starts here to attract attention. Along with following these trends, the magazine have cleverly made a list of featured bands down the bottom left hand side of the magazine so without even picking up the magazine, the audience can see who's inside and notice all the bands they like listed, encouraging them to pick it up and read. This is a very clever idea as it encourages the attention of potential buyers from it's place in the stands. Also on the cover, in yellow to draw the eye, is a cover line for 'Free posters' which are featured inside. This is a brilliant freebie to feature as the audience of this genre love decorating their rooms with these bands and artists for self expression and inspiration. Featuring these also makes the reader feel they're getting more for their money, which is also enhanced with the word 'Free' because everyone loves free stuff! :D

Another thing that works for this magazine is every single letter being a capital. It's bold, it's important, it's dramatic, it's rebellious and it stands out! It jumps straight out and hits the audience in the face and it really works at catching attention. This is definitely something i should take note of.

Overall, everything about this magazine works for it from it's cover line to it's images and layout. The only thing I would change is the image covering the masthead as much as it does, but even this doesn't stop it from looking attractive and appealing! It looks jam packed but not over loaded and interesting, and it appeals to the genre I want to. Lovely!