Paramore 'Rock Sound' Cover Analysis

First Cover

Second Cover

Here are two covers from the magazine ‘Rock Sound’. They are both of the band Paramore. Both of the images used are very similar in composition as the lead, Hayley Williams, is positioned in the middle with the rest of the band surrounding her. The colours used are very different one has very bright and vibrant colours, which creates a fun, hyper, pop-punk mood to the cover. However the colours in the second cover are more neutral and this is also reflects in the more sedate cover image.

The layout of both magazines is very similar because the masthead it situated at the top of the page and the image is situated along the intersection of the top and middle thirds. The faces of all the band members, in the first cover, are roughly in one section and on the second cover their eyes are all along the same line.

When using a picture of a band, magazines are more likely to use this layout because if they were to try and put all the cover lines down one side the cover will look very one sided so they tend to put all the cover lines toward the bottom of the cover, which is shown in both of the covers above. Although both of the covers above have placed the main cover line around the middle: with the faces of the band.  This helps draw attention to the cover line because the eyes are drawn to the middle third of the magazine cover. And by placing the eyelevel of the band depicted along the top line of the section the attention of the reader is draw to that first.

The first of the two magazine covers is cluttered with a lot of smaller images and cover lines, which also helps suggest the busy/ hyper feeling that the cover has. However it detracts the attention from the main image. The second cover is plainer and the typeface used is generally smaller than that of the first, which reflects the reserved feel of the cover. Although the colour used for the text is more vibrant which contrast with the general feeling of the cover which helps draw the reader’s attention to read the magazine. Also the only other image on the second is the logo of the Reading and Leeds festivals. This focuses the attention on the main image.