Competitor Magazine Analysis - Loud and Quiet

This is another of my competitors. ‘Loud and Quiet’ is a free publication which is distributed through independent record and clothing stores.
The feature article photograph is a group shot of the band ‘Veronica Falls’. Each band member is standing/sitting around some steps in an urban area. This makes it appear as if the band are ‘hanging around’. Each member also has an atmosphere of idleness about them (the person on the right idly clutching his hand and the woman at the front with her head in her hand, for example). This gives a general feeling of boredom and nonchalance, which gives quite an attractive idea of the band being almost completely disinterested in their newfound fame, which could be perceived as being quite cool, and this ‘coolness’ is attractive to the reader. In addition, the fact that they are nonchalant about their fame shows that they have not been changed by popularity, and are essentially still normal people. This lack of obnoxiousness is attractive to the magazine’s audience, who don’t typically enjoy that side of mainstream music. The fact that they are in a unglamorous environment fortifies the fact that fame is not a big deal for the band. The subjects of the photograph are all dressed ironically, with massive turned-up jeans and denim jackets. The fact that they are dressed like this – and not fashionably – further supports that the band are independent and reflects the genre of music that the band play and the magazine cover.

The masthead is bold and blocky, with very refined corners in places and smooth curves in others, giving it a very clean and sleek look. It is pure black, which contrasts with the pure white background; these colours contrast one another which makes the masthead stand out. All of these factors make the masthead pleasing to the eye. It is also very neat as it reaches across the entirety of the section of top of the page that is not confined by the 'bordered' layout, and as a result is completely separate from the feature article photograph, which actually draws attention to the masthead.

The cover line 'Veronica Falls' stands out from the feature article photograph. Each letter is contained in separate white boxes of equal sizes that are equal distances apart. The black text stands out against the colour of the boxes, and the plain white of the boxes stands out against the varied colours of the feature article photograph. This separation of cover line and feature article photograph makes the cover appear clean and impressive, without being loud and imposing. This is appealing to the eye and appeals to the magazine’s audience. Also, rather than being aligned to the left or right of the page, this cover line breaks convention by being centred. This is effective as it makes the cover line the next thing on the page that the reader will be likely to see (after the masthead). This means the reader will instantly know who the feature article is featuring, which gives a smoother and cleaner viewing experience. This is appealing to the magazine’s audience.

The magazine’s cover is essentially devoid of puff and plug, due to the fact that it does not need to sell itself, as it is free of charge. This also means that the magazine is able to appeal to the smaller and more specific audience of people who do not enjoy mainstream music. The fact that there is not much text on the cover also makes it appear more orderly, which is aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the text that is on the page all follows an orderly format, and is not italicised or slanted in any way, again, creating an orderly feel.

Yet again addressing the orderly feel of the magazine, the entire front cover seems to be confined to a white border, as there are points where the text and image do not cross. This breaks the convention of magazine covers filling the entirety of the page, and therefore makes the magazine stand out. It also makes the magazine appear, again, orderly and clean.​

 

 

 

This is the contents page for the November 2011 issue of ‘Loud and Quiet’. It is of rather plain design with very limited colour and a large amount of negative space. The simplicity of this design is quite appealing to look at, due to its incredibly neat and tidy layout. There is also no specific focus of the page, which is quite calming. However, as there is nothing to catch the reader’s eye, many readers could find the page boring and unattractive.

The text on the page consists of sans serif fonts, with the titles of each article in a larger font size than the information below it. Although these fonts do look pleasant, the readability of them is not ideal. For example, for the title of each article, the font is quite skinny, which makes it more difficult to read than a wider font. The information about each article (beneath the titles) is also in a very small size, which is also quite difficult to read. Although the black colour of the text on the white background makes the text stand out and improves it's readability, the text is too small for this to have any effect. Additionally, the page numbers themselves have the same sort of issues, in that they are uninteresting and do not stand out at all. This would mean that someone reading this page would not instantly know where to find the article that they would like to read, which means that the page does not complete it's function well at all. Adding to the lack of functionality are the pictures next to each listed article. These rather small pictures are pictures of the page that the listed article is on. This is very unconventional, and for good reason; the pictures are far too small to gather any information from, and too uninteresting to look at. Taking all of these issues into account, the contents page appears more like a menu. Although unconventionality is normally respected in this type of magazine, this page simply does not function as a contents page, as it would take too long for the reader to locate the desired article.

 

However, the information about each article, is actually quite engaging. For example, “Adopted by Brooklyn after having made the same album twice” makes the reader ask questions and makes them want to know more about this story, which will make them dive into the magazine and turn the pages.

 

 

​This is one of the feature articles in the November 2011 issue of ‘Loud and Quiet’; it focuses on the band ‘Veronica Falls’. The first page of the 6-page article contains the headline and byline. The headline is in a sans-serif font, coloured in red and underlined. However, as with many features of this article, it is very unconventional. First of all, it is printed in the same size as the standfirst which is located beneath it. Although the differences in colour and formatting make it apparent that the headline and standfirst are separate entities, this size issue means that not a lot of attention will be given to the headline, which I feel it needs. In addition, every word in the head line is aligned to the left-hand margin. Although this is a design choice, made to create more white space on the page, I feel that it does not look at all appealing and as a result of its odd alignment, does not read well.

The standfirst is, as mentioned, the same font and size as the headline. It is printed in black and is not aligned like the headline, but is rather aligned normally. I feel that the standfirst is quite effective as it fulfils its function of making the reader ask questions and therefore want to read the article that follows it. Also, the words ‘Veronica Falls’ are highlighted in grey, which makes them stand out and tells the reader who the article will be about.

The second page of the article is filled (up to the white border which is present on every page of the magazine) with a photograph of the band. Similarly to the picture on the front cover, the band are dressed ironically, which I perceive as being appealing to the magazine’s audience. The angle at which the photograph has been taken is rather unconventional, as almost all of the top half of the image is just of the background (a New York apartment block) behind the band. Although this has been done to contextualise that most of the article is about the band in New York, I feel that it makes the picture seem a lot less personal and therefore less effective.

The third page of the article consists only of another picture of the band, similar in some ways to the one on the front cover. The placement of this picture is effective as it means that the reader can see the band while they are reading about them, which I believe is a very important feature.

The use of drop caps (If they can be classified as drop caps) is incredibly unconventional and ineffective, in my opinion. The first 'example' is at the top-left of the fourth page of the article. Rather than highlighting the first letter, the first few words have been made larger, and completely separate from the text. This, to me, looks like a headline no matter how many times I read it. This same technique is used at the start of the fifth page, but to even worse effect, as the words that have been enlarged do not make logical sense on their own, and thus cannot be used as a headline.
The other use of a 'drop cap' is a large capital 'T' at the start of the fourth paragraph on page four of the article, but it does not drop at all. Instead, it acts the same way as normal text, and is not attractive to look at.

On the top right of the fourth page of the article, lies a rather dull and uninteresting pull quote. Although the subject matter of the quote is not uninspiring, the style of font used is not appealing, as it is quite bland. In addition, the positioning of the quote is not effective, as it is completely separate from the main body of text. This means, as there are no compelling features to draw the reader to the text, the text may be simply skipped by less interested readers. On the sixth page, another pull quote is used. Although it is 'within' the text, it is still not conventional and still remains 'distant' from the main body of text.

The main body of text throughout the article is black, so as to be easily readable on the white background. It is in a serif font and serves its purpose well, as it is easily readable.