Magazine Inspirations

My task is to create a regional magazine. The genre of my magazine will be football making it a 'fanzine'. I have looked at and analysed some of the regional football magazine's front covers, which have inspired me for mine.

Legion of Light:

This magazine is published and distributed by Sunderland Football Club. It is a free magazine sent through the post of season ticket holders. Many conventions are used within the front cover of this issue. The most obvious one is the dominant image of Sunderland footballer Adam Johnson. Johnson is in direct mode of address, making it seem as though he is looking at the reader. This creates a real connection between the player and the target audience (Sunderland fans) suggesting that there is an air of togetherness around the club. I will use this technique for my magazine front cover.
The colour scheme of the magazine is yellow, white and black. These are the colours of Sunderland's away strip of that particular era (which Adam Johnson is wearing on the picture). These colours would've been strongly associated with the club at that particular time and therefore appeal to the fans of the club.
Similarly, the club's crest and it's main sponsor Bidvest can be seen at the bottom of the page in the colours red and white (Sunderland's home colours). Again this will be associated strongly with the club as they are symbols which represent it. This will appeal to fans of the club who ultimately are the main target audience.
Subheads are used frequently on the front cover of this magazine. They include names of people who are strongly associated with the cub such as the captain John O'Shea and a key member of the board Margaret Byrne. Seeing these names will persuade fans to read the magazine as they will be intrigued to find out what these important people from their club have to say.
A promotional splash is also used to advertise a competition for a holiday to Malta. The fact that a splash is used is a benefit as it will stand out to readers straight away and they may feel more obliged to enter this competition.

A Love Supreme: 

Again, this is a magazine that is strongly associated with Sunderland AFC. However it is not produced and distributed by the club itself. This is done by A Love Supreme, which is a company in it's own right. Once again, the magazine's target audience is Sunderland fans.
The main colour scheme for this front cover is red and white. As mentioned previously, these are the main two colours of Sunderland's home kit. Using these colours on the front cover of the magazine will immediately appeal to fans as they are the colours which are so strongly associated with the club and it's fans.
Many sub images are used in the middle of the page. These images are of many people who were formally associated with the club such as Roy Keane. These are icons of the club and fans will be intrigued to read on to find out about their heroes/icons.
The masthead of the magazine uses a distinctive font to add to its own mise-en-scene and match the mood of previous issues. This is a useful strategy as it gives the magazine a sense of uniqueness which will attract fans of the magazine and club who have persistently read it in the past.
The magazine also uses a subhead in a large font and also in the colour gold which says "20th Anniversary". This notifies readers that this magazine is an exclusive issue and it's content will be perhaps particularly indepth and intersting. This will make readers more obliged to read on.