Figure/Ground

Today I looked at figure and ground and the differences between the two. We then looked at some magazines and examined them to look at figure and ground.

NME

The focal point of the cover is the name, this is shown by how it looks like it is sitting above the background and how it includes red. The black and white background gives the magazine a classy feel and the active white space draws attention to the figure of Sam Smith and utilises the space. The red connotes danger and relates to the theme that the magazine is trying to achieve which is that Sam Smith is like James Bond. A new feature to NME covers is the yellow circle which reads 'MUSIC FILM STYLE' this is used because the yellow stands out over the other colours and draws peoples attention to what the magazine is about. Inside the magazine their is a double page using the same techniques however using the background as a figure of a record and giving the image a larger white space to make the image stand out more.

Kerrang 

Kerrang has a more suffocating layout and does not have a lot of white space. The focal point of the cover is the image of the people this is due to the layering of the figures and size of the image. Inside there are a mix of colours of white space and you can see a grid has been used to help the layout look more organised. The colour scheme connotes the theme of the magazine which is rock and the plain backgrounds help the articles to be readable and not look to cluttered. 

VOGUE

Vogue magazine has a continuous layout that they stick to for the cover and a range of layouts inside. Many of there pages have large white spaces as this can show luxury which is what vogue aims to do when advertising high end fashion brands. However as well as having simplistic pages which aim to focus on the figure there are also more suffocating layouts such as the jewellery box page that have a white background but has lots of information and images crammed onto it.