Analyses of Five Music Magazine Front Covers

This magazine is one of the most popular R&B magazines out there with information inside on all the latest artists, fashion trends and new singles released. As you can see the front cover of this magazine is mainly taken up by the image of Eric Bellinger, which is also clearly shown by the large, bold, red writing underneath him. This image is there main focal point on this front cover and attracts the reader in straight away as it basically takes up the whole page. I believe when I create my music magazine I will have one big main image on my front cover as it attracts the reader’s attention and shows them who the main artist of the week is. There are also two other main focal points which are the title of the magazine – ‘Rnb’ and the artist’s name – ‘Eric Bellinger’. I believe it is important to have these two as focal points so we know who the artist on the front is and we know what the magazine is called. I will ensure I have a similar layout with focal points as this, having one artists name as a focal point and the name of the magazine, it’s important for the reader to know a man article in the magazine and what the actual magazine is called. 

I believe it is important to recognise that they seem to stick to the house style of red, white and black on this front cover. I believe these colours work well together. Also the colour red has connotations of danger and energy, this can be linked to the genre of R&B itself as it can be considered as ‘bad boy’ music and some artists can be seen as quite dangerous characters. When creating my magazine I will think hard about colour connotations, and what they infer about this genre of music and the magazine itself as colours can be used as a very strong message.
On this front cover is two barcodes, one which is a code that can be recognised by blackberry phones which takes you to a web link, assuming to be related to this magazine and a normal barcode to be scanned when purchased. These are two features that we don’t always think about putting on but in fact they are both very important and are a nice little added touch and I will remember to incorporate this into my music magazine. There are also related stories on this cover that are inside the magazine such as ‘Sexuality in today’s music’ and ‘Karma the new girl group’. There are also different stories on the right hand side as well.
As you can see there is different fonts and different sized font used on this cover, I believe this is for the importance of certain articles, i.e. the more important and interesting stories get a larger bolder font. When creating my magazine I will take examples form this by adding different headings on the front related to the stories inside, this is a good way to get across what’s inside the magazine without the reader having to look in it.

I also like how the background colour does not change and just stays plain white. I will remember to keep one solid background colour on my cover as it looks professional and not confusing.

 This magazine is by NME who could be considered one of the most popular music magazines in the whole media industry in these recent years. I like how they have one image taking up the whole cover as its attention grabbing. When creating my magazine I will just use one related image on the front cover to cover the whole page as like I said it is attention grabbing and intriguing. I like the fact the NME have kept this front cover quite plain and there is not a whole lot going on as sometimes it can become too much and confusing if there is loads of text and colours crammed into one page. I will make sure I don’t try and fill the whole page with text and colours as it can be quite overwhelming and confusing for the reader. It can also look unprofessional which is not the correct message my audience should receive.

As you can see NME have stuck to the house style colours of black and white and kept it plain, I would usually say stick to 3 colours used on a front cover as its more attention grabbing but I believe this works well and ties in with the genre of music they use. For example NME usually have Indie music but they also have a variety so if they used the colour red it wouldn’t tie in with some of the bands or artists they show inside the magazine, so I believe they have took the right option stuck with black and white as it doesn’t great major connotations but in fact looks professional and presentable. I will ensure I don’t go over the top with colours and make sure the colours I use are for a reason and I have not just picked them at random, because of what looks good.

They have used a variety of 3-4 different text used here, this is a good idea as it’s adds that touch of professionalism and variety to it, especially because they have not used bold colours they need to make up for it in a different way and I believe it looks good. I think when I create my magazine I will take ideas from this and definitely use a variety of fonts as it adds change and individuality.

As you can see they have used a bar code in the bottom right hand corner, this is because it needs to be there but not to distract the reader. When I insert my bar code I will use this idea and make sure my bar code is not in the way but is visible if the reader wants to check it and for the employer to scan it through.

Q is another very popular magazine that has kept its good reputation for while, being the most bought music magazine in 2006. They have a mix and match of artists from Tinie Tempah to Liam Gallagher. My first impressions of this magazine are okay, as they seem to stick to 3-4 colours of the red text linked in with the logo, the green text linked in with his jacket and the black and white text used because they both look good. I may use this technique of linking the mise en scene colours to the font colours used such as his jacket and the green text as I believe they work well together. Also linking the logo colour to main headline colours to attract the reader’s attention as they link up well with one another.

The actual image of Liam himself is very good as you can see the other 3 band members in the reflection of his glasses; this shows distance between them which is of course because they have split up. It is clever techniques such as this that make the cover look good rather than just a plain photo with no meaning or expression. This has made me realise when I take my main photo I need to infer certain messages across to my audience in different ways, as an image can be used very cleverly inferring different meanings if took correctly.
What I like about this name is that it’s just a single letter which speaks so many volumes and  is very ironic. I also like it how it how the letter ‘Q’ nearly takes up the full red square because it makes it stand out along with these two colours contrasting with one another. What I have taken from this is that I need a logo/name that links up with my house style for one, but in fact stands out on the shelves and doesn’t just blend in with the rest, because a good name can be the difference between a good magazine and a bad one.

There is a constant occurrence with these magazines, and this is that the artists name is always on the front cover in big bold writing. This makes it clear to me that too be up there with the best music magazines I must take the same approach and I will use this in my music magazine.

Q is also very well known for their significant ‘+’ sign going from one heading to another. This makes them different from the rest and creates certain individuality with their magazine. When creating my magazine I may in fact have something on my front cover that symbolises us, I believe it’s a nice personal touch to add.

Kerrang is very well known for the genre of rock/metal music. I like what they have done with their name because it looks as if it is broken glass, which links with the cliché of loud music breaking glass, so we instantly know this is a heavy rock magazine. If I can find a similar technique to use for my genre magazine I will go ahead with it as I think this is a very clever idea.

Another way we instantly its heavy rock is by the mise en scene in the way the women is dressed and the facial expressions she’s using. For example she has that sort of ‘bad boy’ look on her face as if she doesn’t care and is mischievous. Also I like how she is wearing all black with black makeup, black clothing, and black hair as it just instantly shows us this is a heavy metal magazine as this is the way they look. Mise en scene is a very good factor to take into account when creating my magazine as it creates instant assumptions of the genre it is and is a good use of shortcutting.

As you can clearly see they use four main colours of yellow, red, black and white. I believe they use these colours to create connotations of rebellion, energy, danger, gothic etc. This all links back up with the genre style music. I can clearly see a pattern with these magazines that everything on it is used for a reason whither it be colours, misse en scene font style etc.  I must incorporate this into music magazine as it is a clear pattern shown that all music magazines use it and I want to be just as good as them if not better.

What I don’t like about this cover is that I just think there is too much going as there are several images, and I don’t think the yellow and red contrast too well together as there both really bold colours, there are also a few headings and it feels as if there is something important everywhere you look and I believe a reader shouldn’t feel like this, it also doesn’t seem very clear as it looks like all one big collage. When creating my magazine I will not have it as in your face as this feels because I feel as if it suffocates the reader with too much information. This is not the message my audience should receive. 

Vibe is a very popular music magazine in the whole industry of music. It is by far one of the most popular and well known R&B magazines in the R&B industry. It informs there audience on all the latest news about all the top R&B artists, with their newest look and single or just basic gossip inside the R&B industry.

What I instantly like about this magazine is that you can clearly see rule of thirds has been used. For example the artist Chris Brown is clearly right in the centre column nearly all the way down. His head,      t-shirt and jeans are all split into the three rows in the centre column. The magazine name ‘Vibe’ is also clearly shown in the whole of the top row on significant points, these all attract the reader’s attention straight away. When creating my magazine I will ensure that I use the rule of thirds as it’s such a clever technique as it’s scientifically proven too attract the reader’s attention to specific points, so if you put important information in those places it will most likely be recognised by the reader.  

Another factor I like about this cover is that they chop and change between white and green text on certain information. This is just another way to create individuality to make it their own. I will try and do something similar to this too make it stand out and create individuality just so it doesn’t blend in with the rest, as they can all look very similar.

I also like the fact that it’s not jam packed full of information and I feel as if it has the right balance. I believe balance of information is key on a front cover. I will make sure I have the right balance of not loads of information but enough so the reader gets an idea of what is inside.

I also like the misse en scene foe Chris Brown as you can see he’s wearing his bling of gold chains, big belt and a cap, it clearly shows the vulgarity of R&B singers. I will make sure the costumes I use for my photo clearly fit in with my genre, for example you can’t have a sweet innocent girl in pink on the front cover of a rock magazine as it just wouldn’t be fit for purpose.