MAGAZINE COVER RESEARCH

BY GEORGIA ALLISTON, ANGEL DUNCIL, CHARLIE WEEKS AND ELONA WOODFORD

TYPES OF MAGAZINESThese music magazines have been voted the top four publications of advertising in the music industry. NME and Q specialise in advertising more of the alternative rock / independent genre whereas Billboard

and Clash will publicise more mainstream pop idols. The covers will always feature a star so that audiences will recognise who is mainly featured in the magazine, reinforcing the idea of star image to

increase public positive image.

MAGAZINE TYPOGRAPHYMagazine typography differs across different types of covers. These are examples of the four main magazines and the text type they use consistently throughout their magazine covers.

Billboard The text on here remains very simplistic. The logo is always present and the artist image tends to be placed across the logo. Parts of the text use a fill, for instance the

letter ‘d’ in this case has a yellow filled center to it. The text is also sans serif to increase boldness of text. Any parts of the magazine that are key are written in capital letters. Rather than lower case. ClashThere is very little text on clash covers, in this case it is just a simple sans serif logo at the top which is always white. The titles visuals are also increased further due to the boldness and all capital letters. The text also takes up the majority of headspace. Another example of visually enhancing an artist is the use of a drop shadow so that the title stands out more, like on the clash magazine.

MAGAZINE TYPOGRAPHYNMEThis magazine in particular is dominated by font. The NME logo is normally a singular red or yellow colour and it is always written in sans serif. Key titles are also written in the same colour in bold capitals. The majority of the other titles are written in capital letters, sans serif in white to stand out against background image. Quotes however will be written in a serif font to stand out against the rest of the titles, to give it more of a handwritten personal appearance. QThe final magazine is also very font based. The logo always remains in the same place with a more serif appearance. Key titles are written again in white with a bold, capital letter approach. Both these magazines have very similar features. One thing that works particularly well with the Q cover is that the artist name is almost handwritten across his body which, similarly to the quote on the NME magazine, gives it more of a personal feel to it. That title’s typography particularly stands out in this instance.

MAGAZINE COLOUR SCHEMEColour schemes tend to stay the same across magazine covers, especially the logos. Billboard filled letters for instance will tend to remain the same across all of their products, and the Q logo will tend to remain red and white so that people recognise the brand. NME will also use red and white most of the time to increase boldness which they want to achieve but in some instances the colour scheme changes. The previous slide showed a yellow and blue edition of the magazine cover. Clash have always kept their logo white across products as it heavily contrasts against most of their backgrounds.

The biggest factor when it comes to colour on magazines covers is to ensure colours contrast against each other so that clarity and accessibility is enhanced. If two similar colours are used near each other on a magazine, there is a high chance that it cannot be seen or read as clear.This is the reason why most covers have fairly neutral backgrounds so that text can be placed against it making it easy to read.

MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHY

This type of photography is a close up shot of the artist which takes up lots

of the space on cover. The other band members are also shown through

the sunglasses which is a clever photographic

technique.

The Clash magazine shows the artist in a mid close up shot so more of the body is revealed. This

is also used in combination with some

other photos. This is one of the most simplistic uses of photography.

This is a example of a two people shot used on a magazine cover. The photo takes up most of

the cover space to increase the star image

of them both. It also gives the cover more of a

romantic, casual look.

This cover is a mid shot of the artist as the top

half of his body is shown. Artists can also be shown holding items as shown

above, to highlight a particular message they

are giving in the magazine.

OUR MAGAZINE CHOICE

After conducting some research, we have decided to choose “Billboard” for our magazine cover to have our artist appear on. This is because it mainly targets adults and teens, teenagers in particular who are looking for inspiration and role models. Our main artist image is for teenagers to have an idol to look up to so using her on this magazine will aid meeting our appropriate target audience. The music this magazine covers includes mainstream pop and in some instances, folk and country which is what our song genre is. Since it covers a wide range of genres, it will make a large target audience interested in buying the magazine, therefore Heidi’s publicity is instantly increased if she makes an appearance on a mainstream pop magazine.

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSISBillboard title and logo appears at the top, the

artist image is in front of the logo

Cover lines on the side that advertise other

articles but not much detail is given to

persuade users to read on.

Layout is linear, left aligned to look

professionalArtist title which is the main subject of the article. Written in

different, larger font to highlight importance

There is a long shot of the artist on the front cover, she is looking

directly at the camera to grab audience attention.

A circle has been used across the artist with text

inside, this is used to enhance more

information that is inside the magazine

The issue number has been written in small text

underneath the title which tells readers how old the items are inside

the magazine