Music Magazine Research: Front Covers

Front Cover One

This magazines front cover follows a simple but effective colour scheme of red, white and the occasionally black. This colour scheme is used very well as it makes the magazine stand out and catches the audiences eye. The 'Q' logo/masthead is very distinctive and represents the magazine. Much of Q's audience is familiarised with the logo and this attracts them to the magazine. As you can see 'Q' is very fond of using a red background with white text which stands out to the audience. At the top of the page there is a strapline that follows the colour scheme with a red background and white text. The text on the strapline reads: "The essential music guide" This suggests to the reader that the magazine is a must have and for the hardcore music fan it is something that they cannot live without, which will make the magazine more appealing to the audience. Also on the logo there is a promotional sticker that has a black background with larger yellow text and smaller white text. This draws the readers attention and may lure them into buying the magazine. The main image is of the band Coldplay standing and looking at the camera. The camera shot is a medium shot. The main image is layered on top if the logo which give it a professional look which makes it more attractive to the audience and having the band Coldplay on the front cover of the magazine is a big selling point as it will further attract the audience. In front of the main image is the anchorage text. This text is bold and is in white and yellow and draws the attention of the reader. The world "Coldplay" is in yellow and is the largest text on the page which gets the attention of the audience and makes them more likely to buy the magazine. The barcode on the magazine is out of the way and does not conflict with the rest of the front cover. Also around the page there are many sell lines around the page with their own small image to attract the audience into buying the magazine. The price and the date of the magazine is printed at the bottom of the logo in white text. There is a wide viriaty of text colour on the front cover which is used to make certain words stand out, like "Coldplay" and "U2" which advertises the magazines articles which makes the magazine more appealing to the audience and makes them more likely to buy the magazine.

Front Cover Two

At the top of this front cover is a strapline that uses two colours of text black and red which makes it stand out more from the rest of the page. The masthead is in big bold text that grabs the attention of the audience and allows them to instantly recognise the magazine. The masthead is in red which stands out from the white background. The main image shows a musician looking directly at the camera in a medium shot towards the right hand side of the page. The anchorage text like the strapline is in two different colours to get the audiences attention. The first part of the text is in a smaller, black text while the end of the text which happens to be a persons name is in a bigger, red text that stands out and grabs the readers attention which and may tempt them into buying the magazine. There is also several types of font used in the anchorage text, the bigger pieces of the text are in a bold font while the smallest is in a thinner font and does not get the audiences attention as much as the other text straight away. There is also a promotional sticker on the front cover that is in a maroon red colour and has white text. This promotional sticker is advertising a competition to win £3000 worth of goods which will tempt the audience to buy the magazine and is very appealing to the target audience. The barcode on the front cover is out of the way and does not conflict with any other part of the page, thus making the magazine more appealing to the audience. Also at the top of the page there are two boxes that are different colours on black one white. This makes them stand out from each other. The box with the black background uses white and red text to make it stand out more while the box with a white background uses black and red text. There is also a strapline at the bottom of the page which also attracts the audience to buy the magazine.

Front Cover Three



On this front cover there is a strapline at the top of the page which has black background. The strapline also uses two colours of text to make it stand out more which makes it much more noticeable to the audience. The strapline is advertising an 8 page pull-out and shows an image of the pull-out to tempt the audience into buying the magazine. The masthead goes across the whole top of the page and is in white text and stands out from the background.  Also the main image show a member of Green Day looking to the left. The image is a low angle shot. The image is also quite large as well as the masthead which grabs the audiences attention. The anchorage text uses a highlighted effect in places to get the audiences attention above the larger "Green Day" text there is a green highlight with black text. The text "Green Day" is large and eye-catching which draws the audiences attention. The text below is highlighted black and has green text. This anchorage text gets the attention of the audience. There are also sell lines  along the left hand side of the page which also have different colour text to make it stand out and grab the audience's attention. There is also a smaller image on the right hand side with a sell line underneath. This image and sell line is in a yellow box which stands out from the rest of the page and gets the readers attention. The barcode is out of the way and does not conflict with the rest of the front cover. There is also a competition advertised on the front cover related to a band which appeals to the audience and makes them more likely to buy the magazine. There is also a promotional sticker on the front cover that advertises over 20 album reviews which will appeal to the target audience as they may want information on albums that they may be considering buying. The colour of this promotional sticker is bright green which stands out from the main image and the rest of the page. There is also another promotional sticker at the top of the page which has a black background and a yellow rim around the outside. There is yellow and white text in this promotional sticker to help make it stand out and appeal to the target audience. The sticker is advertising gigs which to the rock music fan is very appealing, which the magazine intends to used to their advantage so that the target audience will be likely to buy the magazine.