Research for AS Music Magazine

I have looked at three different magazines in particular as an inspiration for my music magazine front cover. The magazines in question are Classic Rock, Total Guitar and Rolling Stone. All three of these magazines cover generally similar musicians.

What I like particularly about this Classic Rock cover is the sultry and darkened tone. To me it suggests sophistication, as if the magazine holds deeper messages and not just the pop, brightly coloured, ‘celeb news’ of a lot of magazines. It is also a very simple front cover, it has the subject directly in the middle of the page, a large white title . All the subsequent titles are purple/ pink and writing in white. This style is very simple, it doesn’t require much effort to take in (owing to its darkened tones and straightforward font and colouring). The image used, as well, is very simple, there is a sole figure (Axl Rose) taken at a mid-shot. The picture does, however, stray from the usual conventions of a magazine cover, which is usually well lit and bright, and has Axl half shrouded by shadows. The subject matter concerning Axl Rose is quite dark, which is connoted by the strapline ‘Machine guns, LSD and ‘Ayatolla Axl’ as well as the dark picture and black background. Up in the top left of the cover there is a small promotional offer, on what is made to look like a post-it note, offering a free CD. On the same side of the cover but below the main title is a red circle on which it advertises a ‘lost issue’. The red circle stands out against the black background and the fact it offers a ‘lost issue’ makes it seem as if the audience member reading is reading something exclusive and never before seen.

There is one thing in particular that i like about this Beatles edition of Mojo magazine and that is the fact that two of the titles on the page seem to run together whilst also working independently. In large white font it says ‘The Beatles’ then immediately to the right of it is a separate title saying ‘101 greatest songs’. The effect this causes is that at a glance (how most magazines would be viewed in a shop) it seems as if it says ‘The Beatles 101’ denoting a deep examination of The Beatles with extensive coverage, information and perhaps interviews (old or new with surviving members). Again, as with the last cover, I like the fact that the font is simple large white font with straplines in grey. This doesn’t overwhelm the reader with colour or a confused looking front cover full of writing. It also has a dark background, like the last one, which again denotes, to me, a sense of sophistication.

Audience Feedback from research

1. Should the magazine cover have loud, vibrant colours or duller or darker colours?

Brighter – 16                  Darker – 4

At this point I asked an open question and will briefly summarize the general response.

2. What about the front cover of a magazine first grabs your attention?

I put forward a few ideas to help move the conversation along and prompted with ‘is it the colours? the pictures? the text?’ To which a lot of people said the pictures were the most important thing. They said that when they first glance at a magazine they generally stop and look because they see a celebrity they like and then from there they take into account the text and colouring. From this the general consensus was that the picture was most important.

3. What is the best option for the text font?

Bold – 20                Plain – 0            Handwritten – 0         Cartoon – 0

The previous question was an unanimous answer made by the audience, they all felt the other three were not appropriate for a magazine front cover

4. Is a consistent colour scheme important to you as a reader?

Yes – 14                 No – 6

5. Should the language in an article be

Written in an interesting way – 12                        Used only to further the topic at hand – 8

This last question may not seem clear, what I meant by it is should the language in the article be used only to drive along the topic of the article itself, thereby the information is what is interesting and the linguistic style is unimportant or should it be both, i.e. provide the same information but be written in a less direct and more ‘flowery’ or interesting way.