Research - Music Magazine Front Cover - Similar Product Research

By Emma Hall

The masthead is the letter ‘Q’, which is in their recognisable house style of a red box in the top left hand corner. Underneath is a sell line ‘Discover Great Music’, which helps encourage the reader to buy the magazine. Both of these are staples of the magazine, and are recognisable enough for the main image to cover some of it enough. The main image of the lead singer of Coldplay is central and appears to be dancing, which links to the overall energetic, festival tone the cover is going for. This magazine has gone for a slightly unconventional approach and had the singer’s arm looping into the ‘Q’, which helps tie the separate elements of the magazine together and gives it cohesion. The background is quite full, and is black with neon graffiti on it. This appeals to a younger audience, as well as promoting the band’s album, which also uses this motif. Because of the multi-coloured background, limited colours are used for the text, sticking to white and yellow, which are bright enough to be legible.

 The strapline is ‘the secrets of Coldplay’, which is in a handwritten, sans serif font, to suit the younger audience, and the name of the band is in the biggest font and is underlined, so the reader is drawn in by the name of the band, and then precedes to read the rest of the line. The rest of the articles are detailed down the right-most third, and use large numbers and a mixture of font styles to grab attention, and look modern. Along the top of the magazine, is a seasonal piece of text ‘2011 reviewed’, which is positioned so it will be visible if the magazine is stacked, and will entice fans of all genres, to look back at the year. There is also a puff along the bottom detailing other features, and just uses the artists names, which means a lot of names can be fitted in and will grab the attention of fans of each artist, whilst leaving enough intrigue for a reader to flick through the magazine to find out about their favourite artist.

 Chris Martin is the only one of the group Coldplay to be shown on the cover, showing the need of male bands to have a frontman, a leader, who does the media coverage. Male bands are nearly always represented in this way, which shows the way men seem to need to be seen as independent and strong on their own terms, which wouldn’t be inferred if the picture included the rest of Coldplay behind the singer. However, the dancing position Chris Martin is holding doesn’t suggest strength. Instead it looks like an individual expression of style, and as his clothing is very casual, he looks very carefree, and comfortable in his own lifestyle. This individualism and self-expression is a common theme in indie music magazines, and is less about what popular society says a man should look like, and more about him finding his own identity. His wife Gwyneth Paltrow is also mentioned beneath the strapline, but in a slightly smaller font, a she is not directly related to the music scene, though this could also show the role of women being downplayed. However, the fact she is included at all shows how accepting this genre of music magazine is compared to more popular music, where she might not have even had a mention.

The masthead uses a very simple font that is legible, recognisable, and yet is still slightly edgy, as the L and A share a diagonal edge. The white font is slightly difficult to see against the picture, but is neutral enough to go with a variety of moods the magazine wishes to portray. In this edition, the colour scheme is very limited to shades of white, for the masthead, strapline and article list. The text is all in the bottom third and is nicely balanced by the masthead in the top third. The font for the strapline is also very unique and elegant looking, matching the elegance of the main image. There is some anchorage text beneath it which links the two well. The single word ‘Bombshell’ is also very dramatic and created intrigue into what this relates to, as well as complimenting the artist.

The main image is of Iggy Azalea, in a medium close up, with her eyes on the top third line, in direct mode of address. Her eyes are framed by eyeliner which makes them stand out against her pale complexion, and emphasise her staring gaze at the reader. Her arm is raised in an artistic manner, and she is showing the camera the writing on her fingers ‘love’ ‘live’. The abstractness of the pose, words and outfit she is wearing reflect the fact that the issue is specifically related to the fashion element of music. This specialised edition is to attract new readers by suggesting they shouldn’t miss this particular edition. As the edition is dedicated towards fashion, the representation of Iggy Azalea is towards the stereotypical, fashion model end of the femininity scale. This doesn’t reflect indie music magazines on the whole, which generally show realistic images of women. This edition however shows a typically blonde, thin, pretty girl in a pout, full of innocence and passivity. However, there is an undertone of individuality, which seems to be a code of indie magazines, as she is wearing an unusual top and hairstyle which suggests someone who has her own idea about what is beautiful. Also, unlike most modern representations of beautiful women, Iggy is very pale, not tanned, and the photograph is focused on the natural beauty of her face, not her body.

From this research, I can see that indie music magazines concentrate heavily on individual style, and defying conventions in terms of both magazine concepts, and social expectations. They also use font styles well to reflect the theme of the magazine. Another thing that seems to be a common fact, is the use of special editions, as 'Q' uses a review of 2011 feature, and 'Clash' a fashion edition, which makes the magazine seem a must-have item, and is something I can take forward into my own designs.