Music Magazine Analysis'

Here are examples of music magazine covers, contents pages and double-page spreads that I like and have analysed. I tried to pick a few different ones with a few similarities too, to give me as much inspiration as possible when creating my music magazine.

Cover:

 

The colour schemes for both these magazines are fairly subtle with slightly bolder mastheads that will appeal to both male and female readers, something I definitely want to use for my magazine. The mastheads are both bold and the same every week, font and placement wise. With the Rolling Stone magazine, even though the main image is covering the majority of the masthead , you know that it's Rolling Stone magazine because the font is known for that brand.

Both magazines have one main image and the both celebrities are making eye-contact to the camera, which is effectively making eye-contact to the reader, drawing them in and encouraging them to buy the magazine, something that I'll think about when choosing the photos for my cover. Because both magazines are large and well-known they are sure to have extremely well-known and popular of-the-moment stars, bringing in more buyers.

Rolling Stone magazine have a few other sell-lines to let the reader know what other stories are on offer whereas Billboard only has sell-lines regarding the cover star.

Both of these magazines are unique as they're both quite simple and minimal. Rolling Stone only having sell-lines on one side to the right and Billboard having their sell-lines to left and going down to the middle of the bottom makes both magazines look sophisticated and interesting.



On the Billboard cover, I like how the barcode, website, price and issue are all together in the corner at the bottom of the page, I think I'd like to use a similar idea to this when creating my magazine as I think it gives the magazine a high-end feel which is something I would like for my magazine.

Contents:

 

 

Both of these contents pages are fairly different, one being very full, the other very minimal. I definitely prefer the more minimal and simple contents from Vibe magazine. I think it looks very sophisticated and unique and I would like the same for my magazine. I like the way the word "contents" is set out, it's abstract and unexpected, making it look more interesting than it would if it was in a straight line. Having the one image and the neutral black, white and beige colours makes the page look very professional. I also like the way the words "features" and "fashion" are in a different font than the rest of the writing on the page, I might use something similar when creating my contents page.

The other contents page, from Q magazine, is anything but simple. The largest picture is the first thing that catches your eyes' attention and although there is a lot going on, it still looks very professional. Having so much text and more pictures than one, makes this contents page also unique.

Double-page Spread:

The double-page spread from Q magazine with Lana Del Rey looks more professional than the Beyoncé feature. Both are similar in the sense that the picture of the star for both magazines are on the opposite page than the interview which I like because it doesn't make the page look cluttered.

The article of Beyoncé is very eye-catching. The picture is the first thing you see and then it's the title which is very large and in the centre of the page, and it being called "Fiercely Creative" matches the theme of the photo of Beyoncé

Q magazine have gone more neutral with a white background and black writing which I prefer to the other double-page spread example that has gone for a more bold look with the purple gradient background and modern font white writing for the title of the article.

Q magazine, opted to go without a traditional title and just had the first letter of the article a lot larger and behind the article it self you know that's where the feature starts - I like the idea of having a particular letter larger than others but I like when the articles have titles.

I like how the content of the articles are both in columns which I may use for my double-page spread. I also like the added details to the pages in the Q article - the Q that would be on the front is on the corner of both pages, along with the date of the magazine and who the photo of Lana was photographed by.