Front Cover Research!

For the first section of my research, I chose 5 different front covers from magazines and evaluated each one of them thoroughly. As the magazine that I want to do is going to be similar taste in music as Q, I chose to do 3 front covers of Q and then 2 others which were quite similar in genre of music.

       This is a front cover from Q magazine with Take That as the main story/picture. Having Take That on the front cover is different to usual for Q as they are a manufactured, mainstream boy band where Q normally has more quirky, alternative bands/artists, although  they do have a large genre range that they cover through the magazine. However the stylist has dressed the men in black leather jackets which gives them a harder, edgier look which can appeal to a larger audience. As the whole band is on the front cover, they have been piled up on top of each other to fit in the whole page. If I do a band I may consider doing something like this as it gives off a happy, fun outlook. As they are all smiling and laughing, it shows that they are welcoming making it more likely for someone to read on. They have stuck to a tri-colour scheme, red, black and gold, I am going to do this for my magazine using different colours. The caption which says Green Day in gold shows that the magazine has different genres of music so it can relate to a larger audience. The sub title 'Back for good?' is a pun, I will use word techniques like this to show some light hearted humour which creates a informal magazine. They use serif and sans serif font to give a more traditional and profession look but still have a modern twist on it. I am going to use both serif and sans serif font. 

This is a front cover from Billboard magazine with Katy Perry on the front cover. This is a minimalistic page, showing the mature, classic look of a glossy magazine. The models head covers the majority of the name of the magazine showing that she is a big star and that the magazine is well established.  There is a tri-colour scheme which is blue, yellow and black.The blue is also brought through the model also as she is wearing blue eyeshadow. The model's medium close-up and a neutral face shows that it is a more mature article rather than fussy and no unwanted gossip. This magazine is very female orientated which is what I want mine to be like however I will make my magazine a bit more broad to reach a larger audience. There is both sans and serif font used in this front cover which is quite unusual.There is only 2 other stories shown on the front cover of this magazine showing that Katy Perry is going to be featured a lot throughout this. 

This is a front cover from MOJO magazine. MOJO is more alternative to what I want to do for my magazine however I still like the individuality it has and some of the conventions they do i will bring into my magazine. This front cover has oasis on the front which shows they have hugely famous music inside. Also the quote on the front shows that this magazine is so popular and well known that they are able to get any artists. This shows that they are well established. In my front cover I am going to put small personal things on like that to make it sound well established and not like a new magazine. This magazine also hits on true life gritty stories such as deaths, I want my magazine to be more positive and all about the music and celebrities rather than true stories of real life events. 

This front cover shows how many magazines change the look/style of the celebrity on the front cover so that it can relate to a much larger audience which Q seem to do a lot of in their magazine front covers. They have taking a highly mainstream pop star and giving her an edgier look and used words such as 'Rocks'. However the Q logo in the corner is on top of the picture of her showing that the magazine is the most important, not the celebrity. Q stick to the conventions of a music magazine front cover as it has a strong colour scheme running throughout it of red and white. I am going to make sure that I stick to a duo or tri-colour scheme. 

This is a very simplistic magazine front cover as it doesn't have much going on and not a lot of stories to fill the page, this can appeal to a younger audience as it wouldn't look too much for them to read and the colour scheme also relates to a younger age. I want my target audience to be teens to young adults so I will make sure that I use appropriate colours and use of space. This is my least favorite of the front cover as it doesnt look professional which I want mine to. I will make sure that I don't use lots of different colours against a black and white picture as it doesn't look like it belongs together.