As part of our coursework we have to create a magazine cover about our artists single. Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to look at some real music magazines to see how they structure images and the different colour schemes that they use.
One of the magazines that I looked at was Q magazine. The magazine was first established in 1986 and was originally named Cue. However the company changed the name to a one letter word as they thought it would be more eye catching on the shelf.
One of the things that is obvious from first looking at this cover is that the image is the focus point. This is because it takes up a large amount of space and there is minimal writing surrounding it. I personally like the look of this magazine cover as it is not too over crowded and I think the simplicity of it works.
Moreover, the colour scheme on the front of the magazine is quite minimal. Once again I like this style as I think that too much colour and text could draw away the attention from the main image.
Another music magazine that I looked at was NME. In comparison to Q magazine this cover has more than one image on the front. As well as this, the magazine has used free merchandise to influence the sale of the magazine, such as a free poster. It is important when creating our own front cover that we consider different advertising techniques.
One of the things that I do like about this magazine is the use of bold font. This makes the writing stand out on the shelf and catches the audiences attention. This magazine also has far more colours on the cover than Q magazine.
Although I think this magazine has good selling techniques, I personally prefer the minimal effect that is displayed by Q magazine.
Next, a Magazine that I looked at was Smash Hits. The magazine stopped being published in 2008, I decided to look at the cover because it would've target the same audience as my own, which is teenagers and young adults. Therefore it is interesting to see what worked and what didn't.
One of the things that is obvious when looking at the cover of this magazine is that they are targeting a specific audience, which is females. This is highlighted by the pink colour scheme and the use of "Girls Rule!" in large text in the centre. Therefore they have instantly ruled out the chances of any male reading the magazine.
Following on from this, the magazine also creates a lot more images than the other two magazines. I think this is because it is targeting a younger audience and therefore visual information is very important to them.
After looking at this magazine I have found out that colour scheme is very important depending on the type of audience you are choosing to target. Although I do think that perhaps this magazine was not as successful as it could've been because the magazine appears quite child like which is not appealing to young adults.
In conclusion, since looking at these professional music magazines I have gained some inspiration for my own. I have decided that I want my magazine to have one image as the focus point and a simplistic colour scheme. Therefore this research as been successful as it has helped me to develop my own ideas.
One of the things that is obvious from first looking at this cover is that the image is the focus point. This is because it takes up a large amount of space and there is minimal writing surrounding it. I personally like the look of this magazine cover as it is not too over crowded and I think the simplicity of it works.
Moreover, the colour scheme on the front of the magazine is quite minimal. Once again I like this style as I think that too much colour and text could draw away the attention from the main image.
One of the things that I do like about this magazine is the use of bold font. This makes the writing stand out on the shelf and catches the audiences attention. This magazine also has far more colours on the cover than Q magazine.
Although I think this magazine has good selling techniques, I personally prefer the minimal effect that is displayed by Q magazine.
One of the things that is obvious when looking at the cover of this magazine is that they are targeting a specific audience, which is females. This is highlighted by the pink colour scheme and the use of "Girls Rule!" in large text in the centre. Therefore they have instantly ruled out the chances of any male reading the magazine.
Following on from this, the magazine also creates a lot more images than the other two magazines. I think this is because it is targeting a younger audience and therefore visual information is very important to them.
After looking at this magazine I have found out that colour scheme is very important depending on the type of audience you are choosing to target. Although I do think that perhaps this magazine was not as successful as it could've been because the magazine appears quite child like which is not appealing to young adults.
In conclusion, since looking at these professional music magazines I have gained some inspiration for my own. I have decided that I want my magazine to have one image as the focus point and a simplistic colour scheme. Therefore this research as been successful as it has helped me to develop my own ideas.
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