Music magazine research:
After looking at various music genres I personally felt that pop was the genre which would suit my model the most. First, I researched into other music magazines and examined how they presented the artist and how the design of the cover related to the target demographic. For classical music the colors were mostly focused on dark colors like black and grey whilst pop was more vibrant using a range of shades. I choose pop cause i found that you can experiment with the styles and manipulate the model to present a certain characteristic. For instance, the readers may aspire to be sexy or dominating like her.
Example front covers:
Rules of alignment: The title make up the exact top
third, in the divide between the second and last thirds is more strong white
writing to balance the top and the features are consistently within the rules
of thirds, which makes the page well balanced.
Rules of alignment:
In this "Blender" Magazine example Taylor Swift's main body goes down the middle of the page and takes a third of the page. Mostly all the features have remained within alignment to comply with the rule of thirds. By having the text go down one side of the page the overall display is more organised and there is more space on the page to add information. Next, the letters in the title are evenly spaced out in the top of the page to spread equally across the three thirds of the page. What is interesting about the composition of the model is that her elbow moves into another third of the page which adds weight and moves the reader's attention into what is written.
Model poses:
Then I looked into some pop artists and how they were photographed and positioned to look more appealing to their target demographic.
In depth analysis:
Models – All the models have very
individual distinctive looks. The main focus is in the eyes where they give
direct eye contact to the camera, which is a mode of direct address. Each model
appears to come across as strong and dominating, which is an aspect I want to
include in my own product.
Props and backdrop: In the example of “Lorde”
issue the background compliments the model’s costume. There is a gold cloth in the background which
is relevant with her rich costume. In my
own product, I will use jewellery as a prop and cultural items like bangles and
head pieces to make the image more culture related. In two of the example front covers the backdrop is mostly plain and the colours on the page are rich and are dynamic which is relevant to the pop genre.
Bar-code: Out of the three examples, only two of the front covers feature a bar-code. This is important but should be displayed at the bottom left hand corner. I will take this into consideration with my own media product.
Fonts: Both the title and the subheadings are different, but use sans - serif font. Both the Billboard examples use one type of font, whereas the Blender example uses two types of fonts. This is useful for highlighting some information to show it's importance, but I will not use more then two types of fonts to match the research.
Titles: The titles are located at the top of the page and are bold to stand out from the rest of the page. In addition to this, the letters in most of the magazine examples are long and rounded and in sans - serif font. In the first example, the "Billboard" text is in white and the colours associated with the brand (usually red, blue and yellow) are shaded in the gaps of the letters "b,o,a,d". However, in "Blender" magazine the font type is similar but the colour fill is blue which works well with the rest of the text on the page, which is mostly black and blue. This stands out clearly from the white backdrop. Next, in the second example of the "Billboard" magazine what I find interesting is not only the title at the top but the name of the artist going across the image of the model. In my own work I will use large, long rounded letters with block fill and unless my picture is strong the writing will cover the image.
Boxes and circles: In the “Billboard”
example featuring M.I.A there is use of boxes and circles which are slightly transparent
and over the page. They are useful for adding strength to an area where the
information needs to be displayed as important. I will use this in my own work
for highlighting text such as “10 Top Tips” this way I can include more information
in a more visual format, which would be more attractive to the readers. I will
consider using a box or circle when I am constructing my magazine if it fits
with the rules of design.
