The first inspiration I have chosen for my music magazine front cover is an NME magazine front cover. The layout is very conventional for most magazine front covers. The masthead is placed in the top left hand corner, which is effective as it draws the most attention from the viewers eye line, therefore will allow readers to easily identify the magazine whilst it is on the shelf. However the image, slightly overlaps the NME logo, which signifies how popular the magazine must be, as the entire logo does not need to be displayed in order for the the audience to recognise which magazine, the cover is for. The skyline, which is featured at the top of the page, encourages audiences to buy the magazine, for example featuring the word 'news' along with two very popular bands, increases a sense of mystery and influences the reader to wonder what the exciting news about these bands could be. Lastly the layout also features a large number of the text featured down the left hand side of the page. This is a very clever technique, as in stores many magazines may overlap one another on a shelf, however it is the left side which is usually still visible to audiences, therefore the articles featured in the magazine will still be viewable. The main image features singer/song writers Alex Turner and Miles Kane. The image is very simple, which allows the image to have a very dramatic effect on the reader and ties in with the rock theme of the magazine. The large use of black also allows the image to stand out against the bright red and white background and text used, whilst also we could argue is consistent with the word 'shadow' in the band name, with the large use of black, and lack of body shape, almost making them appear to be shadows. The singers, are also featured in the main focal point of the magazine, allowing them to make eye contact with the reader, which ultimately draws the reader into the front cover, encouraging them to purchase the magazine. The font of the text is very plain and simple, which is more effective then if a fancy font were to be used, as it is easier on the eyes and less busy and confusing. The text also consists of the features being placed in a bold font and with a small description of quote underneath in a normal font, giving a clue to what each feature will be about. As there is a lot of text placed on the page, the bold allows the title of each feature to stand out amongst the text, which is important as this is what the readers are likely to be interested in, resulting in them purchasing the magazine. Lastly they have also used a black, white and red colour scheme, which is very effective as it is identified as being associated with the indie rock music magazine genre, therefore this allows the audience to identitfy what the magazine music may contain. For example, if a magazine were to consist of these colours it is unlikely that it would conatin pop music such as Justin Bieber. What i particularly like about this magazine front cover, is the layout. I like how the text is situated down the left hand side, with each feature header placed in bold, which is somehting I would like to replicate in my magazine cover. I also like the use of dark shades of clothing used in the main image, as it ties in well with the overall colour sheme and the rock genre of the magazine, whilst also adding a dramatic effect, another technique which I would like to use on my magazine front cover.
Q Magazine Front Cover
The second inspiration I have chosen for my music magazine front cover is a Q magazine front cover. The layout again is very conventional, consisting of the text place around the edge of the front cover, with the main image placed in the centre. The logo, consists of bright red with a white Q in the middle, which i feel is particularly the reason they have used a black background, black clothing and dark shadows on the image, which allows the logo to stand out greatley, ultimatly allowing the viewers to recognise the magazine whilst it is on the shelf. The skyline is also very effective as it states 'the UK's biggest music magazine' with the word 'biggest' featured in italic, this creates a sense of dominance and high popularity, whilst also encouraging audiences to purchase the magazine as it is known for its high popularity rating this is ensuring them it will be worth the purchase. The image features singer Cheryl Cole, and particularly effective for its edgy atmosphere. This is mainly due to the facet, Cheryl Cole is a pop singer and is usually associated with doing very colourful photoshoots in vibrant music magazines, therefore the image is very striking and evokes curiosity from the viewer. Lastly the use of colour, specifically the striking contrast between the red and black. A high proportion of the text and image are black or very desaturated colours, which allows the red to stand out drastically. This is a clever technique as the red is used for the items which will have the most effect on the reader, for example, the magazine logo and high profile band names. What I particularly like about the magazine is the item of text featured in the top right hand corner. This is due to the many different font styles, font weights and font colours used within the same paragraph, which looks very unique and although with many uses of styles you would expect the text to appear busy, I feel it looks very simple and stylistic. For my magazine I would like to firstly replicate the styling of the text which is placed down the left hand side of the cover, which is featured in coloured boxes. I would also like to replicate the large medium shot style image, which only featured the singers face and shoulders. This I feel will work best as it will not create too much blank space around the edge of the image and the overall front cover of the magazine.
Q Magazine Front Cover
The third inspiration I have chosen for my music magazine front cover is a Q magazine front cover. Firstly the image, which features singer and pop queen Madonna. The image is very simple and has a very low use of props or effects used upon it. This reflects the high profile of Madonna herself, in that she does not need a fancy image as she is already very famous herself, and could sell the magazine very easily. This could also be implied by how her overall image is very empowering and not only overlaps the magazine logo, but takes up a high majority of space on the front cover. This is effective for the magazine as having Madonna very dominantly on the front cover, will encourage audiences to purchase the magazine, simply because of her high profile in the music world. The text featured on the magazine is also very, featuring many high profile names such as The Rolling Stones, The Arctic Monkeys along with entertainment names such as Russell Brand and The Mighty Boosh. Using names also very popular in the TV and entertainment world, is particularly effective as it allows the magazine to target a wider audience, and maybe even encourage those who are not very interested in music to have a look at the magazine. I myself, particularly like the image, and how it appears to almost wrap around the the text and logo, which is unusual as the image used on a front cover is usually situated behind all the featured text. For my magazine I would like to replicate the diagonal light blue strip with text featured at the bottom of the cover. This is quite unique compared to the plain horizontal text which is usually featured at the bottom of the page, yet is still quite simple.
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