The document provides an analysis of the design elements used across the covers and interior pages of three music magazines: Clash, Dazed, and Fader. It examines the layout, typography, imagery and other stylistic choices made for the mastheads, covers, contents pages, and articles. Key points of comparison highlighted include the use of color palettes, grid structures, image sizes, and formatting of body text. The document aims to understand design conventions and how different magazines approach visual storytelling.

1. The masthead is the largest piece of text
on the cover, and so attention is drawn to
it. A bold, simple, sans serif font is used –
this enables simplicity when reading and
aids in an eye-catching appearance. This
particular masthead is made up of
ascenders, which fills the once empty
space at the top of the cover.
The banner of the magazine is located
in the bottom left corner. This means
that it doesn’t distract the consumer’s
eye from the more important
features.
The tag ‘Interstellar Overdriver’ pulls
the reader’s attention and sums up
the featuring article.
The photography for Clash Magazine
usually changes with each issue,
allowing for a “fresh” feeling. In this
particular instance, flash is used to
make the bright colours “pop” –
attracting attention to the splash.
The plugs are included on the
cover of the magazine –
towards the left – and is
positioned below the
masthead. This helps create a
pattern of viewing for the
consumer and leads the eye
across the page in a particular
fashion.
The colour palette for the
cover is bright – this could
perhaps link with the artist
himself, who may have a bold
personality. It could also be
chosen to catch the eye of
consumers and set a tone for
the magazine as a whole
This piece of text is the second
largest body of text on the cover and
involves drop shadows. This draws
the reader’s eye to the artist who is
featuring and communicates to the
consumer what the magazine will be
centred around.

2. The monochrome approach for the
contents page is perhaps a risk: it
could be considered boring for
readers. However, it fits well with
Clash Magazine’s simplistic
aesthetic and design.
The contents page has
been divided into four
sections – each having a
separate subheading. This
allows the contents page
to be navigated quickly
and easily.
There is a significant lack of photos in
this contents page: usually a contents
page would feature at least one picture,
perhaps Clash Magazine is meeting it’s
indie market by doing this since it’s fairly
risky and “outside the box”.
The text on this contents page is
simple and clear to read – the fact
that it is wob (white on black) helps
with this. The font used is serif and
capitalised, this adds to clarity and
simplicity.
It is clear that Clash is wanting to
remain unique and individual,
because of its peculiar title for
the contents page. It
immediately draws the eye of
the reader and is paired with a
simplistic font and a basic
underline. This original and
creative title reflects the desired
audience for the magazine.

3. The headline for this double-
page spread is simply the name
of the artist: it is in large, bold
text to immediately attract
attention. It is interestingly
positioned nearer to the bottom
of the page – close to the main
body – as opposed to the top.
This may have been chosen so
that attention is quickly directed
to the article itself; encouraging
consumers to actually read it.
The overline of the double-page
spread is short and simple, with
each word being placed on a
separate line. This improves the
aesthetic of the article and keeps
a clean look – as well as allowing
for easy reading.
The negative space between
the two headings creates an
understated look – one that
would please an
indie/alternative audience.
Clash often includes drop caps for
its articles. I think that I will include
drop caps in my magazine, as they
act as an aesthetically pleasing
introduction to an article.
The alley between the two columns of
text keeps the page structured and clear:
this means that the content of the article
won’t be confusing to read.
The image of the artist is
located on the recto of the
spread and takes up its
entirety – this is a
simplistic approach and is a
nice approach to the start
of the article, since the
subject (person) of the
article is presented in good
detail. I would consider
using this format in my
magazine, because I like
the aesthetic of it.

4. The banner and barcode of the
magazine are located in the top left
corner. This means that it doesn’t
stray the consumer’s eye away from
the more important features.
The masthead is the largest piece of text
on the cover, and so attention is drawn to
it. The font is large and bold – with
characters being slightly closer together.
This is a slight contrast to Clash, which
opts for a font that is more spread out.
The Dazed masthead is located directly in
the centre (at the top of the magazine)
and isn’t surrounded by any bodies of text
– allowing it to be interpreted quickly and
easily. As well as this, the colour palette is
fairly neutral in towns, and FKA twigs’
black hair and jacket provides a nice
contrast to the masthead.
The tag ‘future shock’ attracts the reader’s
attention and sums up the featuring article. It is
written in a slimmer, serif font – so that it isn’t
similar to the masthead.
Unlike Clash Magazine, there
are no plugs to be seen on this
cover – perhaps Dazed
wanted to keep a minimalistic
look to the cover, and focus
purely on the splash (FKA
twigs).
A medium shot has been used to
capture FKA twigs – as opposed to
a close up – so that the reader is
intrigued by her overall
outfit/appearance. There is still eye
line match, however, and so we
remain personally engaged with
the cover.

5. The monochrome approach for
the contents page fits well with
Dazed’s simplistic aesthetic and
design.
The alley between both columns
of text allows for a clean
contents page, meaning that it
doesn’t appear too confusing or
overwhelming to consumers
Dissimilarly to Clash, Dazed has
used small, bold text (in lower
case characters) for the
subheadings of each section of
the magazine. I don’t like this
approach as much, since I find it
slightly harder to differentiate
between titles and general text.
Despite this, it works well with
the overall look of the magazine.
A smaller version of the cover
photograph has been included in
the contents page – most likely
to fill up any negative space and
create intrigue towards the page
(especially since there is a lack of
a title).

6. The grey scale/monochrome
approach creates striking contrasts
between highlights and shadows –
presenting FKA twigs in a dramatic
and intriguing way. This attracts the
attention of the magazine’s
audience, as we want to discover
more.
The standfirst for this article is
presented in a large typsize and a
simple, serif font is used. The size and
simplicity of it provides a great
introduction to the article for the
reader: we can quickly decide
whether to continue reading, or skip
this particular article.
The body of the article is divided
up into paragraphs and the alleys
allow for a less “cluttered” look to
the page. There is a large amount
of text and so it is important that
it’s broken up – otherwise the
reader may lose interest.
Like the page above, Dazed have
chosen to break up the article using
images of FKA twigs: this presents the
magazine (and the article) in a more
interesting fashion and keeps the
attention of the reader.

7. In contrast to both Clash and Dazed,
Fader opts for a less opaque masthead.
This approach is certainly intriguing, as
the masthead is key for a successful
magazine. Perhaps, because of its
popularity, Fader can afford to take this
risk and take an individual approach. It
may have been decided to have
somewhat translucent text to draw
closer attention to the featuring artists.
Despite this, the masthead still uses
large, capitalised text – the characters
are all ascenders and so negative space
becomes filled.
The feature of the magazine (Migos)
have been photographed at a medium
close up: this doesn’t create an
invasive mood, but allows the
consumer to witness each individual
in more detail – this perhaps allows us
to connect with them, before we’ve
even read the article about them.
The barcode of the magazine are located in
the bottom left corner. This means that it
doesn’t stray the consumer’s eye away
from the splash.
This particular cover doesn’t feature a
tag that relates to the artist, but one
that is more broad – “The now issue”
– perhaps Fader has decided on this
to make the magazine more broad,
instead of being solely focused on
Migos. Immediately, readers can
assume there will be other featuring
artists.

8. The colour palette for the contents
page is somewhat simple, but
highly effective. The inclusion of
the blue against the white
background makes it far more
interesting to look at – as opposed
to just a monochrome look. I will
adopt this style for my magazine:
mixing monochrome text with
coloured images.
Like the previous two magazines,
Fader orders the contents page into
specific sections – with each having
their own subheading. The bold, sans
serif font is easy and clear to read;
consumers will therefore be able to
effectively navigate the page.
The images on the contents page
fill up negative space, but don’t
clutter the page: this balance is
important because the contents
needs to be easy to read, but also
engaging to the consumer.

9. The alley between the two body of text
is fairly slim: for me, this creates quite a
confining look to the page. The text
could become overwhelming to the
reader – especially since it is “squashed”.
The text isn’t really broken up, and so
the reader could lose interest in the
article.
A good feature of this spread
is that the opening sentence
to each new body of text is in
bold. This is a good way of
differentiating between each
section of the article – if
needed, the reader could
simply read the opening
sentence and decide whether
to continue.
An entire page is dedicated
to one member of Migos –
this not only makes the
article more interesting, but
highlights the importance of
the artist. If only a small
image was included, then the
artist wouldn’t feel as
significant.