Masthead Analysis

1. MASTHEAD
ANALYSIS

2. Rock These are four examples I found of mastheads from Rock
music magazines. Nearly all the mastheads I saw from
researching them were black and white in colour. I believe
this is done so that it contrasts with the rest of the front
cover as they tend to be very vivid and full of content that
often features bits of bright colour.This will therefore help
the rest of the content on that page stand out more and help
enforce the power that is portrayed through rock music
itself.There is a variation of serif and sans serif text used on
different rock magazines which is often accompanied by
other features such as the ‘smashed’ effect used on the
Kerrang masthead or the pointy font used in Metal Hammer
masthead.The mastheads are typically placed at the top of
the front page with some taking up the length of all three
thirds (Kerrang), but others may only take up the middle
third (Classic Rock). When creating my masthead I think I will
use a similar style to Kerrang where my masthead will cover
the whole width of the top section using sans serif font,
however I am going to use a font that is a similar style to
Metal Hammer’s.

3. Pop When looking at mastheads from pop magazines I found
that they were a lot more colorful.The majority of them
featured quite basic sans serif font other than the ‘pop’
which has a slightly more playful effect.They could be
considered quite child like and more appealing towards
children and teenagers. I believe that this is done to
appeal to their target audience as pop music is typically
aimed at them. I saw a variety of colours being used when
looking at the genres mastheads. I think this is so they
stand out on the page, catching peoples eyes and also to
fit the happy, fun and gleeful feel pop music has. In
comparison to rock I found that pop mastheads are very
different and therefore when making my own masthead I
will avoid using lots of colours and playful fonts as this will
not work with my magazine.

4. Indie/Alternative The indie and alternative mastheads can be considered to
be slightly similar to rock mastheads. From what I’ve
found during my research they tend to feature a very
basic sans serif, block font with very little to no detail. I
found most either used black and white or red and white
for their colour scheme and it was usually placed in the
left hand corner of the top section of the page. I once
again believe this is done so they do not draw attention
away from the rest of the content on the front page. I
think this also helps represent the simple and relaxed vibe
indie/alternative music gives. I feel like my masthead
could follow a similar style to these, however I am going
to souly focus on making it look more like the examples
from rock magazines as this is conventional and will help
make my magazine look more authentic.