The document analyzes conventions used in music magazine front covers. It finds that: 1. Large images of featured artists are used to attract readers and promote the artists. 2. Writing is clearly visible in fonts and colors that complement the images and give the magazine a distinctive style. 3. Contents pages use small text but relatively large pictures to maintain a bold look, with limited colors. Overall, the analysis finds consistency in promoting artists visually through large images, while still maintaining magazine-specific styles through fonts, colors, and layouts.

2. ANALYSIS OF
FRONT COVER

3. Language: “DIPSET WANTS YOUR BEATS!” may represent that the magazine is attempting
to reach out to the audience giving them the chance to prove they have what it takes to
make it to the same level as the artists featured by asking for the audience to send in their
own developed instrumental beats. This gives a link from the magazine to the audience,
which is very important when attempting to make a magazine favorable. Also “SIMPLY THE
BEST” gives the representation that these two artists featured on the front cover are simply
the best, which intrigues the audience leading them to the article.
Images: (Design) The Masthead is placed at the top of the magazine cover in a large yellow
brick style font. This bright coloring contrasts well with the remainder of the magazine
cover, making the title stand out. The images of Lil Wayne and DJ Khaled take most of the
space of the front cover, with the cover lines on the sides; this gives the connotation that
they are the main features of the magazine however the cover lines are representing second
party articles. As the image of Lil Wayne overlaps the masthead this represents that he must
be an important and major icon within the music genre, which will also draw the audience
nearer to purchasing the magazine.
Overall Impression: I think the front cover is attractive, simple; however it is laid out in a way
that gives it a stylish look. The cover gives a good indication of what is inside, what articles
are featured and why. For example, the words “simply the best” are placed there to indicate
that the articles are written about the featured artists (Lil Wayne and DJ Khaled) as they are
known to be “simply the best”, dominating their genre. Also I believe that the color scheme
used blends well with the artists’ look, and gives a decent identification of their persona,
which is needed as it simply allows the audience to connect even more with its favored
artists.

5. 1) All front covers seem to represent their featured artists in
large images, which almost cover the entire page. This is
done to provide a good preview of what will be inside the
magazine when the audience will be looking at it. Also this is
to give the artist featured a good amount of placement. Thus,
since the artists featured are usually well-liked by the chosen
genre, this proves that the large images of the artists are
placed to attract people to purchase the magazine. This is a
convention I will most likely follow, as my artists that I may
feature are popular within the genre.
2) Also I have noticed that the writing on all magazine
covers varying from the mastheads to the cover lines, the
writing is clearly visible and in specific fonts (colour) that
give the magazine an edge, as the designs on each magazine
fit in well with the images featured; (whether the colour tone
is dark or light). This convention is one that I will definitely
attempt to manipulate, as it is very important in designing a
successful music magazine.
3) However, with the contents pages and double page
spreads on each of the music magazines I have examined
there was a definite convention with the design and layout of
the contents pages; for example, the lettering seems quite
small, however the pictures relatively remain quite large,
giving a more bold look to each page. Also I have noticed the
colouring within the contents pages seem quite limited;
which I will take into account when designing my own.

6. 4) As I took a look at more and more different brands of music
magazine under the hip-hop/R&B genre I noticed that the style
and layout varied with artists featured. Some artists that are
featured that week may have a medium sized image whilst
having multiple cover lines surrounding the image, however on
a different edition featuring a different artist, there is simply
one large image, surrounded by one or two cover lines. I
believe this varies with the popularity of the artist as if they are
not very popular, the magazine will have to feature more
artists within to sell the magazine.
5) I also noticed that on each front cover that the design and
layout, depending on what artist is featured, the font and
colours would be set to be appropriate for supporting the
artists persona. For example, with Mac Miller, the magazine
featured him on the front cover, surrounding him with childish,
playful font and colours, as he is one of the youngest artists
within the genre.
6) Finally, with the double page spreads I compared, it seemed
to me that all magazine seemed to prefer to use large images
covering an entire page, possibly using small supporting cover
lines and quotes along side them. On the other page, they
would reserve for all the text they wished to include, usually
using a specific font and style that went well with the
colours/design of the image.