Front cover analysis

Music magazines have basic features which make the magazine more attractive and specifically suited to the interests of the reader. Colours, images, fonts and the type of text that they use are just some of the design aspects of the front cover. Take this one for example;

This is a March 2008 issue of the NME, including then men of the moment Miles Kane and Alex Turner. The attractive thing to readers about this cover are the cover models, main reason being they are current, youthful and styled to perfection. They're wearing all black which indicates a classic and mysterious look. Which draws the reader in even further to read the magazine. As for the colours, they are very basic but effective. The main colour palette consists of red, white and black, which has an impact and makes the writing stand out without taking the attention away from the main image. The font used on the cover is mostly all the same, in order to make layout look sophisticated which reflects on the magazine. The speech from the interview is typed in an italic font which discreetly differentiates it from the enigma codes. 

Another example of an effective front cover is the Q Magazine below, although personally I'd say this cover is aimed at the pockets of men rather than women. Q have chosen to use Lady Gaga in quite a provocative way, this could suggest that the interview is more about her personal life than her music career. In some cases it could put people off buying it, in others it will make people want to buy it even more. Its certainly a striking image which would stand out on news stands and make people want to buy it. The model is wearing black tight fitting trousers, with just a large black glove which she uses to hide nudity. The colours are quite dark which would not appeal to the likes of young people, it is quite clear by the image and colour that Q is for an older audience. The fonts are different for each sub-heading, which makes the magazine look more interesting and individual. The red colours stand out against the grey background, especially the Q logo and the '100 most shocking moments in music.'

Finally, this issue of Q magazine stands out by the use of black and white. The main image is a close up shot of Noel Gallagher's face, while the red and white sub header above him explains the main article. The use of black and white could stand for the contrast between positivity and negativity, showing that the person has a good and bad side to them. By the filter of the image being so gritty and exaggerated it emphasises the appeal of the cover. It's absolute genius because its effective to readers of the magazine. I would use an image like this because its extremely in depth and shows a completely different interpretation of the band. It's a band that they may be interested in reading about and as soon as they pick up the magazine they will recognise the face on the cover. Personally, the cover would attract me because I'm a huge fan of the band. So I recognise the face on the cover and would be interested in reading it. Unlike the second cover. All margin placed headings are in the same font. This makes the magazine look neater and doesn't distract from the main point (the image.) 

The colours again are the same, white, red, and black. I like this colour palette because it goes with the colour of the image and doesn't detract any attention from the main image. Most indie magazines especially Q and NME stick to specific colours which make the covers more appealing to readers. Another reason is so certain colours are associated with the magazine.