Magazine Cover Terminology, Layout and Analysis

Monday 2nd October

LO:
- To analyse music magazine covers using appropriate terminology.

- Look at the magazine covers below and answer the following questions, in full, about both covers.

1) The masthead is the name of the magazines, the big title usually found at the top. The masthead of  a magazine usually links to its genre so for example the title mojo links to rock and billboard links to  billboard music, for example pop music.

2) Both the magazines have the masthead located at the top. Both have the main image of a famous singer located in the middle and top with the main headline, their names, located near them to capture the interest of people. The subheading is directly located underneath under the main headline. Both magazines have cover lines located to the side and around the magazine that contain more information about the magazine. They both have a dateline, on the mojo magazine it is located on the barcode and on the billboard magazine it is located under the masthead. On the Mojo magazine cover,  all the cover lines and main cover lines are based all around magazine cover in an unorganised way. This is because the magazine is a rock magazine with target audience of more of a male gender and it relates to more of a loud, crazy and insane type of magazine. However, on the billboard magazine cover the over lines and main cover lines are placed in a calm, settled and organised way as the magazine attracts more of a female audience and presents more of a calm chart hit music genre.

3) Both magazine include a dateline and both include cover lines with information on what is inside the magazine. Mojo includes a barcode however billboard doesn't.

4) There is a main headline on both of the magazines containing the names of the singers on the main image.

5) The cover lines that have been used contain little information in the magazine as they want people to read all about the subject inside the magazine. Both magazines contain about five cover lines with bold fonts to attract the reader. Mojo uses shorter cover lines however to fit to a more impatient and crazy rock genre with a male audience however Billboard uses longer cover lines to fit a more female audience that like to read information about the charts and big stories in the music industry at that current moment in time.

6) Both magazine use bold fonts with colour that stands out from the background of the magazine to attract the reader into buying the magazine. They both use serif fonts however Mojo uses more bold capitals to attract more of a big male audience and it also presents more of a crazy and mad rock genre. However Billboard uses settled and calm fonts with no capitals apart form the start of words on the main cover line to attract more of a female audience. They uses serif fonts that are capitals on the cover lines however the cover lines are small so it still presents more of a calm atmosphere on the cover. The calm font also relate to the genre of calm chart hit music which the magazine is about.

7) On the Mojo magazine cover there is an edited picture of a crowd in the background. Also they have a blue background and fonts are different throughout the cover lines. However on the Billboard magazine cover it contains no images apart from the main image and there is only a simple pink background. All the fonts are the same throughout.

8) On the Mojo magazine cover they use dark colours like blue and black that relate to rock and the fonts are brighter colours to make them stand out. On the Billboard magazine cover they use colour like pink and brighter colour that relate to the pop feminine target audience. Again Billboard uses opposite colour to the background to make the text stand out so darker colour like black.

9) Both magazine contain cover lines that contain little text and information on the subject to make the reader interested in the subject and read the magazine.

10) Both magazines have a main image to get across the main subject in the issue of the magazine, so for example in the mojo magazine they use a picture of Dave Grohl to get across the subject of Dave Grohl. On Billboard they only use on image which is the main image however on Mojo they contain two other images for the same reason.

11) Only Mojo contain freebies which is a CD, as it relates to the subject of David Gilmour.

12) Both magazines contain a menu strip which contains all the main subjects and information on what is inside of the magazine. However, Billboard contains a longer menu strip with more information to give out more information on the charts attracting more of a male audience. Mojo contains a shorter menu strip with little information which attracts a more impatient male audience that just want to read the magazine. It also presents rock the genre as rock music usually contain shirt and snappy lyrics with loud and heavy music.

13) Mojo contains the genre of rock and grunge and Billboard contains the genre of mainstream pop and popular songs and artists, like Katy Perry. Mojo covers rock due to a more male audience and rock fits a more stronger male audience and Billboard covers more popular chart music to fit a calmer more settled audience.

14) Mojo targets more of a middle aged male audience that can afford every new issue. It contains darker colours on the cover and the genre of the magazine relates to a more male audience. Billboard magazine targets more of a younger female audience as the more soft and brighter colours relate to the gender. Also the genre of mainstream pop attracts more of a female audience.

15) Mojo magazine relates to its audience by using cover lines that fit its audience, a crazy and unorganised layout to fit a more crazy and unorganised rock genre and big and bold and crazy fonts to attract a big male audience. The cover lines are quick, short and snappy which will attract a male audience that just wants to go through and read the magazine and not have to read whats on the cover. Billboard uses more of a calm and organised layout that attracts a female audience that wants to read all the information and is patient enough to read the cover. They use a calm mixture of serif and sans serif fonts which attract a female audience. The cover lines are longer and use more complex words to allow the reader to know about all the information without having to go in the magazine. This promotes to more of a female audience which the magazine is aimed towards. 

16) The masthead, main images and main title are the mastheads main selling points as readers want to read about popular subjects. The main images usually are the biggest factor of a magazines USP due to it containing the main story of the magazine. So on the Billboard cover Katy Perry is the main image and people want to read about her, so people will buy the magazine. Also, the magazine is aimed at more of a female audience the USP will contain a more feminine story. This is a similar concept with the Mojo cover. As it attracts more of a male audience its main image will contain something related to the genre. This is why the main USP in the main image.