Front CoverMusic Magazines

Before starting to design my own music

magazine front cover, I found that there were

many features to think about including:

• Music Magazine name

• Featured artist(s)

• Contents – including the main article(s)

• Price & frequency

And lots of other things. In order to gain a

better perspective, I carefully looked at Q‟s

magazine covers and discovered a few key

things.

I purchased an up-to-

date publication of Q

magazine (Dec 2013) so

that all of the information

is accurate etc. Q is the

magazine which is most

like my own, therefore I

will analyse this front

cover before starting on

my own, so that I

understand the general

conventions beforehand.

GENRE

Genre establishes the identity of

a publications and allows the

audience to recognise it easily.

The genre of Q magazine is

popular music / rock / indie, and

this genre impacts upon all areas

of design, content and underlying

ideology.

The chosen artist for the front

cover of this issue is Jake Bugg,

a very popular present, male rock

artist, reinforcing the genre.

Furthermore, many other artists

are being featured, and they all

fall under the music genre of the

magazine, like Bob Dylan and

Nirvana.

Furthermore, the artist holds an

electric guitar in his hands,

connoting rock.

The masthead consists of the magazine title, „Q‟

which remains the same size, in the same

typography and colours on each issue,

establishing a house style for the magazine, as

reader‟s can easily recognise the magazine by

it‟s logo. Furthermore, the artist superimposes

the title, suggesting that the magazine is well

enough established and confident that people

will still identify the magazine, through its house

style rather than its name. A tagline „The

World‟s Greatest Music Magazine‟ is also

present in the mast head, and involves buzz

words such as „greatest‟ which adds to this

house style and also will attract readers as they

may believe the line. „Jake Bugg‟ is the main

anchorage text to the main image and therefore

stands out with its bold, large font. The font also

cleverly fits with the shape outline of the guitar

that the artist is holding. A puff „his most

revealing interview‟ boasts about other content

in the magazine, and this as well as other

coverlines, give extra insights into the

magazine‟s contents – inviting readers to read.

There are many buzz words such as „special,

revealing, plus‟ which can catch the audience‟s

attention and make them believe that the

content is good and „exclusive‟.

AUDIENCE

This cover targets its audience in

a few ways. Firstly, the main

image of Jake Bugg fits with their

genre and readers are likely to

like his music. Also, many other

artists are seen in cover lines

such as Ellie Goulding, Nirvana,

Bob Dylan and more. These are

three very different artists, and

Nirvana is a band which are no

longer together, although they

have a large fanbase, therefore

some people who may not

usually buy Q might buy the

issue just to read about them.

Bob Dylan would appeal to older

readers as he was more popular

in past years and Ellie Goulding

will appeal to a more female

audience.

REPRESENTATIONJake Bugg is being represented

as a serious, „cool‟ young singer,

in all black leather with an electric

guitar. This style that he has on

the magazine cover reinforces the

genre of music that he plays

which is indie rock. Therefore, this

artist would be a perfect one to

use in my own magazine as he

fits the genre well. There is

indirect mode of address between

Jake Bugg and the audience

which establishes his „serious‟

face, and also, he isn‟t smiling.

This expression could be used to

present the artist as one who

wants to be taken seriously, and

he is young, only 19. Some

anchorage text reads „on dating

models‟ which links to the idea

that rock stars are interested in

girls.

A recurring feature used

on Q‟s magazine covers

is a pun, usually in the

anchorage text which

gives the main image a

purpose.

On this cover for example

“Unmasked: the secretive

stars behind the sound of

the summer” is a pun

since the band „Daft

Punk‟ are wearing

masks, which is in fact

„secretive‟ therefore the

text gives a meaning to

the image and will

successfully attract

readers.

Here are two more examples. In the first the anchorage is „Plan B

has a few things to say… and you need to listen”. This is

reinforced by the main image, with Plan B himself holding a

microphone. And in the second Lana Del Ray is portrayed with

blood dripping down her face, linking to “So What‟s So Bloody

Good?”

I would like to use a pun for my

anchorage text as I think that it gives

the whole cover more of an overall

meaning, and also, is a professional

and clever technique, which attracts

readers.

Choosing My Main Image…

I took around 50 photographs of the same model, in the same location, to

have a bigger chance of capturing an image in which I liked and would want

to use. I have cut these images down to 4…

I decided to use a white background so that the shot appears as a posed, studio

shot, rather than a natural shot. The model has a direct mode of address in all 4

photographs, because I think that this is an important convention of music

magazines as the audience feel more involved.

The model‟s hair is being blown, therefore a possible pun to use in the

anchorage text is “She‟ll Blow You Away” or “She‟s Mind Blowing” or

“She‟ll Blow Your Mind”.

Depending on what kind of representation I decide on, for both the

featured artist and the magazine itself, will impact on my choice of

photograph, since the 4th shows a funnier, crazier side of the artist,

sticking out her tongue, where as the other 3 pictures portray a more

serious artist, barely smiling, with direct eye contact, which could be

quite effective.

The final image that I have chosen to use on my magazine front cover is…

Because I think that it fits well with the genre and ideologies of my magazine.

The model is slightly smiling, giving the publication a warm tone, yet she is still

serious in expression. Her hair is being blown, so I can use the pun „She Blows

Us Away‟. I will edit this image in Photoshop before creating my front page.

BEFORE AFTER

Using Photoshop

Firstly I brightened the background of my

image, as the lighting was quite dull, this

gave the model‟s skin tone a lighter

tone, and made the entire image

brighter. However, brightening the image

too much caused an uneven tone so I

had to be careful.

Therefore, the dodge tool was useful to

me. I used this to whiten the background

further, making the image look more

professional, as though taken in a

studio. This also created shadows which

was a good effect.

I used the patch tool and the stamp

tool to neaten up lose strands of hair,

making the final image appear

clearer. This also defines her hair

more and it still looks like it is blowing.

Using the patch and stamp tools, I managed to remove strands of

hair which covered the face, especially round the chin and neck

area.

I removed any blemishes using the patch tool, and used the paint brush to

add a small white dot to the left eye which made a huge difference, as it

brightened up her eyes and made her eye contact more direct. Then brown

paint to define her eyebrows. After, I used the blur tool to smooth the overall

skin tone and lips.