Research 2 - Front Cover 0f Acoustic Magazine February 2014

For my magazine research 2 I decided to analyse the February addition of Acoustic magazine. I am covering various things including the masthead, colours and feature and cover stories of this particular front cover.

Masthead

For the masthead this magazine uses Classy colours. They use Gold for the writing and White for the background. This is a house style of Acoustic magazine because I have had a look at a few other issues and it is the same on every one. The Gold and white colours suggest that this magazine is majestic and classy. The masthead is in a good position because it is in the middle of the page and although some of the picture is covering it, the masthead can still be seen clearly. Due to the writing being in Gold and the large text it stands out against the background and immediately catches someone’s eye.

Images

The main image is of a very popular country group called "The Band Perry". The image is very large and takes up most of the front cover. It is positioned in the middle of the page because it is the main article in the magazine. The Feature story. The reader’s eyes automatically go to the picture in the middle because it is the largest. They are wearing natural makeup for example nude colours and light browns and the girl is wearing slightly dull lipstick. This is so it doesn't over power the look of the band. Their hair is styled naturally. This fits in with the genre. She looks like a typical country artist, floral dress and natural curled hair suggesting the country image.I know this because previous groups such as Taylor Swift around the age of 15 -16 is also dressed in a floral dress and has naturally curled hair. The other two members look like they could be rock stars more that country stars. this is breaking a genre code. It seems that in this picture the female is dominating in the group. This also refers to Dyers theory that Stars are just an image, not a real person who is constructed. The visual signs are the outfits they are wearing. This shows that their managers are creating the ideal image for a country group so that they appeal to the audience. This is the “star image” that is created. It is also shown with the genre code braking.

Fonts

Most of the text on the front cover is big and bold. It is easy to read because the font style is clear and due to the colour of the text being white and black, it is clearly visible on the yellow banners and white background. The text style is serif. This mean that the writing has small curves and lines at the end of each letter. The masthead however is sans serif and pushed together. This means that is has small curves and lines at the end of the letters. This also makes the magazine look majestic.

Feature/ Cover stories

In this issue of Acoustic magazine there is one feature story and three cover stories. They all link to the country genre because they are all country groups of the modern day age and tutorials for popular country music. The target audience of this magazine is mainly the younger age from 16 - 30.

Codes and conventions

This magazine cover uses conventions like "Player" and "Album". These are conventions to do with music. The magazine breaks a few conventions. For example, the two members that are dressed like rock artists. This has nothing to do with the country genre. Also the phrase "Arena Rockers". The word "Rockers"suggests that the group could be associated with the Rock genre. This is braking conventions.

How research has informed my creativity and planning

• I would like to use the serif, pushed together writing used for the masthead.
• I would also like to use the image under the masthead idea. I think it looks very professional\
• I will use more space on the front cover instead of having a lot of white space like Acoustic Magazine has.