Research – Front Cover Research 1: Classic Pop Magazine

For my magazine research I decided to analyze Classic pop magazine. I am covering various things including the masthead, colours and feature and cover stories.

Masthead

For the masthead this magazine uses neutral colours. They use white for the writing and Black and Red for the background. This is a house style of Classic Pop magazine because I have had a look at a few other issues and it is the same on every one. The masthead is in a good position because it is in the left hand corner and nothing is hiding it. Due to the writing being in white 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 pop group from the 80’s called Duran Duran. The image is very large and takes up a large part 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. Their hair is styled naturally. This fits in with the genre. Three of the members are dressed in black which was the classic pop group wardrobe of the 80’s. I know this because previous groups such as Backstreet Boys are also in all black. The Fourth member however is dressed in white and black and is taller than the other members which indicates he is the bad boy of the group. We see them as a group which has a leader and the other three are just the backup singers. This 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 pop group so that they appeal to the audience. This is the “star image” that is created. there are a number of images on this front cover. This appeals to a younger audience because they like more images.

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, it is clearly visible on the blue and pick background. The text style mainly sans serif. This mean that the writing does not use small curves and lines at the end of each letter. The masthead however is sans serif. This means that is has small curves and lines at the end of the letters.

Feature/ Cover stories

In this particular magazine there is one feature story and three cover stories. They all link to the pop genre because they are all pop groups from the 80’s and the wardrobe and makeup. The target audience of this magazine varies between numbers of different categories. The magazine can be seen as uni-sex because of the background colours, pink and blue. The magazine is also trying to appeal to females of a younger age and from the 80's. 

Codes and conventions

This magazine cover uses conventions like album, and for your years only. These are conventions because you listen to music with your ears so this shows that it is about music. 

How research has informed my creativity and planning

For the front cover i loved how the colours were uni-sex so that it appealed to both genders. I will incorporate this into my magazine. I didn't like that there are a lack of images on it. People may be put off by this as it won't be as eye catching and appealing.