Masthead

Masthead typography analysis

Q magazine is unusual in the music magazines as this magazine does not have an actual name but is just a letter. They have done this because it is a short version and sound for Queue, as in you are queuing up for something, or waiting for something to come out. This also tells us that the magazine is up to date with new releases about what is happening. The bold background of a solid red colour stands out from everything else. This has become their signature colour for the magazine, where they use it throughout.  The connotations of this are important, aggressive, power, love, passion, blood, and boldness. The giant capital Q in the middle displayed in white stands out from the red background and is really contrasting with it. This also gives the magazine a professional look as the Q is in the middle, and the red box is a straight square.

Kerrang have a famous style of masthead. The main colours that are used are yellow, black and white. This basic white and black headline shows the classic rock and roll theme. The writing is all in capitals and also has an explication mark at the end of it to show even more emphasis and aggression. The actually writing it’s self is also quite faded and pieces missing, and bits of lines across each word, it gives it an unfinished, broken, grunge look. The black background shows darkness, and mystery against the pure whitens of the writing, this shows two sides of the story. You can tell that their audience would be aimed at teenagers who love rock music and are aggressive and alternative.

 

Rolling Stone is a world class famous magazine which caters for all types of music. The main colour of rolling stones is actually red with the black outline and the thick edgy stand out; it looks like the writing has been cut out from a trophy.  The actual typography has all flicks and rounded rather than bold and capital. This is because it is diverse for all kinds of music and can be easily adapted to a wide range of audiences.  However the masthead changes the colour in different magazines, but will still keep to the same typography and layout. The dominate colour is red because red represents aggression, passion, boldness and importance, it is a popular choice in the industry of music as well.

Vibe magazine is aimed for music lovers of R&N and hip hop. They have used the colour of black as the main masthead and the background of white to make it contrast and stand out.  The first three letters are all in capital letters however the e at the end is not. This maybe because they have stolen the e from the grand theft auto e. This is because that their target audience probably plays that game a lot and this also makes it more reckonable to their target audience, this can also make them even more persuaded to buy the magazine. Also even though the writing is all in capitals the actual letters are round and soft to show their soft music and bounce to the audience.

Tops of the pops are an old magazine and this also shows in the way they have presented it. The colours of pink and yellow are very retro and disco like. By using the yellow background with the pink outline of the words “top of the pops” make it stand out and give it the theme of pop music. The typography of the masthead is all in lowercase letters and soft, there are no rough edges, and are all curved and soft which shows in pop music that produce. This is a classic pop magazine and by using retro disco colours you can see this.

 

The classic two colours of black and white show that this magazine is a classic rock magazine. Like Kerrang they have chosen the two basic colours, however used them in reverse. All letters are in capital however they are not as aggressive as Kerrang, the letters are curved and rounded to show a softer style that this kind of music is less aggressive and the audience would be less aggressive.  The white background shows the pure of the music and the black shows the darkness of the music and what they want to represent.

XXL magazine have followed the dominate colour of red and used this as their background like Q magazine. They have also imitated Q magazine with the writing being white. XXL is written in bold capital letters to show the contrasting of the white and red background.  The boldness of the writing is not as strong and well presented as Q, as they have used a softer text that is not as cutting edge as others to show their king of music which is aimed at rappers and R&B music.

NME is a classic British rock music magazine. Using the bold and well known colour of red as the filler for the writing and a white outline really contrast and makes the masthead stand out. By also using a black background this makes the letters NME stand out even more and appeal well polished and Presteme. NME is written in all capital letters which have finished in a straight edge and clear finish, each letter is bold and straight with no curves to show it’s professional and also appeal to a much older audience.  People who would read NME would be working class, and maybe older teenagers as the genre of music is rather old, classic rock.