Research - Front Cover Research 3

Pictured right is the third
front cover I have analysed as part of my research; an issue of Acoustic Magazine from October 2016.

The masthead is white in colour, meaning it is instantly recognisable to the reader as Acoustic, as these colours are a convention of this magazine. It is positioned across the top of the magazine, and is situated behind the subject of the front cover, which follows conventions of music magazines. The size of the masthead  follows the conventions of this magazine, and is consistent with the house-style, as it is roughly 1/8 of the page, ensuring that it can still be seen by the reader, but is not overpowering the rest of the front cover. The font used in the masthead is a sans serif font, which could be reflective of the genre of music the magazine is trying to represent. The font used could indicate the style of music within this magazine as its lack of flicks and flare perhaps refer to the simplistic and honest nature of acoustic music genre, linking to the name of the magazine.

The image used on the front cover is of Indie Folk and Country singer Passenger. His image is used as he is the focus of the main article within the magazine, which follows conventions of music magazines. It takes up the whole page with a medium long shot and is positioned centrally on the page, with the main article text placed over the top of him, as well as his name placed behind him. The subject does not appear to be wearing any visible makeup, which indicates a more natural and honest look, which represents the style of music Passenger creates. The natural and honest theme is continued as the subject is pictured only with his guitar, which implies that that is his only tool to create music, instead of all the editing software other musicians use, and that he creates music in its purest form. Also, the fact he has been pictured with his guitar links in to Dyer's theory of representation, as the subject does not carry a guitar around with him all the time, and has therefore been given this prop for the photo shoot in order to represent the genre appropriately.

The feature story is positioned across the centre of the page, and is placed over the image. This enables the reader to infer that this story is the main article within the magazine, and that the subject of the image will be the focus of the article. The colour of the text used in the subheading of the feature story is the same colour used in the masthead, which helps create a brand identity for the magazine, and also contrasts the colour of the text boxes that  they have been placed in. The font used in the subheading to the article is also the same as the masthead, serif, which continues the brand identity that has been created. As well as the single feature story, the cover displays six cover stories and two banners which all link to the genre due to the language used and themes conveyed, which also appeals to the target audience, which I believe to be males and females around 30-40 years old.

The magazine front cover follows the conventions of this genre by featuring an artist on the front cover, and then by including a main article about them. The cover has a moderate amount of white space, which gives it a more upmarket feel. The cover also keeps with the house-style of the magazine, as the masthead is in the same place on the cover as every previous issue and also uses the same colour and font.

How this analysis has helped me:

• I like the fact that the masthead uses sans serif font as it fits well with the genre.
• I also like the fact that the subject of the image has been given a prop that represents their genre of music, which is something I could try to use on my cover.
• I don't like the use of text boxes on the front cover that cover up the image, which is something I will try to avoid.