Research into Front Covers

In the half term we had to research some music magazines for ideas. I had my idea of my music magazine being the genre of urban and R&B so I knew I had to independently find some magazines. I bought 1 and looked at other on websites. I took a picture of the one I bought :

On the front cover the artist are of an African ethnicity, so it is clearly focused around black urban music. The colors use make it stand out. The use of yellow attracts a readers eye, with a mid shot of two artists next to each other. The masthead is a named music genre. The color of it is like plated silver, this could represent the material platinum that is usually associated with the music industry in trophies or how many albums/singles a artist sells.


Other examples of R&B music front covers:

VIBE

 The front cover of this magazine centers the main image in the middle as a midshot of the artist. The size fits the whole front cover of the page as a straight on angle. The focus of the artist is mainly on his face as their lighting directed on it contrasting his face away from the dark colour of the background (black). The colours used in the magazine are black, yellow and white. These colours together suggest masculinity. The masthead is block centered at the top. The pose is standard, with the artist standing straight. The text is surrounded around the image, making it clear to see what is inside the magazine. This font is in white also making it easy to read against black background. 

RAP-UP

The front cover of this magazine has a long-shot image of three women. It takes up the whole of the front cover of the magazine. The angle seems to be at the bottom looking up at them. This connotation of this image is to make the three women feel more powerful then us but also attractive to look at from a lower angle. The setting has a grey background, while the focus is on all three of them. This could be from the colour. They are all wearing brightly colored clothing. This gives it that fun and vibrant feel. The masthead, is in black block. The letter 'U' has a shape to it like a road symbol. The lighting is not natural. The pose that the girls are doing is like a 'stop' sign. This action causes the reader to stop and look at the front cover, it causes attention. 

SOURCE


This magazine has sort of long shot image. It also takes up the whole of the front cover.  The angle is taken at a lower point of his face. The setting has a white background. This contrasts with what he is wearing. Red; makes him stand out. The masthead is in Gold and in capitals. It looks quite masculine, suggesting the target audience. The pose of the artist is looking away from the camera. On this front cover there is a lot of text surrounding the image. This can kind of make it confusing to read, and what story to read first because you cant see clearly what stories may interest you.