Masthead Collage

One of the most important features of my music magazine will be the masthead. Having compiled a collection of different magazine mastheads, I am able to see what features are commonly used by established magazines. Most music magazines tend to be capitalized and use a rounded font - typography appears to be an important element when attracting the audience, it would seem the bigger and bolder the font is the more attractive and appealing it is. Many music magazines use black or red for their masthead - as black is a very transferable colour, it can easily be used on a variety of backgrounds and match most colours. This said, those mastheads in black often change colour to fit the chosen scheme of the publication. NME and Q typically use red and incorporate this into their front cover and house style. The majority of non-music magazines use pink and red for their mastheads connoting femininity and beauty. Use of the colour pink further perpetuates the idea that female readers are more likely to be attracted to purchasing 'lifestyle'/'celebrity gossip' magazines. Comparing this to the colour use of music magazines, they predominately remain gender neutral by using reds and blacks to promote the idea that music is not for a specific gender. Having said this, the pop genre tends to use softer colours to appeal to a younger pre-teen audience as red and black might be perceived as bold and threatening.