Research front cover 2: Vintage Rock

The front cover that I will be deconstructing is Vintage Rock. This magazine concentrates on the old/vintage rock, as it was made at the time when it was popular. I chose it because I am considering creating a vintage magazine.
I also chose this because I really like the way it's been designed and because of the unusual colour schemes and puffs.



The Masthead



The masthead has a very small amount of kerning, which I really like. The colour of it is silver and has shadow on some parts of letters which makes it look 3D, which makes it look very unconventional. I really like how it looks because it makes you look, even though it isn't bright like the rest of the front cover.
In between the Vintage and Rock, there is a little silver star which can be barely seen, however it is very effective and looks very beautiful. This magazine has been issued with the masthead like this all of the time which has become a convention for the masthead to always be silver and in the serif font.


The Image


The central image is a medium close up, however, the first thing that I've noticed was that the model, Ricky Nelson adheres to the convention of a photo because he is not looking at the camera, and the audience, this is used as an anchorage to make the reader look at the feature.  However, the reason he isn't looking at the camera is because he is looking at his own feature story. This is very interesting and is also agreeing with two theorists, one of them being Richard Dyer, and this theory which claims that 'A star is an image,not a real person..'  this is relevant because Ricky Nelson looks like he is part of the whole picture, like her was created for this front cover alone. Another theory that is supported through this picture is Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory, however it's not the men that are to be impressed, but it's the female audience. The star is pampered to have the 'perfect' face of of the times at which this was released, and his facial expression grabs attention. The colour scheme used on the model is very bright orange, which a pattern on his shirt, which clashes with the background very well and makes the whole front cover look like a pop art piece. What the image does with the use of bright colour is it drags the eye away from the white space which is around the top part of the model.



The Headlines


The Headline acts as a kicker, and the first two words reveal that the main story will be about Nelson, and also act as puffs to grab the audience's attention. The following two lines act as a lead which intrigue the audience and want to purchase the magazine. The font is sans serif, which is conventional, however, the black shade on some parts of the letters make it look 3D and that is very unusual and it challenges conventions of most music magazines.




Jack Rabbit Slim is the second headline which also includes a secondary lead, as the image intrigues the reader about the article more than it would without.
The feature itself is within a box-out which is a bright yellow behind some black, and this choice of colour makes the little lead stand out and catches attention.



Extras


The image is put together probably using photoshop, and it stands out because it looks like a vinyl disc, which makes it appropriate to the genre of the magazine and as it represents retro today, it is very conventional. 'Dance' has a drop capital which makes it appear as a usual word, where as 'Crazy' is in all capitals, and has an exclamation mark in the end which makes it act as a tag. The white silhouettes of the man and the woman dancing stands out very well, and shows what 'crazy' dancing is. Underneath the puff, the barcode is placed, with the dateline underneath.

The banner includes some cover stories which have photos of the artist included in them which acts as a lead for the reader. The names of the artists are in white, which match with their black and white shots, however, the text underneath is in bright yellow sans serif font, which is very eye catching and interests the purchaser. The Hollywood cover story acts as a kicker compared to the rest on the banner because of the distinct orange which is also the colour of the model,this portrays that this particular story is almost as important as the main story.

How this research has influenced my planning

• I now know how a quality colourful vintage photo looks like, which I could possibly use as an influence for my own shots in the future.
• I now know how important the colour scheme is depending on the genre of the music magazine that you want to create.
• I also know how important leads and puffs are, and where the should be placed for a good effect.
• I also learned how to break conventions but for great reasons, such as this main photo not being direct address.