Comparison of my front cover research

I will be analysing the different features that are used in all of the magazines' mastheads and central photos of front covers that I have researched. These will include Metal Hammer, Vintage Rock, Smash Hits and Q.

The Mastheads

3 out of 4 of the mastheads I have analysed have serif font, which screams of the past and retro. This is mainly because after looking at a lot of magazines I have decided straight away to go for vintage.

What is also similar on Smash Hits and Vintage Rock is that they all have a 3D effect on them, to make them stand out from the rest of the magazine, this is conventional of a vintage music magazine, as usually they have 3D effects on them.

However, on the remaining Q and Metal Hammer, they do not have a 3D effect on them. Metal Hammer's design is overall rather different compared to the rest, as it's genre is very different.

Q is the only one out of the mastheads which has a box-out to make it stand out from the whitespace. However, it is the housestyle of Q, so it is not surprising. It does not break it's own conventions, but adheres to the usual vintage style.

The Images

What is interesting is that each and every photo is so different from each other, in styles, colours, poses, conventions and theorists linked to them.
For example, this Smash hits central image is a single model, who follows Mulvey's Male gaze theory. The way she is positioned also follows to Dyer's 'A star is an Image' theory. However, this central image is different from others because it attracts a young male audience due to it's composition. It is also the only photo which has a female model.

This central image is similar theory wise with Metal Hammer and Smash hits photos, as they all have been contructed to pose that way, and look unreal, like Dyer's 'composed star'. What makes this photo so different from the others is that it is the brightest from them all looking at the colour scheme, which makes it appear  like pop art. Also ,this photo is the only one that does not have direct eye contact with the reader, however, that doesn't make it look worse than the rest, in reality, it makes it stand out the most.

This photo is similar (in a way) to Q, with the whole stone roses band posing for the central image, however, it also differs significantly to it because they are posed more strategically and are clearly told what to do, which makes it similar to Smash hits and Vintage Rock in relation to Dyer's theory that they are all stars who have been created, they're not real people.  What makes this central image stand out the most is that this is the only photo that is a full body shot.

This photograph differs the most out of all of the above, not only because of the way The Stone Roses are posing, or the way they are dressed, but because the photo is not in the centre, rather at the very bottom of the front cover.

Their facial expressions are very naturalistic, which goes against Dyer's theory, because they look very casual, as if someone snapped their photo at a gathering rather than a professional photo shoot.



how this has influenced my planning and creativity 

• I now know that I will either make my masthead really colourful or stained, possibly black and white.
• I will not have a group of people for my front cover photo
• I would like to break the convention of direct eye contact with the reader