Textual Analysis Main Task

I have been researching some music magazines and I have been looking at their front covers to gain some understanding and get some ideas of what makes a good front cover and what I would like to include on my front cover. I have looked at very contrasting magazines so I can get an idea of the different styles that have been used. After the research I have done I have made a summary of what I think makes a good magazine front cover, and what techniques I might use on my front cover.


What I think makes a good magazine front cover:

• The masthead needs to be predominant and clear on the page, it can't fade into the background or new readers wont be able to recognise the magazine.
• If I use a large image of the artists featuring in my magazine I think it should be direct address so it is like the artists is looking at them, this would make the reader feel including in whatever article it is presented on the front page. Also, the image can't be too overwhelming on the page or it will swallow all the other features on the front page.
• I think a good magazine front cover can use a variety of colours to make it stand out however, make the colours compliment each other rather then use a lot of contrasting colours.
• Using suggestive questions on the front page can make a reader want to go on to read the article which means they are more likely to buy the magazine. This can also be relevant to someone who has never read the magazine before.
• Rhyming on headlines can make them catchy and make the magazine seem fun as the editors aren't just plainly stating what is in the magazine. also, if the editors have used a play on words it may encourage the audience to read that article.
• Highlighting the main articles and making them bold can make it stand out on the page and, maybe putting a background colour behind it makes it obvious to the reader that it is the main article of the magazine.
• If there is a long list of things that you want to put on the front cover of your magazine, making every other line a different colour makes them stand out against each other but, you need to be careful that the colours don't contrast too much.

What I may use on my magazine front cover:

• A bold masthead
• I know I will be using images, it depends on what they will be like as to how I use them on the front page.
• I will try to stick to a colour scheme, once I have established what my magazine will be I will then be able to put together a colour scheme and stick to it so I am not using too many colours.
• Depending on the background colours of my main image, I may use background colours on the text to make it stand out against the image.