Analysis of Music Magazine Mastheads

Kerrang!'s masthead is in a sans-serif font and is all in capital letters, which gives out an easygoing feeling. The fact that the letters are all spaced closely together also add to this feeling of being cool and informal. The exclamation mark at the end is a unique feature of this magazine's title (none of the other titles have it) and it has the effect of inducing excitement; one can imagine a guitar being strummed with a "kerraaang" sound and this also tells the reader that the magazine will be compiled mainly of rock music, as opposed to rap or RnB. A sort of texture effect has been applied to the outside of the letters so that the colour appears to be spilling out, yet again emphasising the colloquialism of the magazine. The white lines that cut through the masthead add to the aforementioned feeling of colloquialism as they give an impression of "not caring" by cutting through randomly and also of speed which shows excitement.

Mojo's masthead is fairly simplistic compared to to Kerrang!'s, as the font does have the various effects applied to it and it doens't have an exclamation mark. This gives it a more subtle, calm feeling which could indicate that it is for an older audience. A drop shadow effect has been applied which allows for the masthead to be read easily over different colours and pictures; Kerrang!'s masthead doesn't need this as it usually has a white box placed behind it.

NME's masthead also has a fairly simplistic layout in comparison to its fellow weekly magazine, Kerrang!, but is still more ornate than Mojo. The red colour attracts attention, and this is then surrounded by the contrasting colours of white and black which further makes it stand out. An inner shadow effect has been applied to the red part of the text which gives the masthead some depth and therefore makes it look less plain. Going by the masthead alone I probably wouldn't be able to discern that NME is a magazine for young teenagers. However, perhaps the use multiple colours are the indicator.

Looking at the masthead for Q, one can definitely tell that it is for older readers and is unlikely to contain naughty words and a letters page that spell-checker would malfunction upon scanning. The white on red stands out for reasons described at the bottom of this page and the top of this page. A drop shadow effect has been applied to the Q which gives the masthead depth and makes it look simplistic but not boring. The tail of the Q is curved and finishes in a point on both sides; I'm not really sure about the significance of this but it does make it look rather stylish.

Most distinctively from the other mastheads, Uncut has a serif font as opposed to a sans-serif one. It also seems to have been beveled which makes the letters look bolder and more impacting. No other effects have been applied, but one can see that this is also a more mature masthead and from that one can assume that the magazine's content will be more mature too. Also, as I mentioned before, the font is all white which means it can easily be changed so that it may appear clearer on a particular background.

Since I aim to make a more mature monthly magazine I will try to use what I learnt and make a mature looking masthead. I will also experiment with a variety of more excitable fonts though, as it will give me practice and I may end up finding something suitable that wasn't anything like what I had originally thought it would be.