Media Research into other musical genres

Joe Griffiths

Rock - Front CoversConventions• All have a strong masthead. Unlike

other music magazines the titles are mainly two words. Text is a mix of serif and sans serif.

• Rock Sound also changes the colour of its masthead frequently.

• Photography is dominant in all magazines.

• All have very busy designs.

• Classic Rock which has a older target audience and uses a strong but subtle gold highlight colour to anchor the headline.

• Vile and Rock Sound use multiple colours.

• The colours are generally more muted perhaps reflecting the more male dominant audience.

Pop - Front CoversConventions• All have a strong masthead again

with multiple words but all sans serif. We love pop has created a logo from their masthead designed to imply a speech or thought bubble.

• Photography is dominant throughout and all use mid shots focusing on single artists rather than bands.

• The designs are all very busy. The lead headlines are dominant with top of the pops using a graphic pop to anchor their lead headline.

• The colours chosen are bright and vibrant. They are also more fashionable colours perhaps reflecting the teenage girl target audience.

Heavy Metal - Front CoversConventions• All have a strong masthead with

sans serif strong font used. • All have a single powerful name

that identifies the musical genre they represent.

• The design style of all these magazine relates to this aggressive and in your face genre of metal music.

• The lead or anchor articles are clear in all front cover and are given dominance above other articles and features.

• The photography is dominant and atmospheric using the rule of thirds concept.

Blues Music - Front CoversConventions• All have a strong masthead with

B&S becoming more of a logo.• Mid shot photography is used

throughout. • Blues magazine is funky and

atmospheric and reflects the musical genre. The other designs are boring and lack a distinctive design feel.

• All show the lead headline. Blues Revue is the most subtle with a change in text colour, B&S chooses text size and Blues magazine chooses colour and size to anchor the article.

Classical Music - Front CoversConventions• All have a strong masthead but use

a mix of serif and sans serif fonts. • Mid shot photography is used

mainly on a light or white background. All focus on single artists and many show the musical instrument too.

• The designs vary with classical music being very clean and understated with the lead article dominant.

• Other than the Pianist all other magazines use red, black and white with yellow as a highlight colour. The Pianist challenges this convention using bright blue, white, orange and yellow.