Masthead Research

By: Noir El-Nour

The Rolling Stone magazine have played around with their own mast head design. For example:

Rolling Stone Mastheads

Behind the model

In front of the model

Underneath a strapline

Changing the colour from

red to yellow

Having some of the masthead hidden behind a sticker

NME MastheadsNME haven’t changed their masthead design that much over the years, but they have made some changes:

Pink masthead

Changed to red but still with the dateline

underneathModel coming over

the masthead

In this edition they have placed a strapline above the masthead and

they have changed the colour. There is also no dateline underneath the masthead

Q Magazine MastheadsQ Magazine’s masthead haven’t changed the design of the masthead, however they have changed the way that they use it with the model:

Masthead in front of the

model

Masthead above the barcode

Strapline above the masthead

Strapline againModel in front of

the masthead

Kerrang Mastheads

Masthead is in front of the model, and is

framed by the strapline

Masthead now has a box around it, cutting off the

model

Stickers now overrun the masthead

Stickers again

Model is now in front of the

model

Vibe MastheadsVibe have kept the same design for their masthead, changing just the colour for each issue. The models have also been consistently in front of the masthead, the surrounding content has varied:

White masthead to go with the yellow

and blue colour scheme

Red masthead to go with the black, white and red

colour scheme

Black masthead to go with the pink and black colour

schemeMore content above

the masthead

Inspiration?From this research, I have made up my own decisions about the style I would like my masthead to be in. Red colour – as this seems to be more eye catching for both NME, Rolling Stone and Q

In Front of the model – This is because I believe that it grasps more attention that way for the audience

Having a strapline above the masthead - This seems to frame the masthead on the page, looking at Vibe magazine in particular.