Masthead Research & analysis

The RollingStone masthead has a curvy font, this font matches the words rolling and stone as there is a curve on the emphasized letters which has an effect because it makes the name stand out among others to an audience, because of the clever use of font. The main colour of the masthead is red while the stroke (outline) is white. The masthead is not completely plain as it has got additional details, meaning the black shadow of the masthead which adds a little more detail. I think the audience can tell from looking at the font that is a music magazine but apart from that it looks like an older font was used, probably from around the 1960s-70s which conotates an older, rock style of music and a older audience, although it has a wide audience and music genre now, it sets itself apart from the slick, simplistic fonts of a lot on modern music magazines which is why it would gain more popularity and sell to a large audience.

The kerrang masthead has an all capitalised, sharp font. Which shows the audience that the magazine is modern and therefore targeted at a younger audience. Black is the colour that was used for this masthead although it does change to white from time to time, and sometimes other colours such as yellow and red depending on what magazine. It does not have a stoke, however it does have additional details such as the smashed up look, achieved by lines through the font and slight degrading on all of the letters, I think this is associated with rock and heavy metal music because of the mastheads smashed up look which you wouldn’t find in any other genre of music, this use of font would help target a specific audience while appealing to a younger audience because of the sharp font. I think this helps it easily recognizable to rock and heavy metal fans a makes it unique and different from other magazines, adding to its ability to build the brand, sell the magazine and make this genre stand out from the others.

The XXL masthead has a capitalised, slightly curved font, overall it is a big masthead and would cover a lot of the page, this was done on purpose to match the what it says and therefore would appeal to an audience based on its font. The colours used are red for the background and a white text, this style is used though most of their magazines, more so than others, which sometimes change the colours to Mach a holiday or event, this would further appeal to an audience as they know what they are looking for. The masthead has not got a stroke or any additional details, but because its so plain we can see that it has a modern style of music and is aimed at a younger audience (20s-30s). I think rap music is associated to this masthead because of the large, loud font and the colours red and white which are widely used in hip-hop and rap magazines, we could tell I it where another genre such as rock as the font would be different, I think this connotation helps to build the brand and sell the magazine as it has a trademark style and people know what they are looking for along with the other aspects mentioned.

The font for Q magazine is curvy and sharp, and the masthead it self isn’t too big on the page, this shows that the magazine is probably targeted at a wider, more audience (20s-40s) as the font is quite elegant and discreet, not big and loud like other mastheads that are targeting a younger audience such as billboard or XXL. Red and white are the two colours used in the masthead, although this can change depending on the issue, a trademark colour scheme for a lot of magazines, red would appeal more quickly to an audience as they know red is the colour for a lot of music magazine mastheads. The masthead hasn’t got a stroke or any additional details, unlike a lot of other magazines this one only has one letter as the masthead, so putting additional details would probably distract from the simplicity and appeal of it and would also not fit with the large audience that it needs to appeal too. There are not many connotations for this masthead, although it is slight more classy and formal than a lot of other fonts this could mean that the music and artists it shows are also more ‘formal’ and ‘behaved’ than other genres might suggest in their music and magazines, I think all this would make the font a big part on making the magazine easily recognisable to their target audience.

Billboard has a, sharp, simple font, with the overall masthead being large on the front cover, and the colours used are black for the font and red, yellow and blue, placed in the middle of the some of the letters, from this we can tell that this magazine is aimed at a young audience 15-20s based on its different bright colours which rarely be found on magazines that are targeted at a older audience. Although there's not a lot of red there is still some on the masthead, this would probably still make it recognisable as a music magazine. The masthead doesn't have a stroke or any additional details, this makes it appeal to a younger audience as well as the bright colours. I think the connotations of this masthead are young, mainstream music due to the style. The masthead doesn't look too formal and I more colourful than most music magazines witch have quite a serious tone to them, this means that the magazine will easily appeal to its target audience and overall help sell the magazine.