FRONT COVER MUSIC MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

THE SOURCE MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS

HEADER- the header on the front cover is usually there to provide the reader with an important story that is included in the magazine or an overview of what this edition of the magazine is about. MAIN IMAGE- the main image of this magazine cover is a famous Hip-Hop star called Lil Wayne. This image dominates the whole page, and leaves basically no room for a background. Although through the red banners and the red hat that Lil Wayne is wearing we can tell that the house style of this volume of The Source magazine is red and white as these are basically the only colours that appear on the front cover.ANCHOR- for people who may not be familiar with Hip-Hop music, the editors have placed a text which anchors the main image telling the reader who the main image is.

FOOTER- the footer provides a final piece of information that the writers feel is very important, as it is most likely to be the last thing you read on the page and so it will stick in your head the most.

MASTHEAD- the masthead of this front cover is “THE SOURCE” which is the name of the magazine it is a very large, bold title which is placed at the top of the page to make it easier for the customers to see when it is on the shelf, it takes up around a quarter of the page and is very clear to read.COVERLINES- the cover lines for this magazine cover simply list other singers which we can infer are hip-hop stars and gives you a few words of what the article is about for each. The cover lines are all white text with red backgrounds, although the descriptive text is in black, makes the sub-headings stand out more.

BARCODE- this has to be on the front cover, as it is the thing that allows the customer to buy the magazine, around the barcode you will also find the price of the magazine, and the weeks date that it was released.

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS

MASTHEAD- the masthead of this magazine is quite different to other magazines, as it may be big and bold, but it is covered up quite substantially by the main image this could suggest that the company feel they don’t need to

COVERLINES- the cover lines of this magazine are quite detailed and give quite a good summary of what articles will be found in the magazine. They are white and yellow which fits with the house style of the magazine.

BARCODE- this has to be on the front cover, as it is the thing that allows the customer to buy the magazine, around the barcode you will also find the price of the magazine, and the weeks date that it was released.

MAIN IMAGE- the main image is of a very famous pop star called Taylor Swift this image dominates the page, even covering the majority of the Masthead showing that she is a very important person in this magazine and will be featured quite heavily throughout.

ANCHORED TEXT- for people who may not be familiar with pop music, the editors have placed a text which anchors the main image telling the reader who the main image is.

BACKGROUND- the background is quite effective on this front cover, it is a fade from a light white colour, to a dark black colour. The black areas are places that don’t contain important information, where as the white areas where the eye is drawn to contain the important information such as the cover lines and the Masthead.