Masthead Research

I have studied the mastheads of three different music publications. The magazines I have chosen are, NME, Top Of The Pops, and Q Magazine. These publications all cater for different types of music genres and their masthead designs clearly portray this.

  The NME masthead uses the colour scheme red, black and white. This colour scheme portrays the masculinity and edgyness of the publication as the colours used (apart from red) arent very girly and vibrant, instead they are plain and immedietely alert you that this publication is prodomintely aimed at males. This particular colour scheme of red, black and white runs in a long trend of magazines that cater specifically for the rock/ alternative music culture. Similarly Q magazine is also designed in the red and white colour scheme.
The text is styled in a very plain way with no fancy patterns or fonts yet it is still very bold and appealing. The fact that it is coloured very boldly in a bright colour makes it rather eye catching, persuading people to pay attention to the publication. The use of block capitals and the lack of interesing fonts/ patterns could hint at the intended target audience. Publications that are aimed at younger audiences tend to be more fun and vibrant, in addition to this one being more demure we get the impression that a more mature, older audience are being targeted through this publication.

 The Top of the Pops magazine masthead is obviously intended at a younger female audience due to the various features such as the gimmicky bubble writing and the vibrant, girly colour scheme. The fact that a swirly font is used gives off an impression of fun and innocence which varies greatly to the impression that the rock magazine NME gives off.
Pink and yellow are extremely girly colours so this particular feature concludes that the intended target audience for this publication are young teenage girls who have an interest in pop music- hence the title of the magazine.

 The masthead of Q Magazine is similar to the NME one. They both share colour schemes and are simple but effective in design. The bold letter indicates strength and simpleness, as it is the only and central piece in this design. Similarly to NME magazine, the colouring could suggest that this publication is tailored for an older, more mature demographic who are interested in the rock/ alternative music scene.