1. Front Cover
Music Magazines

2. Before starting to design my own music
magazine front cover, I found that there were
many features to think about including:
• Music Magazine name
• Featured artist(s)
• Contents – including the main article(s)
• Price & frequency
And lots of other things. In order to gain a
better perspective, I carefully looked at Q‟s
magazine covers and discovered a few key
things.

3. I purchased an up-todate publication of Q
magazine (Dec 2013) so
that all of the information
is accurate etc. Q is the
magazine which is most
like my own, therefore I
will analyse this front
cover before starting on
my own, so that I
understand the general
conventions beforehand.

4. GENRE
Genre establishes the identity of
a publications and allows the
audience to recognise it easily.
The genre of Q magazine is
popular music / rock / indie, and
this genre impacts upon all areas
of design, content and underlying
ideology.
The chosen artist for the front
cover of this issue is Jake Bugg,
a very popular present, male rock
artist, reinforcing the genre.
Furthermore, many other artists
are being featured, and they all
fall under the music genre of the
magazine, like Bob Dylan and
Nirvana.
Furthermore, the artist holds an
electric guitar in his hands,
connoting rock.

5. The masthead consists of the magazine title, „Q‟
which remains the same size, in the same
typography and colours on each issue,
establishing a house style for the magazine, as
reader‟s can easily recognise the magazine by
it‟s logo. Furthermore, the artist superimposes
the title, suggesting that the magazine is well
enough established and confident that people
will still identify the magazine, through its house
style rather than its name. A tagline „The
World‟s Greatest Music Magazine‟ is also
present in the mast head, and involves buzz
words such as „greatest‟ which adds to this
house style and also will attract readers as they
may believe the line. „Jake Bugg‟ is the main
anchorage text to the main image and therefore
stands out with its bold, large font. The font also
cleverly fits with the shape outline of the guitar
that the artist is holding. A puff „his most
revealing interview‟ boasts about other content
in the magazine, and this as well as other
coverlines, give extra insights into the
magazine‟s contents – inviting readers to read.
There are many buzz words such as „special,
revealing, plus‟ which can catch the audience‟s
attention and make them believe that the
content is good and „exclusive‟.

6. AUDIENCE
This cover targets its audience in
a few ways. Firstly, the main
image of Jake Bugg fits with their
genre and readers are likely to
like his music. Also, many other
artists are seen in cover lines
such as Ellie Goulding, Nirvana,
Bob Dylan and more. These are
three very different artists, and
Nirvana is a band which are no
longer together, although they
have a large fanbase, therefore
some people who may not
usually buy Q might buy the
issue just to read about them.
Bob Dylan would appeal to older
readers as he was more popular
in past years and Ellie Goulding
will appeal to a more female
audience.

7. REPRESENTATION
Jake Bugg is being represented
as a serious, „cool‟ young singer,
in all black leather with an electric
guitar. This style that he has on
the magazine cover reinforces the
genre of music that he plays
which is indie rock. Therefore, this
artist would be a perfect one to
use in my own magazine as he
fits the genre well. There is
indirect mode of address between
Jake Bugg and the audience
which establishes his „serious‟
face, and also, he isn‟t smiling.
This expression could be used to
present the artist as one who
wants to be taken seriously, and
he is young, only 19. Some
anchorage text reads „on dating
models‟ which links to the idea
that rock stars are interested in

8. A recurring feature used
on Q‟s magazine covers
is a pun, usually in the
anchorage text which
gives the main image a
purpose.
On this cover for example
“Unmasked: the secretive
stars behind the sound of
the summer” is a pun
since the band „Daft
Punk‟ are wearing
masks, which is in fact
„secretive‟ therefore the
text gives a meaning to
the image and will
successfully attract

9. Here are two more examples. In the first the anchorage is „Plan B
has a few things to say… and you need to listen”. This is
reinforced by the main image, with Plan B himself holding a
microphone. And in the second Lana Del Ray is portrayed with
blood dripping down her face, linking to “So What‟s So Bloody
Good?”

10. I would like to use a pun for my
anchorage text as I think that it gives
the whole cover more of an overall
meaning, and also, is a professional
and clever technique, which attracts
readers.

11. Choosing My Main Image…
I took around 50 photographs of the same model, in the same location, to
have a bigger chance of capturing an image in which I liked and would want
to use. I have cut these images down to 4…
I decided to use a white background so that the shot appears as a posed, studio
shot, rather than a natural shot. The model has a direct mode of address in all 4
photographs, because I think that this is an important convention of music
magazines as the audience feel more involved.

12. The model‟s hair is being blown, therefore a possible pun to use in the
anchorage text is “She‟ll Blow You Away” or “She‟s Mind Blowing” or
“She‟ll Blow Your Mind”.
Depending on what kind of representation I decide on, for both the
featured artist and the magazine itself, will impact on my choice of
photograph, since the 4th shows a funnier, crazier side of the artist,
sticking out her tongue, where as the other 3 pictures portray a more
serious artist, barely smiling, with direct eye contact, which could be
quite effective.

13. The final image that I have chosen to use on my magazine front cover is…
Because I think that it fits well with the genre and ideologies of my magazine.
The model is slightly smiling, giving the publication a warm tone, yet she is still
serious in expression. Her hair is being blown, so I can use the pun „She Blows
Us Away‟. I will edit this image in Photoshop before creating my front page.

14. BEFORE
AFTER

15. Using Photoshop
Firstly I brightened the background of my
image, as the lighting was quite dull, this
gave the model‟s skin tone a lighter
tone, and made the entire image
brighter. However, brightening the image
too much caused an uneven tone so I
had to be careful.
Therefore, the dodge tool was useful to
me. I used this to whiten the background
further, making the image look more
professional, as though taken in a
studio. This also created shadows which
was a good effect.

16. I used the patch tool and the stamp
tool to neaten up lose strands of hair,
making the final image appear
clearer. This also defines her hair
more and it still looks like it is blowing.

17. Using the patch and stamp tools, I managed to remove strands of
hair which covered the face, especially round the chin and neck
area.
I removed any blemishes using the patch tool, and used the paint brush to
add a small white dot to the left eye which made a huge difference, as it
brightened up her eyes and made her eye contact more direct. Then brown
paint to define her eyebrows. After, I used the blur tool to smooth the overall
skin tone and lips.