Nicky
Coales
Font/Masthead - Typography Analysis
MOJO: Throughout MOJO's magazine, and in the masthead, you can see words are presented boldly; this could suggest that MOJO is proud of itself and sophisticated, and also bold with regards to the approach to tackling topics. This could mean that MOJO cover a wide variety of music topics in order to have thing for everyone, and it ideally for those who have a wide taste in music as well as a passion of the subject. The typography of most parts of the magazine, apart from the actual long articles, is presented in bold; all synopses and quotes are bold, and this conforms to the house style MOJO have presented from their masthead and their cover. The subtitle "The Music Magazine" suggests that MOJO is the only music magazine worth getting as it is the most established magazine like this on the market.
Kerrang!: "Kerrang!" is meant to be the onomatopoeic word for the strum of an distorted electric guitar. The logo itself is distorted and broken up and almost smashed in certain parts, but this makes it recognizable and memorable. Even though the logo view is obstructed because of the main image, it will be still be known to anyone who is a fan of music magazines that this is Kerrang! because the logo is more interesting when put next to MOJO, this could suggest that Kerrang! is for a teenage target audience as these are the type of people who are captivated by a music magazine that is shorter and has weekly news and coverage; rather than MOJO with more in-depth articles and interviews.
Q: The masthead of Q is simple and easy to remember. The red background makes the white singular letter stand out, which could catch the attention of someone who may be looking for music magazines. The subtitle, though it cannot be seen in the example above, is The World's Greatest Music Magazine; this suggests that this magazine has something to be positive about, and therefore must have good quality articles and coverage to be confident enough to call itself the best in the word. This would evoke curiosity in the reader and could lead them to buying the magazine.
NME (New Musical Express): The masthead of NME is easy to remember and stands for 'New Musical Express', the fact that these three letters stand for something may evoke interest as to what NME actually stands for. The three colours in the logo represent the house style, and is a good way of establishing said style. The boldness and the capitalisation of the letters make the logo recognisable as well as making it stand out when compared to other magazines that go for more minimalistic approach (Like Mojo, which has the boldness but not the colours).
VIBE: The masthead of VIBE goes for a more minimalistic design with just the letters in black, the mix of upper and lower case letters could give the impression that this is a softer magazine; as having all upper case would suggest loud and boldness, almost intimidating connotations. Vibe is also a word used to describe how one would listen to music, and also relate to a person's emotional state when listening to music; for example, "good vibes" would relate to good music. This connotes that this magazine will offer a music taste that will give someone good vibes.
Billboard: The masthead of Billboard is minimalist yet colourful, which a lot of magazines fail to integrate into their logos. The word Billboard makes a person think of a large advertisement, and these advertisements tend to be eye catching and colourful; hence the addition of colour in the logo. The meaning behind this word that is used in the masthead could reflect that the content of the magazine is interesting and colourful; which would make a possible customer of the magazine curious as to if the magazine fits with the connotations of the masthead.