Mastheads & Use of colour

Mastheads & Use of colour.


For this topic, I looked through different styles of magazine and studied and compared each masthead, and how the colours of both this and the background for the magazine pages were suited to the target audience. I looked at the position and size of the masthead, what type of font it was written in, and how it was appealing to the reader.


-'Take A Break Magazine'.

This magazine, 'Take A Break', is popular with many readers, and is a leisure magazine to read when you are 'taking a break' from work, household jobs, or the general stresses of everyday life. It is a lifestyle magazine about the people involved in the community around us that we live in, and contains stories about their lives. It rarely involves celebrities, as they do not represent the genre of the magazine or the theme aimed for the it. The main audience for the magazine is women, as they are the most likely to be taking a break from household jobs, etc, and to take that time to read the contents of the magazine. The editors know this, and create their ideas based around the idea of women taking the interest in what is inside.

The text used in the masthead, as with the rest of the cover, is in the style of a tabloid or newspaper, to give the reader a sense that it is something important which should be read, and to enable easier reading. The primary colours are red and white, again to represent importance and to attract. The title of the masthead is an original logo, which has been designed to be the same in every issue and cover, so that it is instantly recognised by the reader so that they know which magazine is 'Take A Break'.


The particular font used is big and bold, yet softer than the rest of the font style for the stories on the cover, to give a more femenine look, so that the gender of the magzine is instantly recognisable whenever it is on the shelves.



-'Kerrang Magazine'.
This next magazine is named 'Kerrang', and features rock and heavy metal artists for young adults and anyone that enjoys it and wants the 'inside scoop' on what the bands are up to. Unlike 'Take A Break', it uses mainly black and white for both the text and background, and has images placed over the masthead. The music which is being advertised is stereotypically seen as being rebellious and individual, which is how the magazine is portrayed to the reader. It does not have femenine, soft fonts, exept for the featured artist text in the centre of the cover, and is set out more like a poster, with the raw contrasting colours and bold font. The audience suggested by this magazine is males of a varied agegroup, although could be read by both genders.
The masthead for this cover, though covered by the image, is still designed to be bold, so that it is recognisable to the reader. It is simplistically designed, as almost a 'bar' going straight accross the page, with a white background and a small shadow underneath.It is not made to be neat, as would not match the desired style for the audience.

The font used shares the same idea. It is not 'curvy' and slim, but large and sketchy, as though it has been printed onto the page by somebody and has lost colour in some parts. It is black onto the white background to give contrast, whilst still complimenting the background, and, like 'Take A Break', gives a headline look from a newspaper, a sign that the contents of the magazine is important, just like the first.
Another feature to the font, is the lines going through it, as though it is a window that has been smashed, again to represent the rebellious side of the genre, and to be popular towards the male gender, as stereotypically it is something a male would do.

Overall, in contrast to the first magazine, 'Kerrang' has a totally different approach and effect to the reader. The first magazine is light and uses slim text, whereas the second is the total opposite, using simple colours and messier font. The differences between the features of the two magazines are clear, The only thing they have in common being the tabloid resemblance, and the iconic masthead and titles each contain. Overall, the two magazines share similar features, though are designed for different genders and audiences, which is what makes them popular in their own right.