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Comparing Music Magazine House Styles

Since I plan on creating a magazine dedicated to music, today I will comparing a few music magazine covers and their house styles. I want to take note on any similar patterns that I may notice in different brands. This type of research is essential because I want to create something original, but also appeal to my audience effectively. 

First, I did research on the Billboard magazine. I noticed their masthead is a thick, bolded, and rounded font with all lowercase letters. Also, there is not a definite color for the masthead, as it changes for every issue. In late 2019, their magazine issues had a vertical masthead, but they have now changed it to appear horizontally (like most magazines). Despite this change, most of their magazine covers tend to direct all of their focus towards the cover image.

                                                February 15, 2020 - Issue 4


Next, I looked into the BBC Music Magazine cover. Similar to Billboard magazine, their masthead is in all lowercase letters. However, their font is thinner and only alternates between being either black or white. Their masthead includes an italicized letter and a number to replace a letter. I think this is a clever tactic they have used to personalize their brand. Unlike Billboard, BBC Music does not place as much of an emphasis towards their cover picture.

                                               


The last magazine I did research on was Rolling Stone. Unlike the other two magazine covers I researched, Rolling Stone capitalizes the 'R' and 'S' in their masthead. The first letter, 'R', has a lengthened part which curls out until the third letter of the masthead, 'L'. Just like BBC Magazine, I think this is done to customize the brand and make it recognizable to audiences. Also, their masthead font is always red.      



Today's research showed me the importance of using a house style unique to my magazine to create a recognizable brand. I noticed that all three magazines' uses of house styles were more informal; this informality may be because they focus on entertainment and informal topics. 


Sources:

https://shop.billboard.com/products/february-15-2020-issue-4

https://www.classical-music.com/magazine/

https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/adele-rolling-stone-cover-bee00752-7bf9-4feb-9331-8c1d88c7090e.jpg

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