Masthead conventions

Masthead Conventions

NME Masthead

 

The NME’s Masthead is very wide and bold. It connotes a sense of masculinity with the bold font, the underlying shadows underneath the white border. The double border helps it to stand out and emphasize the red colour. The thin black line between each letter shows that each letter is separate and helps to emphasize it.

The colours used all contrast each other meaning that each aspect of the masthead is easy to see. I think that the fact that there’s no background colour works well because if there was a set background colour it could clash with the photograph colours. The colours itself seem to be generally aimed at men (much like the music industry is now) and there are no colours to suggest or encourage female readers to read the NME. Usually light blues, pinks and purples would be associated with female magazines.

Rolling Stone masthead

This does connote a more female image due to the curved font, so it suggests that Rolling Stone magazine is aimed at both men and women. Similar to the NME, the black shadow helps make the dark red stand out more. The title itself leads people to immediately think of the famous band and so would assume that the magazine will be about rock music. The font seems a lot more old-fashioned when compared to the NME’s for instance. It connotes that the magazine prefers to stick to tradition or seems to have old-fashioned content in it. The fact that there’s no background colour is good for the same reasons given in the NME analysis.

The darker colours give the idea that the masthead isn’t trying to draw as much attention and wants the reader to focus on what’s in the magazine rather than the title.