80's music magazine covers

I've just grabbed a load of magazine covers from the eighties to pull ideas from them.

I interviewed a friend to get her opinion on my ideas.

My Chosen Music Genre

Eighties Music on Prezi


I chose to focus on Eighties style of music because its beginning to come back into fashion. Eighties songs are being covered by current artists and riffs are being used in new songs, for example, the riff from Africa by Toto is being used in Jason Derulo's new song. Eighties band are doing come back tours and greatest hits CDs.

Music Magazine Proposal

My music magazine will be aimed at teenagers/young adults aged 13-25, both men and women. I also think that people who were born in the seventies will also be interested because they would've listened to this style of music when they were teenagers.


The genre of music that i'm going to focus on is eighties/electro music. Im going to look at re-releases of eighties songs, current covers and electro vibes that keep in tune with the themes of my magazine.

The title i have decided on is 'Frankie Says'. I chose this because it keeps with the eighties theme and its a iconic phrase that everyone knows therefore everyone will remember. Other titles i thought of were; 'Feist' 'WT' and 'Radio'. I decided against these titles because i felt that they didn't really relate to the theme of the magazine. I like 'Feist' because it had a punch to it and it was really original but it did not link to the genre of the magazine enough for it to make the audience think Eighties straight away.

I want to use a boxy font for my masthead so it stands out and looks strong.

I like this font because its so very bold and eye catching. I dont want anything subtle!

I decided that i dont want to use a tagline for my magazine because i think the title embodies all that i want it to.


I think that i would publish this magazine monthly to allow the industry to develop for there to be enough to report on. The public like a big thick magazine that will last them a while so monthly will allow this. A weekly magazine wouldnt hold enough new things for the ever changing industry,


I think i'll use a midshot of an artist on the cover, something bright with contrasting patterns or colours. I think i'll only use one image to make sure it doesnt look busy or tacky. I think this will relate to the genre because of the iconic figures that came out of the eighties and lead the industry into a new age.


I think i'll use blues and yellows as a colour scheme, i quite like the idea of using post-it notes to make points through the magazine, plus the blue will stand out against the reds of the other magazines that are already being published.

For Coverlines i think i want to keep it simple, listing the artists/bands that will feature, mentioning a few special reports and free gift notification.

Music Magazine Analysis

Magazine Analysis on Prezi


Rolling Stone Magazine

• The use of a bold Masthead makes it stand out and attract the consumer's attention.
• The Font being so distinguished gives the magazine an identity and makes it easy to remember.
• The monochrome colour scheme gives the front cover an elegant and sophisticated look. The shadows this puts on Madonna's face gives that Hollywood Starlet/Marilyn Monroe style. This makes her look expensive and gives her an edge.
• The use of Direct Address draws the consumer in because it look like the image is looking at your directly at them and singling them out.
• The magazine makes a second reference to the title of the magazine under the Main cover line. This remind the consumer again which magazine they are looking at.
• The whole cover is clean, sharp and very simple. This makes it look neater and like a higher market magazine. The use of one main image and no other images really works as i think it looks more professional.
• The smaller details like the link between the cover line and image help as well. The cover line 'Madonna Looks Back' and the image showing Madonna looking over her shoulder, gives a very simple message and is not so 'in your face'.
• With the Image, the angle used make it more interesting. Madonna's face is on an angle and is looking back creates different shapes to the norm therefore making it more memorable. 

Student Magazine-Contents Page

I have kept my contents page as simple as possible and focused on its main function, page numbers and titles.
I put the page numbers in a different colour so they stand out more, and so they are different to the titles. I spread them out quite evenly and staggered them so they are simple to read.
I put the title of the magazine on the contents page too to carry on the themes, as well as keeping the same colour scheme of blue and green.

Student Magazine- Contents Page Flat Plan

This is my flat plan for my contents page. I want to keep it as simple as possible.

Student Magazine- Final Copy

This is the final design for my student magazine front cover. I changed the fonts again and some of the cover lines. added a picture so the images looked less harsh against the white background. I changed the colours of the cover lines to make it look more interesting and so it tied in with the colour scheme. 

Student Magazine- Draft 2

I made some changes to my magazine cover. I changed the font of some of the cover lines to make it look more interesting.