Research - Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner (who is still editor and publisher) and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone

So i've decided to start my research with a mainstream magazine but I also plan to look at other more independent publications too.
Rolling Stone has quite a minimal cover compared to other magazines. It normally has very few cover-lines, for example this issue has Hunter S Thompson on the cover and the cover lines mention him and what the article is about, however it does have the name of other celebrities at the very top of the cover, just above the logo. These make the cover look neater and less cluttered, but still gives the reader a look at what else is in side this issue. The typeface used for the cover-line is a serifed font which looks more like it was typed by a typewriter. (Hunter S Thompson was a writer and known for using typewriters up until his suicide in 2005)
The cover also features a puff, which also give another peak at what is inside this issue. Puffs are used to make something stand out on the cover and work as a hook to try and make people buy the magazine.



The Rolling Stone logo used on this issue is red, but Rolling Stone has several logos in different colours, including gold, blue and silver to name a few. Rolling Stone is a well established magazine and therefore can change the colour of its logo to fit with colour schemes on the cover because people recognise it by its typeface rather than its colour. Most issue however do use the red logo, as if common with most magazines. Q, NME, FHM and lads mags Nuts and Zoo.

Also to be noted is that cover photo is in medium close up and has a plain background, however this was not a photo shoot done specially for this issue, but a photoshopped picture of Thompson from when he was younger.