What's In a Name? Part One

There are four distinctive types of titles for music magazines. These are:

• Acronym

• Phrase

• Connotative

• Compound

For research and to help decide on a name for my own music magazine, I will be looking three of these to look at the benefits of each one and also look at the mastheads.

Acronyms are defined as words formed from initial letters of words in a set phrase and these are popular when used with music magazines. One of the most recognisable is NME, which stands for New Musical Express. It is probable that the average reader does not consider what NME stands for, just that the brand identity has made it linked with music magazines. 

A different example is Q. This magazine was originally titled “Cue”, a phrase to mean getting a record ready to play. They ran into problems here as their connotative title as originally intended meant that it could be easily mistaken for a Snooker magazine. This lead to their decision to rename the magazine the onomatopoeic Q, which is another example of the brand identity becoming more important than what the initials stand for.

If I were to choose an Acronym, the letters would need to be catchy and flow. Most letters are monosyllabic but some are easy to say than others. Zoolike Wonderful Beats would probably be better off picking a better name than ZWB, if only to make it easier to say.

The Masthead for Q is an iconic, constant large letter Q in white over a red background. This stands to function as the magazine’s logo and features inside the magazine as well as predominantly on their website. This is often the only constant thing on the magazine cover so it would have been important to design it to be recognisable.

NME’s masthead opted to print what the initials stand for underneath the letters which are in blocky, red text. This gives the readers an understanding and context of what the magazine title means. I feel if I were to opt for an Acronym for a name I would also do this as opposed to Q’s seemingly random letter.

Phrases are also seen regularly. These include Top of The Pops, Smash Hits, Rolling Stone and Drowned in Sound.

Top of the Pops immediately conveys the genre covered within the magazine and the internal rhyme subtly alludes to the age the magazine is intended for; it gives it an almost “childlike” feeling. Top is a superlative of sorts and is conveying to the reader that it is only featuring the best musicians.

Interestingly, the Masthead for Top of The Pops has gone through many significant changes in the last ten years. This may be due to the niche and childlike target audience, not many children are likely to want to keep reading the magazine gone eight at the eldest. However, there are some consistencies. The bright colours make the magazine seem appealing and friendly, reassuring the reader and buyer (likely two different people considering the ages!) that this is child friendly.

Rolling Stone magazine generates many different connotations. My first thought was that it was a magazine focusing on specifically the band named the Rolling Stones although a glance at the cover reaffirms it has a much wider coverage. Stones link to the Rock aspect of the magazine, meaning the title shares aspects of connotative.

I personally really like the Rolling Stone masthead. Possibly due to the “Hot Rod” Red merging with the silver alludes to beautiful old fashioned cars of the seventies. I consider these cars significant iconography relating to rock and I feel this masthead is trying to recreate that, especially with the serifs on the end of the letters making it appear very retro, reminiscent of the traditional American diners. It’s a very effective and bold masthead, the red text ensuring it stands out.

Connotative titles are phrases or words that allude to the genre. They can even be onomatopoeic in the case of Kerrang! (exclamation mark included) which echoes the sound a guitar makes when strung. Other names include Vibe, Base, Edge and Spin. These are all one word names and often come packaged with their own punctuation.

Kerrang! features a harsh sound generated by the K, which is reminiscent of the genre of rock and this is echoed in the Masthead where the typeface chosen appears stressed with cracks starting to form within the white text. The text is either white or inverted occasionally to suit the cover. The exclamation Point emphasises the aggressiveness within the genre and highlights the values of Rock music.