There are a lot of conventions included on a music magazine front cover. The conventions are important because they show who the target audience is and what genre the magazine is. The outlook of the magazine is vital in the way it is presented because it all depends if the audience would buy the magazine in the first place. If the magazine doesn't look very presentable then no one would purchase the product.
Colour:
The use of colour is an important convention on a magazine front cover. The choice of colours would have a great impact on the outlook of the magazine. Most magazine front covers have bright and bold colours because this catches the audiences attention. The colours are also important when referring to the genre of the magazine. In a music magazine the use of colours would defiantly be different according to the genre because there are a variety of different genres and everyone has a different taste in music. For instance a Rock magazine wouldn't normally have the colours such as pink and purple because these colours do not denote Rock. Whereas the colours red, black, grey and white would denote Rock because these type of colours connote violence and aggression. Also the use of the colour grey could connote heavy metal which is normally the music which Rock denotes. Additionally a pop magazine would use a different choice of colours which would be suitable for its genre. A pop magazine would normally use bright and colourful colours such as pink, light blue, purple and yellow. These type of colours normally denote females and mostly a pop magazine would have a female artists as the cover image. It also depends on the target audience because girls would be more attracted to pop magazines because of the use of colours which are normally pink, purple and light blues. Whereas mostly boys would be attracted to purchasing Rock magazines because they don't use bright and colourful colours, they would prefer bold and dark colours like blue, red and black.
All colours have a different meaning which connote a variety of things. The choice of colours that I will use for my magazine need to appeal to my target audience and the magazine itself needs to be presentable. I need to also make sure that the colours that I choose for my magazine do not contrast with other colours because the audience may miss some of the features on the front cover and will decide not to purchase the product.
Typography
Typography is the use of lettering which is based around the size and the style of the font. The typography of the magazine front cover can give the target audience an insight of the genre of the magazine and what it could represent.
Font:
Fonts are an important convention on a magazine front cover. The font can denote who the target audience is aimed at and also it can show if the magazine is formal or informal, this by looking at the style of the font.
Size:
The size of the font is an important convention on a magazine front cover. If the text size is to small then the audience would not be able to read and notice what will be inside the magazine. The masthead is the biggest piece of text on the page because it is the name of the magazine. The masthead would need to stand out and catch the audiences attention because they would want to purchase the magazine. Furthermore the cover lines would need to be in an appropriate size font because there would be essential articles inside the magazine which are stated through sell lines, these are regularly seen at the right hand side of the front cover.
The style of font:
Most fonts are broken down into two categories. These are serif and sans serif. The differences between the two is one has decorative feet and the other doesn't. Sans serif fonts are normally used for the masthead on magazines because they are informal and clearer to read. Serif fonts can be seen as more professional and people would use them for writing important letters and sometimes they would be used on formal magazines or newspapers such as the guardian.
The layout:
The different features of a magazine front cover normally have the same layout on every magazine, this is for a reason.
The masthead of every magazine is always placed at the top of the magazine . The masthead is the biggest piece of text on the cover and the most eye catchy, they are always have the same font and same colours. They are always kept the same so the audience would remember the magazine when there is a new issue and they allow the magazine do be clearly recognisable.
The images on the front cover will be linked to the main story of that issue. This is shown on a music magazine clearly because the cover image is normally a music artist or a band, so the audience would know instantly that there would be a main article about them. The main image dominates the whole front cover because it is never covered by any other images or text. I will need to consider the way I use my images when creating my own music magazine.
The main text which is the headlines and subheadings are printed more vividly and are clear to read so the audience would know what the main articles are about. In a music magazine the music artist or the bands name is normally placed in the centre of the page and usually has big font, this would draw the readers attention and would imply that they are the main topic of the magazine.
The other features of a magazine front cover such as a puff is important because it would attract the audiences attention but it shouldnt get in the way of what the other text is trying to show. The puffs are placed to the edge of the page and they generally follow the 'Z' shape pattern which follows the readers eye when looking at any front cover.
Mode of address:
Mode of address is how the media presents itself to the audience. Mode of address can be expressed in any type of media product.
In a music magazine it can either be formal or informal. In a classical music magazine it would be presented as formal. Whereas in a rock/heavy metal magazine it would be presented as informal.
Music magazines would also use colloquial language such as in the Kerrang magazine christmas issue they present the word KERRISTMAS instead of Christmas. You would not find this in a formal magazine.
