Conventions of the Front Covers

From looking at different music magazine covers I found that most of them have the masthead at the top with it being central. This is because when they are stacked, often the the masthead is the only bit that can be seen, so it needs to be visible. the mastheads are also the biggest typography on the page so it is eye-catching and people can see instantly what it is. A lot of the well-known brands have some letters on their masthead covered by the artist, they can do this because it is a well established brand that is very recognisable as it is. I might not follow this because my magazine won't have been seen before, so I want to promote the brand as well as the artist. It is conventional to have the masthead in sans serif font to make it more informal.

The main image is central in the page and takes up about 60/70% of the cover. This makes it the most eye-catching part of the page so peoples attention goes there first. Many brands use the artist to sell the magazine that's why they have it taking up most of the cover. I think I will follow this and have my artist/band in the centre of the shot and taking up the highest percentage of the page, so if people are walking past and catch a glimpse, it will be the first thing they will see. The images usually use a medium close up or medium shot to make clear the expression and so people instantly recognise them without thinking too much.

It is also conventional for music magazines to follow a colour palette of usually 3 colours. This makes everything link together and often connotes something about the artist/band, for example, what genre they are from. I think I will stick to a 3 colour colour palette because it means there isn't too many things going on on the page. Also I think that 3 colours will work well because if theres any less than that then everything ends up looking very similar and it becomes quite dull/boring.

Most fron covers have anchorage from the artists article which draws in the reader. I think this is something that I will definitely do because it makes the reader intrigued and gives a bit away about the article, without revealing it all.

The feature headline of the artist/bands name is often across the width of the page and is usually the second biggest text on the page. I think that I will make it go across the whole of the width so that it is eye-catching and if people don't instantly recognise them, they will know who they are after reading it.