Essay on the conventions of a magazine front cover

In this essay i will be writing about the conventions of a typical magazine front cover.

Firstly on a front cover of a magazine, there is usually one image of the cover star(s) taking up almost all of the page, the image is usually who is featuring in the magazine or someone who has relevance to this issue of the magazine, the cover star in almost all cases is looking straight at the audience which is known as 'the gaze' and so they are directly addressing the reader which makes them more likely to purchase the magazine in this case of kerrang the three males are staring at the audience in an almost sidistic way.. The cover star is usually a recognizable face and so this also makes the reader more likely to purchase it.

Another convention in magazine front covers is the use of rule of thirds, this is a term used in photography in which an image is split into 9 sections and the most important com-positional elements of the image are aligned with these intersections. On a front cover the use of this is very important as the main image usually cuts through all of the intersections forcing the audience to look at the whole page rather than certain sections, this means the reader will look at everything on the page and will be more likely to buy it, also the use of rule of thirds makes the layout look more professional to the audience, in this issue of kerrang the image is split into 3 intersections in which the coverstars take up these sections, this means the audience will look at the whole page.

Another convention on a front cover is the masthead, these usually take up the top third intersection and are usually eye catching so the audience are more likely to see it, the typography of mastheads usually connotates the genre of the magazine, for example the heavy metal/rock magazine kerrang's masthead is cracked which connotates heavy metal and being loud. The masthead is also something the reader will be able to recognize if they wish to purchase further issues.

Another convention of a magazine front cover is the typical use of issue date, barcode etc. these are typical to the magazines and so are used to keep consistency and look professional. The house style of a front cover is usually consistent throughout, for example in magazines like top of the pops, bold colours like pink are used as the magazine is aimed at young teenage girls. the bold colours also makes the magazine stand out on the shelf and so the audience will recognise these colours which creates brand identity. Finally another convention used on the front covers of magazines is the use of straplines, these are usually featured at the top or bottom of the main image which informs the reader as to who the star is and what other sections of the magazine are about.

In conclusion magazines use a variety of conventions for effect, many are to make the page look professional and appeal more to them and all in all to make the magazine more appealing.