For my first front cover I decided to use this front cover from Kerrang! magazine, as you can see it has many features on the front of it so it is a great cover to use for my textual analysis. As all magazines have it has a masthead which says the name of the magazine, it uses an interesting font which is like a glass shattering effect which links to the power of the kerrang noise that a guitar makes, it also has a black border which really makes the masthead bold and effective. It also has many coverlines about concerts and the biggest news on popular bands, all are in quite bold fonts and make the cover quite colourful and interesting but some could say that its a little over -crowded. It also has a banner at the top of the magazine which is also used to show some of the features in the magazine this is also linked with an image related to the feature next to it. It also has a headline which on this cover is focused on My Chemical Romance and there story probably about there newest released album. The cover also has a few lures which many music magazines have, this magazine has lures on the right about the latest popular bands which will interest teens who like modern rock bands. The graphics on this front cover are also quite good because they use very gritty effects especially on the masthead and on the little lure which says 'The UK's Biggest Gig guide', which is another way they try to make you buy the magazine. Also Kerrang! always includes posters with it each week it is released, another way to persuade the reader to buy the mag. There are always disadvantages though and with this magazine the quality does not seem as good as magazines like Q, the paper is very thin and feels very disposable whereas with Q you have very nice glossy paper which makes the magazine seem very collectable. It obvious that the age group this magazine is targetted at is teenagers and some young adults, so the layout is very lively.
For the second magazine I decided to look at Q magazine which I prefer to Kerrang! because I think the layout and use of images and text is much better and professional, with the example to the left you have an image of Gorillaz who are an extremely popular band and I think that the image really makes the magazine look very colourful. It doesn't show as many features as Kerrang! does on its front cover but I think it is better because it doesn't look over crowded and too colourful that it becomes a little tacky. Again, it has a masthead which is the Q placed on a red background, its much like a logo is well so its now very well known. They have also placed text on top of red backgrounds to compliment the Q logo so it isn't the only red on the cover, the text is also a mix of serif and sans-serif with the sans-serif text being the largest and used for the biggest headline on the cover. There are a few lures on the cover is well both at the side of the main headline, they use a little part of a quote to try and make the reader want to read on. The graphics on this magazine cover are also very nice especially on the Gorillaz art with the wave that has many faces of famous singers and actors, and of course you've got the iconic Gorrilaz characters on the front cover is well so you know who they are by the image and the caption. This magazine also has a feature which is displayed in a big circle, it is displayed as a world exclusive so this makes the feature seem like its only in this magazine and cannot be read anywhere else, it can also act as a caption with the main image on the cover.
For the last analysis on the front covers I decided to use this front cover from Mixmag magazine which at first is my favourite because I love the way its displayed, even though the colours are all quite dark and cold it really fits in with the magazines theme of electronic dance music. Again as all magazines have, it has a masthead which is in bold, curved letters at the top of the magazines cover, its quite a modern style of font and this kind of style can be instantly recognisable to a monthly reader. I really like the graphics on this cover with the very crisp and electronic image that makes the cover look really great, the font of writing that 'Daft Punk' is written in really fits in with the magazines look, and its obviously there to link in with the film thats mentioned in the caption on the right. There are disadvantages with this front cover though including the fact that there are only a couple of lures, the image and caption as well as the blue circle near the top of the magazine act as lures, there is also a small square in the top right corner that acts like a lure it is a guide to the latest dance music I think. This magazine cover is definitely not as effective as the last two unfortunately so I much prefer the cover for Q magazine because of its images and effectiveness. The layout of this cover is much different to the other covers it doesn't seem to use many features and lures but it does have a headline which is the main part of the whole cover.
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