Kerrang Magazine front cover analysis

•           A VERY busy front cover with no negative space, which is pretty typical of kerrang’s house style. This is done to appeal to their demographic, which I would suggest is males, aged between 16 (mid teens) -25 (mid twenties). Their is also the choice of celebrity chosen to appear in the feature article photo, as this would be a key incentive to who will buy the magazine and why. Kerrang is a rock mag, so to put a pop or jazz band on the cover would be not only unconventional but completely outside their demographic. 
•           Cover photo in front of masthead with all plugs again flush left and flush right, 5 colours on this front cover (unconventional) red, blue, yellow, black and white. The key colours are used here as they are completely in contrast to one another, this helps build up that every growing sense of anarchy and tension on the page.
•           The background is very busy, yet image is candid which is unconventional for other mags yet not at all for Kerrang! This again reinforces why it would appeal to their demographic.
•           Running head seems to squeeze the entire cover together, this gives it a sense that the mag is about to implode upon itself, then theirs the masthead, the font used seems as though it has shattered under the ‘pressure’. This style will appeal to their demographic as we can clearly see that the type of people who would buy this magazine what the chaos that accompanies it. They do not care how the older generation see them, and if nothing else, they are proud of that. Their music is their lifestyle. 
•           To contrast the ‘chaos’ is a very interesting cover photo of a rather chilled out looking ‘Gerald Ways’ a man well known by music critics for his very dark, deathly and in some cases suicidal lyrics. This would explain the plug ‘the music that saved Gerald Way’s life’. For anyone with knowledge of that, this would instantly become an interesting mag to pick up and read. Although it is a risky move to make by Kerrang as it would be reasonable to assume that it was not at the for-front of any newspapers and so in many ways narrows their monthly demographic.
•           Denotations- younger man, looking straight into the eyes of the reader, lying upon a bed of records. Feature article photo is in front of masthead, and nearly all plugs and puffs.
•           Connotations- crazy, intense and pressurized, this magazine clearly knows its target audience and aims it directly at them. This is viable for kerrang as few other magazines has such a well-known, yet niche style. To contrast this ‘craziness’ is the very relaxed looking figure in the feature article photo, which creates a dramatic contrast, naturally making it very eye catching.

MOJO magazine frontcover analysis

• Masthead is behind cover photo, this connotates that mojo are a well-known magazine brand that do not need their readers to see the name at the fore front of every issue. Their house style should be enough to give away what magazine it is that the customer is buying. Although on the contrary to this, MOJO seem to dictate their style issue to issue. One month’s mag will be completely different to the next as they base their cover style upon the cover photo itself. This is a very unconventional way to design any magazine, let alone one as well known and popular as MOJO.
• Nearly all plugs are either flush left or flush right and seem to fit around the cover photo and cover lines. This is emphasises the band and what the article about them contains.  This is done to intrigue the customers and make it stand out on the shelves of a shop. Had the cover line been behind the free CD, or partly been covered, any potential demographics would be lost. The band’s name has to dominant to advertise this magazine else it will lose sales thus lose money.
• ‘the music mag’ puff over mast head but behind cover photo again connotates just how well known this magazine is. The
• Running head is full of plugs that are not all set in the same genre as Nirvana, this provides the readers with a wider variety of music to read about but also shows to potential buyers that this is a cross genre magazine. So although the cover photo is of a well-known grunge band, this entire magazine will not be of the same genre. They are subconsciously proving to us that ‘There is something for everyone here’
• Only 3 colours used (within convention.) although these colours don’t seem to relate to the cover photo is a defining way, it would be wrong to say they do not compliment it. Red is heavily used, which has a direct link to ‘Kurt Cobains last stand’ and to his death as red is generally associated with blood and all things morbid.
•  Demographic for this mag is a hard one to decide on, as I’ve already said the style seems to vary from issue to issue. Although I would aim it at the ages of 20 – 35 as it seems to be quite a well written and sophisticated magazine in comparison to mags like kerrang! I would also like to think this is a cross gender magazine as the content varies from rock bands all the way through to some dream pop artists.
• Denotations- Nirvana, wearing jeans, tucking in shirt or jumpers, looking like average working men. Not all that happy in facial expression. Cobain at front, then Grohl and then Novoselic. (Descends in height order.) Kurt Cobain’s jumper has holes down the front of it Connotations - their expressions show they’re anger and unhappiness with life and the obvious use of direct eye contact almost seems to put that blame upon us. In continuation it seems as though they feel they’re stuck within society’s borders, this is a viable observation as they are dressed in a reasonably smart and dignified way, yet they are a grunge band, well known for their lack of care about how society should be governed. To reinforce that point further still, the holes in Cobain’s jumper show his lack of care or worry about how he is seen. 

Q magazine frontcover analysis

•           Very slick style, all plugs and puffs are on the lower half of the magazine leaving arctic monkeys to dominate the majority of the cover. In front of the brands logo ‘Q’ but slightly behind running head, this is done to create layers upon the cover; this creates depth and so increases the overall quality of the magazine. Having a sleek, high quality style is clearly one of Q’s major aspects and aims; it’s a complete contrast to something like kerrang. This is mainly due to who their target market is, and what methods they have evolved to help sell themselves to those people.
•           Their seems to be a fair amount of negative space upon this cover, there is a backdrop of grey to the cover photo, grey is a very dull and plain that connotes Calm / Quiet, Conservative. Lacks energy, Decay / Decline. This could be considered a representative of their newer albums/ releases.
•           The logo ‘Q’ is reused throughout this magazine, for example just on the cover it is used in ‘the Q interview’ plug. The reuse of the Q logo is an important part of their house style. The reason behind this is to add context and a sense of familiarity to the magazine, as we as humans crave what we are familiar with, we like what we are used to, so with that in mind for Q to appeal to their key demographic they have realised that incorporating this idea into their product will do them no harm.
•          A total of 6 major colours have been used on this cover which is very unconventional, and even more so for a magazine like Q who generally like to stick to the norm/ conventions. In comparison the typography used is mainly one text, with the slight use of a second along the running head. This is conventional, so seems in some ways to even out what they have done to the colour scheme. This was purposefully done and this maybe because it would make it stand out on the shelves and thus appeal to their demographic as we not only crave what we know but also are intrigued to what stands out to us.
•           Other bands are featured on this cover that is not necessarily seen as conventional, in the norm or even within similar genre. This shows diversity within the issue and will help to strengthen their monthly demographic.
•           The intertextual reference to teddy boys and the 1950’s created here by arctic monkeys connotes a sleek style and may even relate to the bands background. Although to many this is a very different arctic monkeys to 12 years ago when the band first formed, which maybe the reason for agreeing to the photo shot and interview, it will help re-invent their style.
•           The band members are all looking in different directions, with only one looking into the camera. This connotes a sense of confusion within the other members but the fact the lead singer is facing us shows he still has control. It proves to us that he knows the directions he wants to take the band and does not need to be guided like many of the corporately enslaved bands are today.