*Conventions of a music magazine

*Typical characteristics

*Masthead

*Cover Lines

*Buzzwords

*Banners

*House Style

*Pull Quotes

*Masthead

*A masthead is the name and logo of the magazine. Mastheads feature at the head of the cover and are typically the first thing the reader sees. Which is why it is crucial that magazines create an easily recognisable logo.

*Cover Lines

*Cover Lines are phrases on the covers of magazines. They are used to generate interest from the reader enough so they actually buy the magazine. They can feature phrases such as ‘World Exclusive’ to draw the reader in.

*Buzzwords

*Buzzwords are used on magazine to generate a ‘buzz’ for their magazine, such as ‘Plus’ or ‘Free’ to convince people that they are getting more for their money.

*House Style

*The house style is a distinctive design of a magazine in which it distinguishes itself from its competitors.

*Pull Quotes

*Pull quotes are used on magazine covers to give readers a section or catchphrase used in the main articles, usually a double page spread, these are sometimes used as banners to catch attention and draw the reader in.

*Banners

*Banners also feature on a magazine cover. They are used to highlight certain information we want the reader to see, these are usually larger text that the cover lines and are typically on a coloured background to make it stand out more.

MastheadQ magazine has used a very simple masthead and also logo, featuring only in the top left hand corner, the very first place the reader looks whereas Kerrang have used the whole of the width of the magazine for their masthead and have covered it partially because they believe that their brand is easily recognisable

Main Cover lineBoth of these magazine feature a main cover line which highlight the main band in this issue. This makes it more appealing for people following specific bandsBarcode’s and Issue Numbers

Cover linesBoth these magazines use cover lines. Kerrang utilises their cover lines which anchor the meaning of the image by using text.

BuzzwordsBuzzwords such as ‘Plus’ and ‘Exclusive’ entice the reader into buying your magazine

By-LinesSpecific readers will want to read articles written by a specific writer. In this instance Q have used their persuasive technics by using by-lines in this case this article is written by Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow. Because these figures have a large fan base more readers are likely to buy the magazine

Collections and exclusivesMany magazines offer exclusive editions for their readers. In this instance, Kerrang offers 4 different covers for readers to collect.

Direct Gaze to attract the reader

The ‘50’ is written in bold bright white font which bring attention to more articles in the magazine

BannersThe main text on the Kerrang cover is brought out by the use of banners. Banners feature a bright coloured background which draw out the text. These banners also feature pull quotes. These are quotes taken from an article inside of the magazine. These quotes again entice the reader into buying the magazine to read this article