Front Cover Common Conventions Within The Modern Rock Genre

All of the three magazines I have chosen have coverlines/ images in the left third as this is a convention of a music magazine as when presented in stores, this section of the magazine is what you can only typically see. Kerrang! and Rock Sound have the masthead presented in the centre of the magazine so that it is possible for customers to clearly see the title of the magazine whereas the NME magazine sticks to the left third format. By using a specific colour scheme to each music magazine, it creates unique identity to the magazine - (housestyle) for e.g each of the mastheads colouring on the three magazines match coverlines or anchorage text, helping to connect the band/artist personally to the magazine. The colouring is also bright and eye-catching  linking it with the coverlines appealing to the target audience. On the front covers there is typically a large full page image (featuring a particular band or artist) of one of the main articles featured within the magazine. Typically the bar code is displayed in the bottom right or left corner of the magazine, usually with the price beside it. Another convention of these three music magazines is that the main coverline is larger then the rest of the text and presented either underneath or next to the main image so that the two texts are clearly linked together.