FRONT COVER RESEARCH 1

The magazine cover I chose to analyse first was a Q magazine with Kurt Cobain [Nirvana] on it, it is grunge and alternative.

The masthead is very bright compared to the rest of the front cover. The masthead also links to the genre  [Grunge / Alternative] because it is red and it has connotations of danger. The redness of the Q could suggest blood and death because the artist in the image was killed. It's alternative to the rest of the cover. It is in a serif font to show it is quite unique. It is also only one letter to show the simplicity to the magazine and it lets the target audience gather that the magazine inside is easy to understand. The target audience gather that the magazine inside is easy to understand. The masthead is actually quite big compared to the other simple mastheads on magazines. This implies it is quite a large media corporation and a large part of the population purchase it. The quote "The World's Best Music Magazine" this enables the target audience to see that there is no other magazine comparable to it and that they should buy no other.

The image only contains the lead singer of the band. This suggests the articles inside are mainly linked towards him and orientated around him. The artist's facial expression is very blank and has almost no emotion, the facial expression links to the artist's music genre. He stares down the camera because it engages the target audience's attention. His facial expression is blank because of his input on music. He strived for an alternative, unique ways of doing things. 

The banner across the middle draws in the target audience'sattention to the main purpose of the magazine. The bannerhas a torn effect, this suggests there was a "tear" in the band, (a major problem. Ex. Kurt Cobains death), because it is across the middle of the artist's chest. It also shows a rebellion, because it breaks codes and conventions, referring back to how the grunge/alternative music was classified as a rebellion at the time. The banner also opens up to a wider target audience because it is aimed at teenagers, because teenagers (generally) go through a stage of rebellion, and this would be attractive to them because of this different, unusual magazine front cover. It also shows that imperfections are ok, this is useful to the younger target audience who go through feeling anxious and insecure.
It is a 25 year special after Nirvana [the bands] uprising. the phrase "The Year Grunge Broke" shows how much the band has impacted the Grunge music genre. 


The colour scheme on this magazine is extremely simple. The magazine is all black/grey, white and red. The red shows connotations of danger in the music genre they are showing, because many people are, generally, very unaccepting towards rebellious music. The black/grey and white show how uncommon the grunge and alternative genre is nowadays. It also shows connotations of death, because black is usually worn at funerals, suggesting that someone may have died. Whereas the white could show connotations of peace, it could give the reader the impression that the band has now come to peace with the artist's death.

The font is in a Sans Serif style because it is easier to read and it is used since it is a convention of grunge/alternative music and makes it stand out on the page. Whereas on a different part of the front cover, there is only one cover story that is in a Serif font. This is because it is highlighting how many reviews it has had, and it is a little more importance.

How this has influence on my ideas:

• I love the simplicity of the Q logo and think that I might use a simple magazine masthead. 
• It shows me, magazine covers don't have to be positive and happy.
• I can use a simple colour scheme and it will still look appealing.