INDUSTRIAL CONTEXT

1. MAGAZINE CONVENTIONS

2. ANALYSING
MAGAZINE FRONT
COVERS

3. MAGAZINE FRONT COVER CONVENTIONS
• Easily recognisable masthead – by using the same font and typeface from issue to issue, the brand
is able to create a clear sense of brand identity that recurs across their products – an essential
part of the magazines branding
• The font style of the masthead arguably suggests the sub-genre – for example, Vogue have a clear,
precise, sophisticated and classy masthead connotes the high-end fashionable style of the
publication
• From my research, I also discovered that entertainment magazines often use close-up shots of
stars that they are talking about or referring to on the front cover. The models are also often from
the same demographic as the brand's target audience.

4. MAGAZINE FRONT COVER CONVENTIONS
• Front cover image examples
• Vogue – upmarket, glamourous model –
provides the readers with an aspiration – direct
mode of address – engaging
• Good Housekeeping – mid-shot – older
celebrity represented- appeal to the target
audience
• Entertainment Magazine – mid-shot – direct
mode of address – use of celebrity anchors the
sub-gnere of being a film and television
magazine
• Direct mode of address – engages with the targeta
duience – allows the audience to feel as though they
are a part of the celebrities' world

5. MAGAZINE FRONT COVER CONVENTIONS
• Cover lines – reflect the interests of the target audience and anchor the image and the main story
– often create an aspirational ideology - telling the reader how they should lead their lives –
although they seem to be aspirational, they are quite often unrealistic
• Sell lines – are use to attract their target audience by offering them something more than the
normal content within their magazine – sometimes advertising a free gift or a competition for
example
• The choice of language and mode of address help to anchor representations and are also relevant
to their target audience
• Subject specific terminology is often used on front covers attracting as more niche target
audience as it makes them feel included because they understand

6. ANALYSING WITHIN
THE MAGAZINE

7. MAGAZINE CONTENT CONVENTIONS
• Contents pages – reference to some other pages within the magazine – fulfils audiences
expectations – pages chosen will appeal and attract the target audience
• Reinforces the house style and the brand identity of the magazine and brand – further reinforces
the ideologies represented on the front cover
• Letter from the editor – creates a sense of a personal relationship with the audience as though
they are being directly spoken to
• Adverts chosen specifically – partially responsible for the funding of the magazine – aimed at a
similar target audience demographic

8. ANALYSING MAGAZINES
• Through magaiznes, brands are able to consturct an idea of their read/audience and generally
unrealistic expectations and aspirations are represented throughout the magazine in terms of
model choice for example
• Magazines are products that are able to spread ideas that are interpreted by their audiences
according to constructed discourses
• A discourse is what describes and defines what is possible to be included within the publication –
almost like a guide to what the audience have come to expect from the magazine
• Discourses are usually communicated through the genre (and sometimes sub-genre) of the
magazine, the mode of address, the constructed representations, the images and the use of
language/register