1. Front covers
Conventions
Photography
Representation
2. When shooting for a front cover you
must consider:
1. Position of text and features on the page
2. Position and size of the masthead (must take up the
top 1/6 of the page)
3. Whether the audience will be able to see and
recognise the star from far away/ on a crowded news
stand
4. Use of light, colour, negative space, framing, eye level
of the star, plain backgrounds.
3. Representation
• Representation is how you choose to FILTER
your image to appeal to your target audience,
and exclude those you don’t want using your
product.
• Filters include: clothes, hair, make up and
accessories, facial expression, posture, eye
contact
• You can also filter the representation by
altering: mode of address, colour, shot type
and angle, fonts, layout
4. Magazine profile
Name of magazine: NME
Target audience: alternative
Brand identity: The name of the
magazine gives the magazine its
own brand identity.
NME – standing for new musical
express, suggests new music and
individual style. Having a short,
catchy name like NME is a unique
selling point – being easy and
recognisable.
Unique Selling Point: Florence
Welch and 10 special edition covers
are used to persuade the target
audience to buy the product.
5. 2- MASTHEAD
looking up from the
cover stars eyes you
see the NAME of
the magazine. Being
in the top left
corner. 1 -EYES
Eyes on the top line,
being the first thing you
3- FACE look at when you look at
Face being the main object the magazine.
of the page, is placed in the
middle box.
4-FEATURES
The reader reads from
top to bottom, as a
5-COVER STARS NAME list. This also stops the
Bold and in black the cover text anchoring the
Stars name stands out, being cover stars face.
anchored on the white of her
T-shirt. Her name being in the
left bottom corner, shows the
audience that the magazine is
being aimed at may know who
she is already.
6. Tag line
Small & short but distinctive.
Importance
Important text goes at
Masthead the top to show
The masthead needs to
importance.
be the largest piece of
text on the page. It
needs to be striking
Eye contact
Eye contact with he
and bold.
consumer, is important
to engage their
Colour Scheme attention, to buy this
The colour of her hair, magazine over others.
face, t-shirt and text,
all collaborates to
create a distinctive Fonts
house style. Giving it No more than 3
that professional fonts should be used
look. on the front cover.
On this front cover 3
fonts have been
Quote used, it gives it a
Giving the reader a professional look –
snippet of information neat & bold.
of what the interview
will be about. Features
Who or what is in the
Anchor magazine. Creates a
‘Florence’ is the
genre.
next biggest piece
of text on the Barcode Essential
cover. Showing the for the magazine to
consumer who the be on sale, showing
cover star is. the price.
7. Eye contact
The reader is also drawn in by
the fact that the cover stars
giving the reader eye contact.
Cover stars clothing
Minimal use of colour in her
clothing, doesn't take away
the attention from
Florence’s vibrant hair.
Mouth
The use of a pout but not a
smile shows a hard look –
the star looks strong and
defiant.
Hair
The use of a close up on the cover stars face, doesn’t show much
colour, but here Florence's vibrant red hair, (which she is known for)
can show emotion - red meaning danger or in the quote in one in one
of the features where she refers to the ‘X – Factor’. This is also it is a
unique selling point, for it would stand out amongst other magazines
on a stand.
8. OCR require you to:
“Create the front cover and
contents for a new college
magazine”
But first we have to figure out
what students want to read...
9. TASK: Audience research
Look through the following front covers and
answer the following questions:
1. Are there any common features e.g. Driving lessons, student
discounts, giveaways, careers advice, competitions?
2. Which features would persuade you to pick up the magazine?
3. What would you like to see on the cover?
4. Does the cover star attract your attention on any cover in
particular? Why?
23. TASK: Representation
• An attractive cover star is vital to the success of your
magazine. Your star should look like an IDEALISED version of
the reader. You need to create a positive, unthreatening
representation to attract as many consumers as possible.
• Define your primary audience by delivering a questionnaire
to 30 people around college.
• Then come up with a list of at least 10 positive adjectives that
describe the kind of student that should be on the cover of
your college magazine. How do you want outsiders to view
you?
