Conventions of front cover magazines

1. CODES AND
CONVENTIONS OF
FRONT COVER
MAGAZINES

2. CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF FRONT COVER
MAGAZINES
Masthead/Content
This will always be included in all magazine front covers. The masthead would generally be placed at the top of the front cover page. For example if you look at magazine front covers of ‘The Empire’ the
masthead will always be in the same place at the top of the page. The masthead would usually be used in a large text size to make it stand out from the page and to make the brand identity clear. The same
colour font will mostly be used on front covers to make the brand identity get across to the audience. ‘The Empire’ magazine usually uses the colour red for the masthead.
The content that is used in the magazine will depend what the target audience range is for the specific magazine. The target audience for ‘The Empire’ would predominantly be males aged 16-30. The target
audience for ‘The Empire’ are more likely to be movie lovers.
Image/ Layout
The image used in front covers would normally represent the type of target audience that would buy the magazine. For ‘The Empire’ there would be film actors who would feature in the front cover of the
magazine. A mid – shot would generally be used on the front cover of a magazine. For ‘The Empire’ magazine the front cover should usually reflect the movie that the magazine is featuring about. If you look at
the images below you would be able to see that the image reflect the movie genre itself. So for example if you look at the front cover on the left hand side you could see that it is featuring ‘The Winter Soldier’
movie. By looking at the images below you can see that the layout is very clear for ‘The Empire’ magazine. There would normally be one big image in the middle and the masthead at the top. The layout is very
simple and effective.
Sell Lines
Sell lines are short sentences used to grab the audiences attention. These information provided on the front cover are used to make the audience buy the magazine. There would generally be words used in
capital letters or speech marks to catch the audiences attention.
Puff
A puff is another technique to grab the audiences attention. Usually a circle is used and inside the circle there would be information such as a sell line used to make the readers buy the magazine. Puffs would
usually be in bright colours which stand out from the magazine to entice the readers into buying the magazine.
Colours
The colours used in a magazine front cover usually reflect the personality of the readers. When you look at magazines aimed at young teenagers such as ‘We love Pop’ there would be bright, vibrant colours
used to grab the readers attention. Bold and bright colours could reflect that the target audience are fun, adventurous and have an exciting, unique personality.

3. CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF FRONT COVER
MAGAZINES
Amount of text
The amount of text used in front cover magazines tend to be very limited. There would only be important information put on the magazine to grab the audiences attention. There would
usually be bits and pieces of important information used in front cover magazines to make the readers buy the magazine.
Buzzwords
Buzzwords are a very important convention of front cover magazines because they play a very important role in the front cover. Buzzwords would usually be words such as ‘exclusive’ and
‘free’ to make the readers want to buy that particular magazine. It would usually make the readers feel as if they only have a limited amount of time to buy that magazine. It is also a
technique used in front cover very well because it only contains one word which means that the readers would be able to quickly identify it in the magazine.
Price/Barcode
This is also another important convention of a magazine. The barcode is usually placed at the bottom right hand corner and does not usually stand out because it can put off many people
from buying the magazine because of the price.
So by looking at the conventions of front cover magazines I need to make sure I follow the main conventions so that the front cover I am going to create be successful and I need to
make sure I follow the important conventions used in front cover magazines. I will need to make sure the masthead goes at the top of the magazine. There should also be a main image
that features on the front page in the middle. So I need to follow the rule of thirds. There should also be good sell lines used to make the audience want to buy the magazine.

4. Analysing an Example
Masthead
Barcode
Buzzwords
Sell lines
Image
Main Sell Line