The masthead is always featured prominently at the top left of the magazine cover to be recognizable. It also sets the color scheme for the rest of the cover. The main image hints at the main story and dominates the page without being covered by text. The band or artist's name in the main text is printed more vividly than the story title to draw attention. Additional text is placed around the edges of the cover in a 'z' shape and also features the name more prominently. Text fonts and colors need to contrast the image and not overwhelm the reader.

1. Magazine Layout Research &
Analysis

2. Mastheads
 The masthead of magazine covers is always featured in the top of the
magazine, mostly to the left. The masthead is often the most simile thing on
the page and so the most eye-catching, mastheads are always kept the same,
same font, same colours etc. So that the audience can remember and
associate that particular masthead with every new issue, they allow
magazine covers to me instantly recognisable, so it is crucial not to over
whelm the reader. The masthead also sets the scheme of the rest of the
magazine, If a masthead is red, the main colour scheme of that cover will be
mainly red. This is again not to confuse and overwhelm the reader, it also
allows a particular colour scheme to become instantly recognisable, the
colours scheme of a magazine can become part of that magazines identity.
For example NME masthead is red & white, so the majority of there issues
will be colour schemed in white, and the producers will only diversify from
this for a special edition issue, however even then the masthead will always
remain the exact same.

3. Images
 The main image of a magazine cover will often be a hint towards the
main story of that issue, for example if the main story of my
magazine advertisement is a bands new Digi-pack release, then the
main image must be associated to that release, e.g. The band. The
main images of magazines are all different some will be close ups
some high angled, some low angled, some action shots, and some
not. However one thing hey all have in common is that the people in
the main image dominate the page, they are never covered by text
or other images, if necessary they will even be placed in front of
certain things on the page like the masthead. This is something I will
need to take into account when making my own cover, that the text
follows the path and shape of the image.

4. The Main Text
 From looking at the main text headlines of various music
magazine covers, I found that the name of the band the story is
on if almost always printed more vividly than the actual story
itself, something I was unaware of before, when making my
own cover I need to bare this in mind, e.g. My bands name
needs to be more eye-catching than the story of their album
release in order to draw the attention of the readers who may
be fans of the band. It is also essential that the main story is
placed in the centre of the page and does not cover any
important points of the image, it must work with the image.

5. The Additional Text
 Like everything else the puffs of a magazine cover must work
along side the main image, although important to attract
readers they must not interfere with other aspects of the
cover such as the image, because of this the puffs are always
placed to the edge of a page, generally in a ‘z’ shape in order to
follow the natural pattern of a readers eye. Similar to the main
text, the puffs will feature the band or artists name more
vividly than the actual story in the magazine. Generally the font
and colour of the puffs will be relatively similar or the same as
the main text, it can become very confusing and off putting to
a reader if too many fonts are used on one page.

6. Other Conventions
 Text Font – The fonts of a magazine cover need to be very slick and
simple, if too many different fonts are used it can be over powering, even if
only one font is used it is essential that that font is simple and readable.
 Text Colour – The text featured on a magazine cover must be contrasting
to the image behind it in order for it to stand out and most importantly be
easily readable to the reader. If the magazine features a pale or white
background image, the text will need to be dark and if white, some kind of
shadow in order for it to stand out. On the other hand if an image is
dark, the text needs to be a contrasting colour such as white. This is
something I will need to consider in my own cover, as the image I am
planning to use features a lot of dark colour, so I need to be careful with
the colour of my text and make sure it is readable, if not an additional
background colour may need to be added.
 Barcode – The barcode on a magazine cover is always placed in the
bottom right of the page, sometimes horizontally or sometimes vertically.