The document describes the front cover design conventions of fashion/celebrity magazine Elle, gardening magazine Gardeners World, and celebrity gossip magazine Heat. Key elements included are the masthead, main cover image, thumbnail images of articles, taglines, and barcodes. The target audiences are primarily females for Elle and Heat, while Gardeners World audiences are older and split evenly between genders.

1. Fashion
Magazine with
Gossip and
interviews with
Celebrities
Masthead
The audience is
going to be primarily
females who are
interested in fashion
and would maybe
have an interest in
Katy Perry
Tag line
skyline
Main cover line
Information/barcode
Buzzwords
Main cover
image

2. Analysis
• The Elle magazine cover features some conventions that are shown on the front
cover of other magazines as well. For example the magazine features a cover
image this is the biggest image on the front cover and is the thing that stand out to
the readers. In the example I looked at (September 2013 issue) we can see Katy
Perry on the front this is the biggest item on the whole of the magazine. The
Masthead also features on the magazine this is a convention that we would expect
to see in every magazine and we would expect it to be near the top of the
magazine. In this case it is however it doesn't’t stand out as much as the picture
does, but it still stands out to say what the magazine is. The magazine also features
buzzwords such as ‘Luxury’ this are there to attract the readers attention because
they will want to know about the ‘luxury’ clothes that are featured in the
magazine. These are certain things that we would expect to see on a magazine
cover to help attract the readers attention. The magazine is a fashion magazine
which means that it is predominantly wanting to target a more female audience
and we would expect this to be the case with the majority of their readers being
women. This represents the fashion world because fashion is mainly a matriarchy
where Women are in charge.

3. Buzzwords
Tagline
Masthead
Skyline/strip
Main cover
Puff/Pug
Main cover
image
Thumbnail
images
Footer
Header
Barcode
Cover
lines
The audience is
primarily older
people who are on
average 56 and
are the gender
that reads the
magazine is split
pretty much
50/50.
The magazine is
primarily about
gardening in which
they give advice on
gardening.

4. Analysis
• In the issue of Gardeners world that I have picked to look at, we can see
key characteristics that we would expect to see in a magazine. For
example just like Elle and Heat the magazine features a main cover image,
in this case it is the lavender’s. As a whole this magazine cover has more
information on it including things such as the puff/pug which give more
information on what is in the issue. However Elle magazine looks much
clearer and cleaner then the other two magazines. Elle magazine does not
have a puff/pug but this could be because they aren’t wanting to sell a
‘free product’ to their readers. Gardeners world has thumbnail images
which are printed on either side of the magazine, these are there to show
that the expert gardeners have got their opinion in this magazine. This is
also an attempt to attract readers because if readers want to hear tips
from a gardener that they admire then they are more likely to want to
read the magazine. This magazine also features a barcode on the front
page this is something that Heat also has but Elle does not, this make sit
easy for the reader to know how much the magazine is going to cost them
to buy.

5. Main cover
image
Puff/Pug
Masthead
Thumbnail
images
Buzzwords
Barcode
Cover lines
Footer
Tagline
Skyline
Heat is a
predominantly
gossip and
celebrity news
magazine which
the main focus
is on arguments
between celebs
Heat is primarily
targeted to a
female audience
and their audience
are women who
are 20+

6. Analysis
• In the Heat magazine we can see that it features a Masthead at the left
middle side of the magazine. This is one of the biggest things that is on the
magazine and stands out. Heat have this so that people who read their
magazine a lot are more likely to recognize the logo of the magazine. This
magazine in particular features more thumbnail images then any of the
other magazines. This is mainly for one main reason this is because they
want to publicize all of the ‘juicy’ gossip and articles that they have about
different celebrities. This is primarily because they want to show the
readers the different types of celebrities that are featured in the article.
This means that if someone sees a celebrity that they like on the cover
they are more likely to read the magazine to find out what is going on with
that celebrity. The barcode being on the front of the magazine makes it
easier for the reader to know the price of the magazine this si a similar
technique that Gardeners world uses which makes it easier for the reader
to know the price. The use of the puff/pug is primarily to show an
advertisement. In this case it shows that there is a discount on shoes, this
is another way of appealing to the audience through advertisements.