This document provides a grid sheet analysis of the front cover of the TNS magazine. It describes the key elements seen on the cover in detail, including the masthead, dateline, main image, colors, cover lines, left third, barcode, and selling line. The analysis notes how each element is designed and positioned on the cover, and how the choices relate to conventions and help attract readers, particularly students. Overall, the summary analyzes the cover design and highlights how it aims to appeal to its target audience.

1. Task 1Grid Sheet 1
Before you decide on the content of your magazine it would be beneficial for you to research into
existing student magazines. Individually, look at the front cover of TNS magazine and fill in the grid
sheet in your student booklet. You must ensure that you describe what you see. (P1 M1 D1
The ingredients Use on front cover
Masthead (logo) Positioned in the top left corner. This is the first thing the readers look
at, top to bottom.
The masthead is a large yellow box with a few short text lines within.
The lines read:
Independent and Free/
TNS/
www.thenationalstudent.com
Yellow and blue is a potent contrast combination.
TNS is a logo
This immediately captures the viewers’ attention, and draws the
viewers’ eyes closer to the brand name.
Dateline This magazine features no dateline; there is no clear reason to this.
This is breaking convention, as somebody viewing the magazine will
not know which issue it is. They may have to rely entirely on the cover
lines for an indication of the date.
This is not ideal and this may be an indication to why it is a free
magazine. As this is online, the date of the magazine may be posted as
a title to the link, or other obvious places.
Main image The main image is a famous athlete, soon after her world
championships, and successful feature in cosmetic advertisements. It
relates to the cover lines. Featuring Jessica Ennis may also draw
people to the magazine as she is a very famous public figure. She has
a large following too, and her constant success in athletics only adds to
her fame.
Colour Bright colours relate to a vibrant youth life. Often students are notorious
for being active, so bright colours and big pictures attract them. Also,
the yellow looks close to a gold shade, possibly to represent the gold
medal Ennis received in the championships, if somebody saw this
magazine today, they may associate it with her gold in the Olympics
instead.
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2. Cover lines The cover lines relate to the main image, the words overlap the image
itself as it relates to that image. Other cover lines are placed in the right
third and do not overlap her. This visual cue may be a subtle indication
as to which articles are based on the main character.
Again, this is the one that overlaps the main image itself. It talks about
Main cover line the triumphs of the featured athlete, and gives a little intro to the article.
The text that does overlap her is yellow, and she is wearing blue, these
blend nicely with the overall colour theme of the article
Left third The main masthead and the cover lines take the left third completely.
This flows well as the main image, does not take too much of the left
third, especially in the lower half. Conventionally magazines use this for
pricing and barcode.
Bar code This is an internet magazine, thus there is no barcode. Nothing must be
scanned, and this is free. Thus a barcode serves no purpose here,
there is no chance of losing out on money.
Selling line Independent and Free, this is great marketing, as people love free stuff.
So people will take and read the magazine.
Non –biased to any establishment, this means it is universal, and opens
itself to a wider variety of students, catching a large group.
Task 2 Grid Sheet 2
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