The Big Issue magazine uses consistent design elements across its covers and contents pages to reinforce its brand identity. These include a bold masthead, prominent display of the magazine's name and strapline "A hand up not a hand out", and small pricing and barcode information. For covers, the use of direct address, facial expressions and body language summarizes the subject's personality. Headlines and headers provide further context. Contents pages also employ consistent colors, fonts, and layout with featured article summaries, vendor photos and engaging language to attract readers.

1. THE BIG ISSUE EXAMPLE COVERS

2. CELEBRITY
Masthead: creates consistent house
style/designs. bold and colourful to be eye-
catching and ensures that the brand is easily
recognisable
Strapline: ‘A hand up not a hand out’ Same on all
covers to reinforce the brand
Price and date: very small so it doesn’t draw your
eye away from the main subject or image
Barcode: very small and sometimes hidden.
Placed in different positions depending on the
style of each cover
Direct mode of address: all examples have the
celebrity using direct made of address
Facial expression/ body language: summarises
the celebrity's personality or what they are
known for being like
Main headline: either the name of the celebrity
or ‘big issue’
Header: summarising what the celebrity is
famous for or what they are trying to promote

3. POLITICAL SATIRE
Masthead: creates consistent house style/designs. bold and colourful to
be eye-catching and ensures that the brand is easily recognisable
Strapline: ‘A hand up not a hand out’ Same on all covers to reinforce the
brand
Price and date: very small so it doesn’t draw your eye away from the main
subject or image
Barcode: very small and sometimes hidden. Placed in different positions
depending on the style of each cover
Direct mode of address: not used in these examples. Symbols are usually used
instead of faces so that the satire is more implied
Facial expression/ body language: mocking the person so usually had a comedic
facial expression. The cover on the left shows drawings of people running around
to show confusion and panic
Main headline: usually an exclamation to mimic the person/thing that the cover
is mocking
Header: usually a play on words used for comedic effect or something that the
person of thing is famous for

4. POLITICS
Direct mode of address: usually used to engage the customer/ eye-catching.
Facial expression/ body language: reinforcing what they want their message to
be. E.g. Marcus Rashford appears friendly as he is portrayed as the ‘good guy’
whereas Margret Thatcher appears slightly ominous in the background
Main headline: usually sounds bold and important. All examples use capital
letters and a bold font
Header: summarises the point/story they want to put across. Gives a basic recap
of the story.
Masthead: creates consistent house style/designs. bold and colourful to be
eye-catching and ensures that the brand is easily recognisable
Strapline: ‘A hand up not a hand out’ Same on all covers to reinforce the
brand
Price and date: very small so it doesn’t draw your eye away from the main
subject or image
Barcode: very small and sometimes hidden. Placed in different positions
depending on the style of each cover

5. SOCIALLY CONCIOUS
Masthead: creates consistent house style/designs. bold and colourful to
be eye-catching and ensures that the brand is easily recognisable
Strapline: ‘A hand up not a hand out’ Same on all covers to reinforce
the brand
Price and date: very small so it doesn’t draw your eye away from the
main subject or image
Barcode: very small and sometimes hidden. Placed in different
positions depending on the style of each cover
Direct mode of address: not used as there are no people in most of the
covers.
Facial expression/ body language: most of then have no people in. this
may be because they are about the planet so they use pictures to
represent their point.
Main headline: bold statements to emphasise the importance of their
point and to make people think. Eye-catching and often colourful
Header: summarises the context of the story, using similar font to the
main headline

6. LITERARY
Masthead: creates consistent house style/designs. bold and colourful to
be eye-catching and ensures that the brand is easily recognisable
Strapline: ‘A hand up not a hand out’ Same on all covers to reinforce the
brand
Price and date: very small so it doesn’t draw your eye away from the main
subject or image
Barcode: very small and sometimes hidden. Placed in different positions
depending on the style of each cover
Direct mode of address: at least one of the characters in each cover uses direct
mode of address. Entices the customer to make them feel connected/included to
the film/programme
Facial expression/ body language: body language reinforces the genre/character
type and story
Main headline: usually the name of the movie/tv show in their iconic font to
attract fans.
Header: usually uses phrases/themes related to the film/show. Much smaller
than the main header so it doesn’t distract from the eye-catching title

7. EXAMPLE CONTENTS PAGES

8. Featured articles: shown on the right of
the page. Each one has a brief summary of
the article to engage the audience
Colour scheme: consistent colours are
used throughout which may reinforce the
brand
Font: main headline is a large bold font to
capture the attention of the audience and
to make it exiting. “this week’s big issue”
is written in the same font as “big issue”
on all front covers to reinforce the brand
Page layout: the layout is the same on
both copies which creates familiarity. The
heading and main headline are always in
the top left hand corner which your eye is
immediately drawn to due to the ‘Z’ rule.
A large photo of the vendor is in the
bottom left corner and the actual content
information is small in on the left
Language: snappy but conversational.
Quotes are used to grab the reader’s
attention as well as dramatic phrases such
as “horror of hunger” and “housing
crusade”