Magazine Conventions

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Magazine Front Covers

• Conventions

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Purpose of a Front Cover
Essentially, the front cover functions to entice
readers to buy a magazine. Although the reader
will spend a fraction of the time they read the
magazine focusing on the front, they may not pick
it up in the first place unless the front cover
is well designed. It is an "important
advertisement" and "serves to label its
possessor" (McLoughlin 2000 5)
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Conventions patterns
The front cover is made up of a number of
important features. These are common conventions
of magazines. For you to create your own
magazine, you must understand how these
conventions function and what their purpose is.
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Masthead
This is the name of the magazine and is almost
always displayed at the top. Why?
The font style and colour will have been
carefully selected to help sell the magazine, as
well as give some indication about the content
and audience. Similarly, the name of the
magazine will be carefully chosen. Why is the
name important?
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What can you say about the mastheads on these
magazines?
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Tagline
This goes near the masthead, and is sometimes
attached to it. It shows what the magazine is
about or who it might be aimed at.
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MAST HEAD ANALYSIS
Consider how the name anchors a link to a
genre Where is the eye typically drawn based on
reading experience? Does size suggest anything?
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Central Image
This is one of the most important parts of the
front cover as it catches a readers eye before
they look at the printed text. The central image
will be relevant to the magazines purpose and
audience, and will often be strongly related to
the feature article. In front-cover analysis,
much can be said about the central image. So
much can be denoted and connoted from this image.
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The Cover Model
For many magazines, a cover model will be used.
This may be a celebrity, or well-known individual
connected with the magazines genre (e.g. a rock
star posing for a music magazine) or it may be a
photographic model. Consider the implications of
this. What difference might it make to the
magazines selling power? Think about the
mise-en-scene. Why is the model dressed in a
certain way, or lit in a certain way? How are
they posed? What is the connotation of this? Is
the models pose seductive? Intimidating? Why
are they wearing those specific clothes?
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Anchorage
This is a term that refers to how images are
referred to. In magazines, images will be
anchored by captions (directly explaining what
the pictures depict), by coverlines, or by
articles and headlines. Anchoring an image helps
give it meaning, as it helps the reader
understand the significance.
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Secondary Images
They may be used on the front cover to help
promote other features in the magazine, usually
anchored by a coverline. They are often used in
magazines where readers need to be enticed by
the picture rather than the coverline text (e.g.
celebrity magazines).
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Coverlines
These are located at various points on the front
cover, telling readers about the magazines
contents and specifically, the articles theyll
find. The front cover often features 6-12
coverlines in an attempt to lure different
readers to different things. Coverlines will
often use language and presentational devices to
be most effective
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Mode of Address
Mode of Address refers to the way that magazines
communicate with their readers. Some magazines
will use a direct mode of address, communicating
with individual readers. This might be through
use of the cover model (e.g. pointing directly at
the camera), or through the use of 2nd person
pronouns (you). What kinds of magazines do you
think would favour a direct mode, and which would
favour an indirect mode?
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Puff
As in puff of air, this is a device which helps
to draw attention to and promote certain elements
in the magazine. They are often set against
colourful backgrounds and are shaped e.g.
rounded. Quite often they advertise a freebie
or a special feature in the magazine
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Plugs and Pugs (or Ears)
Pugs are not to be confused with Plugs. Plugs are
the selling points or giveaways on covers that
are normally accompanied by words like WIN or
FREE. Pugs, however, are also known as the ears
of a magazine and are placed at the top left or
right-hand corners of a front cover. They
usually display a promotion from that magazines
edition, or possibly the price. They often come
in the form of a diagonal strip.
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Pugs on Pugs!
Two sets of ears!
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Barcode, Price, Edition
Straightforward features, but they need to be
strategically placed. The barcode shouldnt
distort any of the covers principal features,
and the price will usually be displayed nearby.
How the edition is phrased will depend on the
frequency of publication. Most magazines are
monthly editions, and so the month and year will
be displayed.
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Use of Colour
Colour this is used to great effect. Some
magazines will alter all the colour schemes from
edition to edition (masthead, coverline fonts,
etc), while others will alter some colours to
coordinate with the central image. Think about
signifier/signified where colour is in question.
Ask yourselves whether the magazine is using
colour to send a message, or whether colour has
been manipulated to help accentuate a certain
feature of the cover image.
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Font
Front covers will display a variety of font
choices, usually adapted to infer meaning to the
text theyre displaying. Think about how font
choices are manipulated for both mastheads and
coverlines.
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Magazines seem to be central to society as they
create a culture (McRobbie Curran)
the function of magazines is "to provide readers
with a sense of community, comfort, and pride in
this mythic feminine identity" (Bignell 1997 61)
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Sources Used
http//www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem08b.h
tml http//www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/sid9901.h
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