FEATURES OF A MAGAZINE COVERWhen Analysing magazine covers I have discovered and noted the following features:

• Mast Head (Must be clear and visible, usually at the top of the magazine cover)

• Skyline with advertisement/ incentive

• Main Cover image usually relating main article

• Puffs with incentives or cover lines

• Cover lines

• Advertising banner

• Barcode

• Price

• Issue No

• Colour Scheme

• Iconography

• Direct Speech/ Mode of Address

Skyline/ Incentive Banner – on this magazine

cover the skyline has an incentive purpose,

this is created at the top of the magazine so

when sold in retail the magazine will stand out

and appeal to readers.

Mast Head – The mast head is layered behind

the main image so that the title still stands out an

d is bold but doesn‟t compromise the image

quality, also the font style of the mast head gives

a rock vibe as it has a distorted/ smashed effect

on the font.

Main Cover Image – the Main cover image is

layered in front of the main mast head, this

allows a clear shot/ view of the main people in

the photo without the image being effected/ over

taken by text. The image background is a white

background to help bright out/ emphasise the

colours of clothing/hair/ mise en scene of the

image and also allow the mast head to layer

behind the cover stars. The Cover stars instantly

show a direct mode of address as they are

looking almost „straight at the reader‟ making the

reader have a personal connection with the band

and have more enjoyment out of reading/

viewing the cover page.

Incentive/ Puff – By including Incentive Puffs

on the cover of the magazine it immediately

attracts more people to buy/ be interested in

the magazine and what potential things they

could gain by purchasing the magazine.

Puff– This „Sticker‟ Like incentive allows

people to be interested also by using

stickers effects it may appeal more

greatly towards the target audience.

Advertising Banner – By including

advertisement on the cover this will easily

be recognisable and create more profit for

the magazine and for the people who the

magazine is advertising for. The colours of

the banner remain within the house style.

Barcode/ Price/ Issue No – During my

research I have located a barcode

containing the price of the magazine and

also the issue No, this is valuable

information to the purchaser and seller of

the magazine. The barcode is at the

bottom of the page, it is laid out in the

corner to allow room for text and images

to be placed neatly on the cover.

Cover Lines – The cover lines on this

magazine have been included with a

small image relating to the article, by

arranging them to the side of the cover

page it allows space for the main image

and mast head and also the cover lines

font and size remain in the house style,

by maintaining the house style the rock

theme continues in the magazine and

appeals more to the reader and target

audience.

Incentive/ Puff – By including many

advertising and incentives of the front

cover, it‟s the first thing the target

audience will see on the magazine, so

therefore the more it stands out the more

likely the readers will read and buy the

magazine. Bright colours are used in the

back ground shape to make it more eye

catching.

Genre of Magazine = Rock/ Heavy Rock

Target Audience = 15-25 (Males and Female)

Colour Scheme = Red, Yellow, Black, White

Skyline/ Incentive Banner – The

Skyline is also involving so incentive text

within the skyline, by including a

skyline/incentive it is easy to recognise

due to the contrasting shape with black

and red bold font advertising what's in the

magazine.

Mast head – By including the mast head behind

the main cover image/stars it allows the readers

to see the image clearly without it being

compromised or over layered by text, also this

text is bold and remains within the colour scheme

of the magazine, under the magazine it also

includes a small magazine catchphrase,

catchphrases are used to make the magazine

memorable and standout from other magazines

in this genre. The bold upper case mast head

stands out and contrasts with the blue

background of the image.

Main Cover Image – This cover image contains

5 members of the main article band, the blue

background of the image instantly makes the font

layered over the image stand out more bolder,

also in the image the „mise en scene‟‟ of the

image instantly tells the target audience it is a

Rock Genre Magazine due to the head styles

and Clothes worn by the band members and the

dark colours involved within the magazine. Again

there is a direct mode of address with the reader

and the band in this image.

Puff - By including a puff it instantly

appeals to the target audience and age

group that‟s the magazine attracts, it is

bold and vibrant colours within the puff,

also it intrigues the reader to buy the

magazine with the persuasive text “Free”

and “Inside” .

Advertising/Incentive – By including incentives

on the cover of the magazine it makes the

incentive more eye catching and almost

persuades the target audience to purchase the

magazine due to its incentives, it includes

images of the incentives to make it more

appealing and the text and font style instantly

makes it more eye catching to the audience.

Barcode/ Price/ Issue No – When

analysing this magazine the barcode is

located in the bottom right corner of the

magazine, this allows plenty of space for

images, text and advertising of the

magazine, also above the barcode is the

price and issue No of the magazine, the

issue No is included for frequent readers

Cover Lines – On this magazine the

cover lines remain in the house style by

contrasting each individual cover line with

a different colour (Red and White), this

there fore makes it easily identifiable to

the reader what bands will be included in

the magazine, also the Bold text styles

and sizes are layered in front of the

image making it even easier and more

eye catching for the target audience to

buy the magazine.

Genre of Magazine = Rock/ Heavy Rock/ Metal

Target Audience = 16-25 (Males and Females)

Colour Scheme =Blue , White, Yellow, Black and

Red

Mast Head – The Mast head on this

magazine cover is located in the top corner of

the page, this challenges the codes and

conventions of magazines as most titles will

have larger text and behind the main cover

stars. The colour of the font is vibrant and

eye catching and relates to the other colours

on the page, also the style of the font is bold

and in Capital letters making it stand out

further.

Incentive – On this magazine cover the incentive is

displayed as a free mini magazine inside the magazine

itself, it has an image of the mini magazine and also bold

vibrant coloured font next to the incentive‟s image, the

colours of the text are within the NME colour scheme.Main Cover image – On this magazine cover

the main cover image has a Direct Mode of

address, all band members are to the right of

the page leaving spaces for a side bar

including cover lines and quotes relating to

the article they are tying to advertise. Also

there is a basic and minimalistic „mise en

scene‟, you can tell the genre of this

magazine instantly by looking at the clothes

and bright backdrop relates to the colour

scheme and house style and also appeals

more to the indie/ Rock Genre/ Audience.

Puff – The puff on this magazine is coloured as Red, red is a colour used to symbolise importance, and the boldness of the red instantly catches the eyes of the

readers and target audience, within in the puff there is an incentive/persuasive piece of text, the text says “The Stars of 2012 invite YOU into the studio”. Not only

is this a direct mode of address to the reader it is also an incentive and makes the reader personally feel like they are apart of it and makes them want to buy the

magazine just to read it, when an article or piece of texts connects to the reader, the reader instantly feels a connection and will have a more enjoyable reading

experience.

Cover Lines – the cover lines on this magazine instantly

relate to the main article and the main cover image, it does

this by including a pull quote from the band to draw fans of

Muse and readers attention, it does this by bold and large

text highlighted in Yellow, underneath the main cover line

are smaller cover lines which try to entice the reader and

make people want to buy the magazine even more, by

using persuade techniques and language the reader is

instantly hooked and wants to read more. Underneath are

more cover lines, the white text contrasts from the

background and is positioned towards the bottom of the

magazine as the main cover stars faces are positioned to

the right and top of the magazine cover, the main bands of

these cover lines are highlighted in yellow to show a sense

of impotence and to make the band names stand out from

the normal white text.

Barcode/ Price/ Issue No - By including

Issue Date the readers can easily identify

how old the magazine is and this

information is extremely useful for

frequent readers. The Price is the located

near the issue Date, the price is valuable

information to retailers of the magazine.

And a barcode is again useful for

marketing of the magazine as without a

barcode it wouldn‟t be marketable.

There is also an L shaped line to separate the main article

cover lines/ text from the other cover lines relating to other

articles, this makes the whole experience of reading this

magazine easier and less confusing.

Genre of Magazine = Rock/Indie Rock/

Alternative

Target Audience = 18-30 (Males and Females)

Colour Scheme =Blue, Yellow, White, Red