Descriptions
Sky Line
Original Typography
Typography is the main design of text. For example, the type of font used or the size of certain text. Typography is used to make a magazine more striking and more interesting to look at. For example, if some text was small with no fascinating font and wasn't bold and colourful than people wouldn't find it appealing to look at. However, if the text was bold and colourful with an eye catching font than people would actually look at the magazine and would consider buying it. I can see that the Typography used is original because it is similar to all the other pieces of text they have written, which shows that it is his own font.
Published Date and Issue Number
The date the magazine was published is usually in a small text because it isn't always that important to the reader. To some people the date is important because they have collections of magazines and like to know when each magazine was published. Most of the time this date is seen on the skyline which again shows that it is meaningful to the magazine but not important to everyone reading it. The issue number is normally shown with the date. The use of the issue number is for the people who have to create the magazine, it doesn't really apply to the customers wanting to buy it. This number allows the creators of the magazine to know which magazine is which by putting the issue number on it.
Mast Head
The mast head should always be big and eye catching. It tells the reader the name of the magazine. The reader can sense what the magazine is going to be about depending on what the mast head says. For example, if the mast head said 'Pop World' the reader would have a sense that the magazine is going to be about pop music and pop artists. Without a mast head the magazine cover would be bland and customers who would be looking at it would have no idea what the magazine is going to be about or what the main objective will be.
Plug
The plug allows the designers of the magazine to show customers what alluring and important information is going to be in the magazine. A plug is commonly a small shape that is bright and colourful and has a limited amount of information in it. This information is occasionally about something interesting or different that will appear in the magazine. Some examples are, a music magazine could have information about a new band forming or a news magazine might have information about an important crisis that has occurred somewhere. A plug should stand out from everything else on the cover and should catch the readers eye.
Feature Stories
Feature stories are very important for a magazine cover. If there aren't any stories than the reader doesn't really have an in site of what will be inside. Most feature stories provide a small amount of information to tell the reader what to expect in the magazine. Making feature stories is positive for the creators of the magazine because when customers read the stories they only find out a small amount of the information and if they wanted to know more then would have to buy the magazine which means the creators earn more money. The main purpose of the feature stories is to let people know what is going to be inside, but also they are used to fill up the front cover because if there was nothing on the cover than the magazine would seem very bland and no one would want to pick it up.
House Style
The house style is also very important in a magazine. It is the type of colours used on the cover of the magazine. Without a house style the magazine wouldn't look presentable as there would just be loads of different colours that don't even correspond. When choosing a house style, I personally think you can have contrasting colours but in a way they should be similar, this is to make the cover look more appealing. This magazine cover's house style is mainly black with some parts of yellow. Black and yellow are corresponding colours and they both work well together which makes the cover appealing to look at and it's also attractive.
Sell Lines
Sell lines are exactly what the say they are, they are lines that try to help sell the magazine. Sell lines are very similar to feature stories, they both try to give some information about what is going to be in the magazine but they don't tell you all the information, so hopefully a customer would want to know more. Therefore, they would buy the magazine which again is a bonus for the creators as they would get more money. Sell lines usually stand out so that people will read them and then buy the magazine. If the sell line isn't bold or doesn't even stand out than people won't see them as easily.
Sans Serif text
There are two different types of font that could have been used, out of the two this magazine cover has the 'Sans serif' font. 'Sans serif' is the font where there are no flicks in any of the letters but 'Serif' is where there are flicks in the letters (Image underneath of both Sans serif and Serif). Sans serif has been used in this magazine because it makes it look more professional. It also makes the text look neater as there is nothing coming off each letter. If serif was used, I personally think that the magazine cover wouldn't look as good because it would look like too much is going on at once and people may not concentrate on the actual text they may get distracted by the way the font looks. Serif would look nice if it was used on one certain piece of text because it would be eye catching.
Price
The price is very important to the customer, without it they wouldn't know how much the magazine costs. When some people pick up an item they like but it doesn't have a price they sometimes end up not buying it because it never showed them the price. This is why it is so important to have the price because if there wasn't one than people may not buy the magazine. The price is also useful for people who try to sell them in shops because it allows them to tell customers how much it would cost. The price is only small and usually put in the corner of the cover because it's not important to what is going to be in the magazine but it is important when people need to know the price.
Barcode
The barcode is very important for shops who are selling the magazine, this is because when customers can't find the price on the magazine, the employee can scan the barcode to see how much the it will cost. Furthermore, in a warehouse there are many different magazines, it is counted how many of the same magazines there are and then inputted into a computer, each time the barcode is scanned for a magazine being bought, one of those items are removed from the computer. This is useful because it allows the shop to keep control of how many magazines they have in the shop at once.
The barcode isn't important to customers so it is usually away from all the information on the cover, it is often at the bottom of the page or sometimes it could be on the back page. Lastly, the barcode is also unique, so that specific magazine has a specific barcode, which other ones won't have.
Cover Lines
Cover lines are again very similar to Sell lines and feature stories, they give the reader a small amount of information on a topic but not all the information so that the customer will buy the magazine to read about what else happens. The main purpose of cover lines are to do what they say and cover a topic, they are also called this because they are lines on the cover of a magazine. Cover lines are very useful for customers because it allows them to see what is going to be inside and helps them decide whether it is the right magazine for them and whether they should buy it or not.
Main Image
Without a main image on a magazine the cover would look very boring and there wouldn't be much to look at, most of it would be reading and although people like to read (the reason why they are buying the magazine) they also like to have something to look at to make it more interesting. It doesn't usually matter what the main image is but it should always be related to what the magazine genre is because there would be no point having a picture of books on a cooking magazine. Next, the main image should usually take up most of the cover page, this is because the main image usually has something to do with the main feature. It depends on what the main image is but if it is an image of a person there are different camera angles that can be used. For example, in the magazine I have analysed the image is not media close up and is almost nearly a full body shot. The main image is the first things people notice so it should always be something interesting and should be in relation the the topic of the magazine.
Main Feature
The main feature should stand out from all the other pieces of text on the front cover, this is because the main feature is the main piece of information that is going to be in the magazine so it needs to be seen more obviously than the other texts. I personally think that the main feature should be in a different font or should be in a different colour to make it more obvious for customers to see. The main feature should again relate to the main image because they are both the first things someone will see when they look at a magazine. If the main feature is quite a boring topic then whoever is writing the feature should at least make it seem interesting to entice more people so they will buy it.
Strap Line / Website
The strap line on a magazine is always seen under the mast head. The strap line is similar to a sky line but there is just a little difference. It is similar in the way that it gives the reader information about what is going to be in the magazine but the information isn't that important, so they aren't as obvious to see. They differ because one is above the mast head and one is under and also they both provide different pieces of information. Different magazines always have different strap lines. For example, this magazine's strap line is a website address but on others magazines the strap line will have information about what is inside the magazine. The website address isn't always given on a magazine but when it is it is quite useful for a customer because it allows them to go online to the website and if they want the same magazine but a different issue they can look at them there and buy them. Both the strap line and website aren't as important as other features on the cover so they are usually only in a small text.
Tag
Not all magazines have a tag, but the ones that do are more interesting. Tag's are word's that are used to try and engage the reader. 'Sensational' is an example of this. Tag's make the magazine seem more interesting and also it makes it seem as if something exciting is happening in the magazine, so the customer would want to buy the magazine, again helping the creators earn money. The tag is usually better when it is bigger or has a different font to the other pieces of text because then it makes it stand out more and people would notice it more easily and pick it up. The tag can be shown in many different ways, on this magazine the word 'Exclusive' is only in small, so clearly the creator of the magazine didn't want to draw all the attention to that part, but in other magazines all the attention is drawn to the tag as the creator wants the customer to see it.
Examples of different magazine front covers with various conventions:
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