Conventions of a magazine

There are several features of a magazine cover that are universal among all magazine covers. The reason for this is that each aspect of the front cover is to grab the reader and make them want to buy the issue.  Therefore within the industry there are well known techniques to maximize advertisement and sales.

The logo is perhaps the most important part of the cover. It shows the potential buyer how they are portraying themselves as a company and what they’re generally about. The colour, style, text and size can all add up to a very specific look for a company, this is why companies spend large amounts perfecting their logo. The general aim is to be bold on the cover to attract the buyer.

However depending on how popular the magazine is changes the logo, for example, notice on NME the logo is a bold red, but  it is also quite minimalist, being partly behind the singers head and a very simple logo. This is because NME is such a classic well known brand, the people looking to buy a music magazine would already know the brand name and wouldn’t need to see the entire logo or need a fancy logo to remember it.

In contrast to this, the Kerrang magazine logo is very bold, it is also quite a relatively new magazine and not everyone has heard of it. There is also some encrypted meanings behind it.  The lettering is very simple however there are slashes and it is quite chipped, this suggests that the music genre on this may be punk/ rock style.

Q however is the boldest of the three. Bright red lettering grabs the attention of the potential buyer yet because it is a well known magazine, the logo can be very simple.

The second thing most important thing on the magazine cover is the main picture and the exclusive/interview. The picture can come in three different shots, close up, mid shot and full body images. The main feature is the ‘headline’ for the magazine and the thing that they think will make people pick up the magazine and want to buy it specifically for that person and the thing that they will have invested the most time or money in. Notice how in all three magazine samples, the headline is right in the middle of the page and is the second biggest text.

Another important aspect of a magazine cover, which features in all three magazines is a small box, either at the top or bottom of the page, saying other artists featured in the magazine. This is also to attract the reader, showing who else is in the magazine. It also however shows the general genre of the magazine, for example: 30 Seconds to mars, metallica and you me and six all suggest a rock magazine whereas Elbow and Pete Doherty suggest an alternative/indie genre.

In all magazines there is always the text at the side, showing what else features in the issue e.g. competitions, posters, interviews, specials all to show the top features and to entice the reader.

Finally something that is on every magazine is the barcode, the date, the issue number and the price. To show readers the release date and how much the magazine costs.