Conventions of magazines

Conventions are like rules or guidelines which are often used to make a media text, such as a magazine front cover. These conventions however are altered to suit the particular genre of magazine and appeal to their target audiences.

All magazine front covers have a Masthead. The masthead displays the name of the magazine, and usually has a distinctive style, font or colour to gain originality and also be easily recognised amongst their target audience. The masthead is also usually quite large and bold in order to stand out against the background of the magazine and also be visible from a reasonable distance to attract their audience in.

These are a few examples of current Mastheads:

(Masthead for the NME music magazine)

( Masthead for the Wyke college magazine)

(Masthead for Heat magazine)

Some mastheads usually use the same colours too, so that the audience can relate to the colour scheme and associate those colours with that particular magazine company.

All magazines have headlines which are large, bold and eye-catching. The language used in headlines depends on the target audience, but they are usually short, snappy and colloquial in order for the reader to understand it straight away. Headlines can also use puns, which is a play on words to create humour and intrigue their audience to read on. Accompanying the headline is usually a strap-lines well, to further explain and add any additional information on the cover story.

Magazine front covers also usually have a main image. This is usually the focal point of the front cover, as it shows the main feature of the magazine. The image can be quite large in order to attract their target audience but is also carefully selected to connote emotions or invoke feelings upon their audience. The content of the image is determined by the target audience of the magazine and their interests. Magazines such as 'Heat', 'Grazia' and 'Look' heavily rely upon celebrity endorsement to attract their audience, so their images are mostly of celebrities. The images used of celebrities are usually manipulated to shock their audience and portray the chaos and stress of celebrity life in a negative light. In contrast, college magazines have a very different set of values and beliefs and therefore focus on students instead. This is so that the target audience of students aged 16-18, can relate to the image. The images of students usually portray them having fun as well as being educated.

It is also common for a magazine front cover to include a website, sponsor or logo to further promote the magazine. For example The secondary teachers magazine which I previously looked at displayed this sponsor , which also shows the professional connections of the magazine and that the magazine is a reliable source. This website was also displayed on the front cover , which offers the audience further information on related issues. In addition, dates and prices are also vital on the front cover to display to the audience the time in which the magazine was produced and also the cost of buying the magazine.

Another common convention included in a magazine front cover is the use of plugs. They are used to give a brief insight of the contents of the magazine and are sometimes accompanied by images to further interest the reader. These often tempt the reader, therefore plugs play a very important part in the selling point of a magazine.