Identifying magazine conventions

1. Magazine Front Cover
Research
By Sophie Webster
&
Allan Unsworth

2. House Style
The overall house style of the magazine is
based on the colours red and yellow. These
colours contrast strongly against each other, as
well as the dark and shadowed background.
This draws the attention of the audience as
both of the colours are bright enough to be
noticed amongst other magazines. The font is
also noticeable as the text is consistent. With
an army style font taking up the headlines and
sub headlines while a bold yet simple font is
used to add information. This is them only
compromised with the masthead and tagline
which use the same, messier font. These two
font styles are consistent throughout the
magazine.

3. Mast Head
The mast head on the magazine challenges the usual conventions as
the text isn’t the biggest on the cover. This goes against the
conventions as it isn’t the mast head that draws the audience to the
magazine, but the headline which is the bigger and bolder text on
the cover. However, the mast head does draw attention as the colour
is bright and starkly contrasts against the background with the
bright yellow colour and thin red outline. The colour is bright enough
to draw the attention of the audience. As well as the fact that the
font is completely different to the rest of the font used on the cover.
It’s also covered by the main image, which suggests that it’s
noticeable enough to be covered and still recognized.

4. Tagline
The tagline goes against the usual conventions, as it lists things
within the magazine and the genre’s the magazine covers instead
of using a short sentence to promote it. The font is the same as the
mast heads, keeping the house style together as it keeps to
continuity. The text isn’t the only white text on the cover, but it
stands out the most as it’s similar to a banner and is at the very top
of the page.

5. Main Image
The main image is the largest image on
the cover. It’s central within the page,
covering both the main headline and the
masthead. The background is dark, making
the subjects in the image blend slightly as
they are wearing dark clothes. The overlap
over the various text implies that the
subjects in the picture are important
enough to not need the text for the
audience to recognize who they are. Due
to the main subjects stance and hand
gestures, it could also imply that they
don’t care if they are known or not, so that
cover the text. They use direct address as
the subjects look straight at the camera
which includes the audience and gets their
attention.

6. Main cover line / Sub-cover lines
The headline is in the biggest font on the front
cover, taking up the most space in a large red
font. The font used is then used on the rest of
the subheadlines. This continuity continues
the housestyle, along with the colours. The
font is bold and eye catching, and the style
looks as though it doesn’t belong on a punk
magazine due to it’s connotations of being a
primarily ‘army’ font.
The subheadlines use two different
styles. Those on the bottom and top
framing the cover are bright yellow with a
red outline in a bold and simple font as
they list content within the magazine. On
the other hand, the more important
articles within the magazine follow the
same style of the headline, with the
‘army’ font as the title, and simple yet
bold text underneath explaining the
content. The colours are yellow and
white, making the text stand out against
the background.

7. Other Images
The only other image on the cover is the joint image of
two promotional offers of art prints. These two images
are small and in the corner of the cover, and partially
covered by the main image. This signifies that the
promotion is not the main pull of the magazine.
However, the images are both framed in white, making
them stand out.

8. Main Conventions
The main conventions within the cover are simple and obviously
put in the right hand bottom corner of the cover. The barcode is
the largest image with the price and issue number above it in a
small font (relative to the rest of the font on the cover) in a
bright red. This stands out against the black background, and
contrasts with the white background of the barcode. It also
supplies the magazines website underneath the issue number
and price.