media A-LEVEL work

1. CONVENTIONS OF A
FRONT COVER
BY SUMMER SMITH

2. DESIGNS
• When putting a picture of a model
on the front of the magazine, you
need to make sure that the model
is looking straight into the
camera.
• You should stick to 3-5 font styles
and 3-5 colours. One of the most
used covers is red, and one of the
least used colours is green. Black
covers do sell well in rock or indie
magazines.
• Photos normally looks better on
the cover page and normally sell
better than magazines that just
have illustrations on the front.
• When you are creating a front
cover you should stick to one
style and know what you
should be exaggerating more
than other stuff.
• The cover page should have a
main focus point, it is normally
a model in the image or it can
be a headline or a number, this
is to help draw the eye to the
magazine.
• Every magazine needs one
headline that will pop out, it
needs to be in the style of the
magazine, making sure the
colours and style all go
together.

3. COVER PAGES
• The first design isn't normally
the best one, if you try a few
options and different ideas
then you can experiment with
what looks best and what
suits your magazine the best.
• You need to have an good idea
of who your target audience
is, this way you can then base
your colours and fonts around
who your target audience is,
e.g., if your target audience is
teenage girls, you would chose
more pink and purple colours.
• Cover pages sell the brand, so
it has to be appealing and
different from the other cover
pages on the news stand so
that it catches people eyes
more and makes them want
to buy it more.
• As well this every new cover
page has to be different from
the previous one, but also
similar to the other issues so
that the readers can recognize
the magazine.

4. IMAGE BASED MAGAZINE COVERS
• This is one of the most
commonly used cover
designs, it is normally a
picture of one or just a
few people on the cover.
This is normally used in
celebrity magazines,
fashion magazines and
men's magazines. Some
magazines will sell more
than others just because
of the celebrity on the
front.

5. MAGAZINE COVER LINES
• The reader will have to be able
to know what it says as soon
as they read it as they may
lose interest if it doesn’t make
sense to them.
• The average person spends 3-4
seconds glancing on each
magazine in the new stands,
this is why it is important to
make sure that everything is
clear, from the design of the
cover and also the writing.
• The most important part of a
cover page is the interaction
between the pictures and the
writing, the cover lines send a
message to the readers and it
needs to be able to stand out
when with all other
magazines.
• You need create somethings
appealing and attractive to
the readers and this can take a
lot of time and effort.

6. MASTHEAD AND LOGO TIPS
• The top left corner is the best
place to put your logo because
when magazines are stacked
on a newsstand the top left
corner is always more visible,
if the name of the magazine is
longer and bolder it will make
a bigger impact.
• It is better to use different
font for the logo than the ones
you use for the cover lines, the
options are endless.
• When working on designing
your logo and masthead, you
need to chose the right
typography and think about
the length of the mas head, if
it is too long or too short and
consider the positioning.
• The mastheads and logo’s role
is to make the magazine
recognizable and stand out
from other magazines, this is
not the easiest thing to do
some you need to ty loads of
different ideas and see what
one you like the best.

7. CONVENTIONS OF A
CONTENTS PAGE

8. CONTENTS
• Structured layout should include
1-3 columns. Usually divided into
categories and headings e.g. main
categories- features and regulars
• Features in different font/border
as its special.
• Contents items- bold/italic titles in
size 12/13pt
• Description in size 11/12pt
• One main image relating to the
feature article.
• Other small images, usually up to
4.
• Colours- contents page use the
same, simple colour scheme as
the front cover.
• Images should take up 50% of the
page.
• Images should contain page
numbers and anchorage text.

9. • Top of the page
• Name of magazine, issue date and
word contents
• Various pages
• Subscription and contact
information
• Issue date/ month
• Social Media Info
• Photographer Credits
• Sometimes there is a letter from the
editor
• Sometimes there is an image of the
front cover
CONTENTS

10. DOUBLE PAGE
SPREADS

11. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD TIPS
• Magazine spreads are two pages
that are next to each other and
they work together to create one
unit. When designing your
magazine it is vital to look at
these two pages as one single
thing even though they are about
two separate stories.
• Since magazines are smaller than
newspapers, they can be seen in
one view because our vision
encompasses the entire spread at
normal viewing distance.
• The grey areas are the places that
are the most visible to the reader.
The lighter areas are looked at
less when looking through a
magazine, the readers eye is
drawn to the upper part of the
magazine and there fore them
areas have the most impact.

12. EVERYTHING SHOULD FLOW
• Everything should have a flow
to it.
• With your work you should
wok your way from the top let
corner, which should be
meaningful, and then continue
to the bottom.
• Headline, intro copy and then
the main copy.
• However, the bottom part of
the spread, the inner corners
near the gutter are not as
important.
• Designers place foot notes and
even some credits in those
places on the spread.

13. IMAGE AND BODY TEXT ARRANGEMENT
• By doing things this way the
reader will have no problem
with following the text part of
the story.
• If you are trying to place big
blocks of text, you should try
not to break them up.
• Don’t throw elements on a
page for no reason. Everything
has to be there for a reason.
• Keep everything neat and tidy
because, if it is messy then the
reader will struggle trying to
follow the flow of the story.
• Try to make things simple, you
can do this y aligning the
columns at the top and
placing your images above
them.

14. HEADLINES
• All headline can vary in size,
the more important the
article, the bigger the headline
should be.
• As well as the size the
positioning of the headline is
also important and you need
to make sure that you place
your headlines at the top of
the page. This is because this
is one of the first places that
the reader will look.
• The headline should be set in
the bigger size regarding
other text elements on the
page.
• The most important text on
the page is the headline, this is
just as important as the
layout.
• This is because the first things
that the reader will notice is
the layout of the page, the
second thing that the reader
will notice is the headline., as
this is what will make the
reader want to read the
article that is on that page.
• Even if the layout attracts the
reader, if the headline isn't
appealing then they wont
want to read the article.

15. INTRO (KICKER, STAND-FIRST, DECK)
• As well as changing the size
you can also change the style
of the font to make it stand
out more.
• The intro should be placed just
below the headline as they
work together to get the
readers attention.
• This will make them more
curious about what the article
is bout and make them want
to read on.
• This is the introduction to the
article, after the headline has
caught the readers attention,
the intro is seen as a bridge
between the headline and the
body copy.
• This briefly describes the
article and sets the tone, in
the intro you should
summarise the article in a way
that will attract the readers
attention.
• The intro should be set in a
bigger font then the rest of
the article, but still smaller
than the headline.

16. BODY COPY
• As a designer you should use
Column and type choice to
reflect the identity of the
brand and to present the story
in a way that it suits the
content.
• This is the largest part of any
type of article, this needs to
be just as interesting as the
design, the headline and the
intro.
• It doesn’t matter how good
you the design is, if your text
isn't written in an interesting
way then the readers will lose
interest.

17. PULL QUOTES
• Pull quotes can be taken out
directly from the body text or
they can be summarized.
• Your pull quotes should be set
in a big enough size so that it
catches the readers attention
but it shouldn’t be as big as
the headline.
• They can be emphasised with
frames, you can put it in a
circle or you can place it inside
big exaggerated quote signs.
• These are a very useful and
attractive design element .
• You should pick out the most
interesting quotes of the story
and emphasise them.
• These are great to break up
big blocks of body copy and
make the article look more
interesting.
• They can be used in
conjunction with the image so
that they can tell a story in
their own way.

18. SUBHEADS
• These are used to break up
the body copy and to give an
insight into what the reader
can expect to read in the next
few paragraphs.
• The reader might be put off if
they see a long block of text.
• Subheads should be placed to
break up he big blocks of text
and to denote a new section
or chapter.
• The size of the subhead should
b a little bit larger then the
body text, or you could just
make it more bold to make it
stand out more. As log as it
doesn’t look the same as the
body text.
• Don’t place subheads just
below your images.
• Don’t place them in the
last 3 rows at the bottom
of the column and do not
place them in the first 3
rows at the top of the
column.
• Neve place them at the
top of a column, they do
not serve any purpose
there.
• Do not place them below
the pull quote, they should
always work as separate
things.

19. IMAGE CAPTIONS
• Image captions are usually set
in sans-serif as it is easy to
read on image backgrounds
and at a small size.
• Image captions can be set in a
large type size but they act
more like a pull quote.
• These need to work with the
image and relate to them.
Avoid placing image captions
above the images as it is a bad
design.
• Images should be placed on
the top and the captions
should be placed below them.
• The type size should be
around the same size as the
body copy.

20. BYLINES AND CREDITS
• However if the article is
written by a famous journalist
and the images are taken by a
photographer then you
should place the bylines just
below the headlines or below
the intro text if the intro is
located below the headline.
• These are determined by the
importance of the authors and
the photographers that
worked on the article.
• I if stock images are being
used and you outsource
writing of the article you can
put the credits near the
gutter.

21. RUNNING HEAD
• Not all magazines need a
running head but you can
place them at the beginnings
of the sections, as it may be
too repetitive to have them on
every page.
• Although it is up to you on
how you design them, try not
to over do it so they dominate
the page.
• These are elements that
navigate the reader. If you set
them in a brightly coloured
box and bleed them out of the
page they will be visible even
when the magazine is closed.
• running heads should be
carefully designed to reflect
the style and the tone of the
rest of the magazine.

22. FOLIO
• If you chose to out folio on
only one page on a spread,
you should put it on the right
page because it is more visible.
• This can consist of different
elements, such as page
number, publication logo,
date, month, section title,
web page, just don’t over do
it.
• Unlike running heads, folios
serve a bigger purpose and
should be placed on nearly
every page.

23. PANEL AND BOX COPY
• Boxed text should be set in a
different style to the main
body copy. Usually in sans-serif
type because the box copy is
not long.
• These boxes can have their
own headlines and kickers,
these headline should be a few
to several points larger than
boxy copy and kicker should
be left as the same size or
bigger.
• you can use heavier type for
the headlines and the kickers
to emphasize them a bit more.
• Boxes are used as news items
or used as extensions to a long
article, you can then place
some facts and data in them
that are relevant to the
article.
• These types of copy tend to be
shorter in length and have
more of a factual tone to
them.
• They can be in a formal text,
bulleted text or list.