Codes and Conventions

For magazines there are different codes and conventions they all follow. On the front cover of  magazines there is one main feature article, usually about the person on the front cover. The picture taken is either a close-up shot or a mid shot. For example this front cover of EllE Magazine had a mid shot of Jennifer Lopez, this encourages people to buy the magazine because inside there is an article on her. All the colours used on front colours are usually very simple and there is only a couple of different shades. On this example they've used blacks and greys, this could be to complement Jennifer Lopez's skin tone and make her and the cover look more attractive so more people buy it.

On the front cover there also has to be a title, this is usually one or two words and fills the width of the page. In this example of ELLE Magazine the title is across the top and the mid shot of Keira Knightly is covering the middle two letters. This is the same for many well-known magazines to have the photo cover up some of the title. Also on a lot of magazines they need to have the bar code which is commonly put on the right of the cover and the issue number and price which is also put on the right but can also be found by the barcode.

 

Free giveaways are common among more children ages magazines as this catches there eye and they want to buy it. However you do get giveaways with magazines like ELLE and VOGUE but it’s rare as they are mainly magazines just for fashion and articles on the cover girl/man.

Another code and conventions the magazine business live by is cover lines, a cover line is lines of the text on the cover that attract the audience. They usually go over the cover girl/man a little. The main cover line is the larger section of text that usually sits under the title. It may be about the article inside. For example, this VOGUE magazine with Kate Moss on the cover has her name under the title in a bigger sized font than the others around it. Also at the bottom the font size is bigger to tell people who are thinking of buying it what might be inside, it gives them a sneak peak of what’s to come.

 

Lastly, on magazines they like to give you a hit of what’s inside. This could come in the form of a strip across the bottom of the cover however it's mostly put down the side of the cover girl/man. This links in with the cover lines. On this example of VOGUE with Rihanna on the cover, they've put the snippets of information that's inside round the edge of her mid mid shot. Like other VOGUE magazines it's roughly the same layout, this is because they want all the magazines to be similar in style so they've got one unique style and people can know what the magazine is about before they buy it. They have a reputation to be the best of the fashion/gossip section of magazines so a constant style allows that to happen.