Music Magazine

A front cover analysed

We were given a selection of magazine covers to analyse and I chose the Billboard magazine cover. I chose this one because I thought it was the one that appealed to me as a reader and I am part of the target demographic for a magazine such as Billboard.

The skills that I learned in this task was the ability to show the link between an image and a target audience from conventional features of a magazine cover and I can also use these features to reach out to my target demographic and psychographic.

I will be able to use these skills to help me in designing my magazine cover so that it can reach out to the target audience which will ensure that my magazine sells as much copies as possible. I will be able to create a magazine that I would read myself and therefore I will be able to attract people of my demographic.

 

Conventional Design Features of a Magazine

A magazine has several features which make it appealing for customers and make it a magazine in general. These are called the conventional features and I learned what each of these features. The features are as such:

The masthead – This is the title of the magazine and this is usually big and bold so that readers can identify it easily.

The main cover stars – These are the faces of the magazine and can be the deciding factor between two magazines, a main cover star is usually in relation to the main cover line.

The main cover line – This is the text that will catch the eye of the audience. This is usually a label for the main cover star which tells the reader who the cover star is or it gives an insight to what is featured in the magazine.

Barcode – The barcode is placed in the bottom corner or on the edge of a magazine to make it easier to scan when it’s bought.

Price – The price is labelled on a magazine to show the audience what they believe their magazine is worth.

Plug – This is a caption that promotes the magazine by praising it and hyping it up to show the audience how much better their magazine is than the next.

Pug – A pug is a small shape which is usually in a big bold colour to stick out from the background of the magazine cover, it usually contains a number or a figure which attracts the reader.

Captions – Captions are small subtitles which give little sneak peeks for the reader as an incentive to buy their magazine so that they can find out more.

Insets – Insets are smaller images featured on the magazine cover which give a slight bit of context to the captions and the plugs.

Cover lines – These are the captions that are dotted around the magazine cover but are usually featured on the left side of the cover so that it will be displayed when it’s in the shops.

It is important that I am aware of these conventional features in a magazine as when I design y own magazine cover I will have to make sure each one of these features is present otherwise my magazine will be overlooked by the audience whereas if they are all present then I can attract more readers and I will therefore get an increased revenue.