Annotation

There are many design features conventional to magazines.

These include:

• Masthead
• Cover Lines
• Main Cover Lines
• Main Cover Star
• Barcode
• Price
• Plug
• Pug
• Insets
• Captions

What is a Masthead?

A masthead is the title of the magazine. You will often find that the masthead is written in a font the represents what sort of information the magazine contains. This will help catch the eye of people that are interested if the particular genre.

What are Cover Lines?

Cover lines tell you what the magazine includes. The cover lines on a magazine give you an insight of the topics within the magazine.

What is a Main Cover Line?

The main cover line on a magazine cover shows you the main focus of the magazine. Therefore if you are into whatever the main cover line is about, you know you will like the magazine. The cover lines and the main cover line are quite often in the same colour and font. However, the main cover line is in a larger font to help if stand out. This help the audience know it’s importance to the magazine.

What is a Main Cover Star?

The main cover star is the image that goes with the main cover line. It is a large image that cover the majority of the front cover. This is because it will be the main genre for the magazine. It will really help the audience to get a feel for what sort of thing they are about to read. You will quite often find a contrast if colours between the main cover line and main cover star. For example, the main cover star could be a black and white image, and the main cover line would be a bold red. They do this so that the main cover line really stands out.

Barcode and Price:

Every magazine has a barcode and price. This is so that the sales assistant or whoever you are buying this magazine off of can scan/ know the price of this magazine. You will often find that the barcode is on the bottom right hand side of the front cover. This is because it is easier to scan. The barcode is unique to that magazine. The price also shows us the quality of the magazine and the class. For example, if it is an expensive magazine you would expect it to be good quality and for people of a higher class to buy it.

What is a Plug?

A plug is similar to a cover line. They are also selling point of a magazine however, they are made less obvious. This shows us that they aren’t as important as the cover lines. Therefore not as many people pay attention to them. But, if they have made it onto the front cover of a magazine they must still be important.

What are Pugs?

On a magazine cover pugs are the little bots of extra information in their own separate boxes. The pugs give us even more idea about the magazine. The outline of the box/ circle is often in a bright colour/ contrasting colour to the background. This is so that it catches the readers eye as well.

What are Insets?

Insets can be similar to pugs in the fact that they are also in their own separate boxes and give the reader a better feel for the magazine. However, they often include images. These images make the insets interesting to look at. The insets link to the main cover star.

What are Captions?

Captions can be found in the insets. For example, the inset could be an image of an album and the caption could be ‘This is the new album…!’ Captions really help to back up and explain the inset.

Review

From this work I have found out what design features are conventional to magazines. This will help me make my magazine like the rest by including the features above. Hopefully by including all of that it will make the magazine stand out if I use the correct colours. I am excites to use this information going forward and creating and having a go at making my own magazine.