Deconstructing Magazine Covers 3/3

MASTHEAD - The main image is slightly covering the masthead, yet the full name is still visible. The white text on red background is the same as the previous 'Q' magazine, enabling the text on the masthead to stand out. On all three of the magazine covers which I have analysed, the logos/masthead have all been in capital letters, enabling the masthead to stand out and attract the reader's attention.

MAIN IMAGE - The main image links to the sub-heading, which says 'Band of the Year'. Brandon Flowers, the lead singer from The Killers, is sitting on a throne, holding a crown in his hand. This links to the sub-heading as they are the band which have risen triumphant over the others, and hence deserve to wear the 'crown' and earn the title of 'Band of the Year'.

SELL LINES - The sell lines for this magazine are comprised of text only, scattered around the main image. There is also a list of the other artists included in this issue of the magazine, which are not technically sell lines, but still help to advertise the magazine, as if someone does not like The Killers, or the artist(s) displayed on the front of the cover, they may still buy the magazine providing they can see that another artist they are interested in is included in the magazine.

COLOURS/FONTS - The colours are very cleverly used to, once again, highlight this sense of accomplishment for the band on the main cover. The very dark backdrop enables the focus to be directed away from there. The lights focusing on the lead singer and the throne is able to direct the reader's attention towards there instead, showing that the band is the main focal point, and holds the attention over the other artists mentioned.

SUBHEADINGS - The only subheading that may be classified as a subheading is 'Band of the Year', even though this may be classed as part of the headline. This is incredibly useful for readers who like The Killers, and want to find out why they are featured on the main cover. They will look down and see that they are 'Band of the Year' and will purchase the magazine to find out more information about how/why they have been presented with this prestigious title.

Deconstructing Magazine Covers 2/3

MASTHEAD - Much like the previous magazine cover, this masthead has been covered up partially by the main image. This is for the same reason as mentioned previously, the magazine is a particularly famous magazine, and the name is no longer completely 100% necessary, as many readers will see the letters 'NM' and automatically associate it with 'NME'. For this reason, this is an equally effective magazine cover.

MAIN IMAGE - The main image for this particular cover is interesting, as it does not stand out like the previous cover's image did, and is simply a photograph of Lily Allen. She is not doing anything of any particular interest, which may not be enough to entice the reader to buy the magazine, however she does look very serious in her facial expression, which links to the main sell line 'Lily Allen Takes on the World'.

EXTRA IMAGES - There are very few extra images, with the only ones being at the top of the cover. They link with the small sections of text usually adjacent to them, which usually informs the reader of additional stories, involving the featured person in the image. These are used effectively, as if a reader sees a musician they admire or are interested in, they will stop and look at the magazine in greater detail, possibly purchasing it.

SELL LINES - The sell lines for this magazine are in bubbles/boxes (shapes) rather than simply on the page with a coloured background. The shapes are used instead to highlight the stories, and draw attention to the stories featured in these shapes. The main sell line, unlike the previous publication, is a much larger font size, and covers the majority of the left hand side of the page, whereas the three much smaller sell lines are relegated to the right-hand-side. This would be effective when the main sell line is of particular interest.

COLOURS/FONTS - The colours used in this magazine cover are generally either red, yellow or black. These colours are typical of what you'd find in a rock magazine (excluding yellow). The colours match the main image, which features Lily Allen wearing a red shirt, with black hair, linking with the black and red colour scheme. The yellow is there to enlighten the image as a whole, which would otherwise be very dark considering the black/red colour scheme. The font is slightly jagged, relating to the 'who cares?' attitude of Lily Allen, and links to the subheading of 'doing my head in', the jagged text relating to her 'confusion'.

SUBHEADINGS - The only subheading on this cover is the speech from Lily Allen  ("I can't keep on living like this, it's doing my head in"). This is a very clever use of subheading, as it is a piece of speech, presumably from the story, and most certainly from Lily Allen herself, who is the main subject of this magazine story. This will cause the reader to wonder about the precise root of her problems, and purchase the magazine to wonder why she feels this way.

Deconstructing Magazine Covers 1/3

MASTHEAD - The masthead is placed in the top-left of the magazine cover, which is a location typically  used in many publications. The reason behind it is that the top-left hand corner is generally the first thing a reader looks towards on a magazine cover. The masthead has been covered slightly by the main image. This is not a problem as the magazine is very well-known magazine, and unlike less popular publications, does not require the full masthead to be shown for publicity purposes. The masthead being formatted this way will appeal to the audience, as if a large, red square was located in the top-left of every issue, they may find it slightly off-putting and the publishers would not be able to include as much information if they were not to place anything else over the masthead, considering the size of it.

MAIN IMAGE - This magazine portrays a very interesting use of the body language and staging in the main image. The main image shows a band (presumably Kings of Leon, as the main sell line suggests) kicking and ‘breaking through’ a glass pane. This is linked to the main sell line, which states that ‘Kings of Leon Break Through’. The image would appeal to an audience who are interested as to how they or breaking through, or perhaps where they have ‘broken through’ to. The way they are framed in the main image is particularly interesting. It is a ‘head-on’ shot, giving the impression that they are heading straight for the reader. All of the men on the front cover are looking at the camera, giving the impression that whatever their story, they want you to read about it, and are directing the story at you, the reader.

SELL LINES - The three sell lines used (one main sell line and two regular sell lines) are used to provide information to the reader. The text, as mentioned earlier, is all written in block capitals, even the regular sell lines and the quote near the bottom of the page is written in capitals. The benefit of the text being entirely in capitals is the fact that this is far more likely to stand out to readers than if the cover was written entirely in lowercase.

COLOURS/FONTS - As for colours, there is not much variety. The general colour scheme appears to be comprised entirely of black, red and white (with occasional variations). These colours are used because they tend to be associated with rock music (the magazine’s genre). Because of this, I think the magazine’s colours are very effective at conveying the overall theme of the magazine and attracting the reader’s attention. The font for the main sell line of the magazine is fairly ordinary, and easy to read. It features no real difference to any other standard, typical font. The font is easy to read and stands out in block capitals. This links to the magazine’s logo, which is also in a regular font, and does not have any special effects applied to it. Because the main sell line/sell lines are also presented in this simplistic way, the reader gets a sense of similarity and familiarity with the magazine cover.

Here is a link to the planning sheet which was associated with this analysis: Link to Planning Sheet

Magazine Cover Key Features

I found a picture of an existing magazine cover and picked out the key features from the magazine cover.

MASTHEAD - The masthead on the magazine is the large font (usually in the top-left of the page), which displays the magazine name. The masthead in some magazines (such as the one pictured above) is often obscured slightly by the main image, due to the fact that the magazine's name is already rather well-know. In certain magazines where it does not have a higher popularity, the main image will be placed behind the masthead, to ensure the name is then made clear to those who would not have otherwise heard of it.

MAIN IMAGE - The main image is the picture which takes up the majority of the magazine cover. The picture is usually very eye-catching and relates in some way to the genre of the magazine. More often than not, the Main Sell Line relates to the image, and is linked to it in some way.

MAIN SELL LINE - The main sell line is the large text which is evidently visible on the front of the magazine cover. It is normally in bold or standout colours to attract the readers attention, and then written cleverly and ambiguously as to not give the reader too much information about the story, but entice them enough to pick up a copy of the magazine and read the full story after they buy it.

SUBHEADINGS - A subheading is usually a smaller piece of text which is placed underneath the main sell line, to relay more extra information to the consumer. If the reader is interested in the story via the main sell line, they may look for the sub-heading to find even more information. This is just another way to further entice the reader to buy the magazine for themselves.

SELL LINES - The sell lines are the smaller news stories which, much like the main sell line, do not give too much information about the story, but enough to make the reader want to buy a copy of the magazine for themselves to find out more. They could be names of articles (such as 50 best albums of the year etc.) or just general stories.

ESSENTIAL INFO - The essential information is usually the smallest text on the main cover. It relays the information of the issue date and issue price to the consumer. The reason this text is so small is because they do not want the price to be the focal selling point of the magazine, and would want the reader to focus initially on the Sell Lines and Main Image.

BARCODE - The barcode is an essential part of a magazine cover, as it holds all of the information regarding the price. It relays this information to the retailer when the consumer is purchasing the magazine.

AS Media Foundation Portfolio Brief

Preliminary exercise: using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate your grasp of DTP.

Main task: the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.