What I learnt about magazine covers

Today in media we are learning about the front covers of magazines. The front cover of a magazine is its main selling point of the magazine. The front cover is designed to target particular types of people. Front covers always have a Masthead. The Masthead is the name of the magazine which is often printed at the top. Magazines are recognised by their masthead and they are often styled to the target audience. Most magazines will have a tagline near the masthead which shows what the magazine is about.

Every front cover has a central image. The central image is the first thing your eye is attracted to before you read the masthead or any subtitles. The central image will be related to the magazine theme and attract the audience it is aiming for. For the centre image a cover model is commonly used. This cover model with often be a celebrity or a model connected with the magazines genre.

The anchorage is refers to the image about what it is trying to portray. The anchorage will usually be in big bold writing as it is the main feature of that issue. Secondary images are small pictures on the magazine front cover that briefly tell you about articles inside the magazine. Secondary images are anchored by coverlines, captions, headlines or by articles. There are often many coverlines on the front cover which tell readers about the contents of the magazine such as specific articles.

The mode of address is the way that the magazine communicates with the reader. This can be done through directing the text at the user using words like 'you'. The mode of address can also be directed at the user by making the cover model point at the camera.

The puff on a magazine cover is a device to attract attention to the magazine. They will advertise certain elements in the magazine such as a competition or freebie inside. Puffs are often shaped and placed on a coloured background so that they stand out.

Pugs are a part of the magazines front cover that will display a particular promotion for that specific edition of the magazine, or it may just show the price. The barcode, the price and the edition are simple factors of the front cover but are strategically placed because they must not cover any of the covers principle features.

The use of colour on a magazine front cover is important because you want the magazine to attract someone's eye. Some magazines alter their colour schemes on items such as the masthead or coverlines every edition, whereas some just coordinate colours to go with the central image.

The fonts used on a magazine cover are chosen specifically for the text they are displaying. There are usually many different fonts used on one cover because magazine designers often use different fonts for different sections of text.