Front Cover Codes and Conventions

Magazines need to follow various codes and conventions in order for them to sell successfully, for example the colours will need to stand out in order to grasp the target and non-target audience's attention. There is no point in having an IT magazine with pictures of football boots or bikes on the front cover and so the relevance of the magazine is important. These are the things that the designer will need to consider when creating the front cover of his or her magazine. The magazines need to stick to their objective, be it for IT or for sport, and I believe that if the magazines stick to their relevant topics then they will be successful in selling.

I will look at 5 different magazines, 3 of which being music magazines. I will analyse the three seperately and then together to see what they keep the same, and what they change depending on their genre or topic. I expect all magazines to have the same catching points, for example colour, content and imagery used.

The first magazine I have chosen to look at is NME magazine. This magazine is intended to be aimed at people who like indie and alternative music, however it still covers most genres of music, including hard rock and punk.

I find this magazine cover exploits lots of different target audiences. In music there are lots of different genres to choose from, and just by looking at the front cover and reading the sub-stories we can already see that this magazine advertises indie, new rave, rock and alternative music which, with this vast array of genres, will attract many a target audience.

Their mast head stands out against the rest of the page, with nothing covering or hiding it. The font, colour and size of the logo is the same as it is every week, and it is placed in the same place also. This is so a consistent purchaser of the magazine knows what to look for and where to find it.

• The main image of this magazine is a colourful and intriguing spectacle. The different colours used are an asset to the magazine and when a reader is scanning through magazines on the shelf, their eyes will be drawn toward this image of red, blue and yellow paints. The use of vivid colours, seemingly splattered across the page with not too much care, will entice the user to look into it further as these colours are not easily avoidable. Also there is eye-contact from every member of the band and therefore this increases audience communication.



• The main cover line has been designed very cleverly, as without the white, jagged backing the text would be near unreadable. With the backing though, the text stands out almost as much as the colours used in the photo and so they compliment each other well. The subtext to the main cover line is not a rhetorical question as such, but more of a "let's see shall we" type of sentence. This would encourage the reader to purchase this magazine to really see 'what new rave did next'. This is a new genre, and with the wide range of audiences that NME is targeting, they are bound to attract some people with this statement.



• At the bottom of the cover, there is a mini-feed of what else is included in this particular edition of the magazine. It does not go into much detail, but fans of the bands named would be interested in purchasing to find out whether it is something worth catching up on. These three bands are quite different in genres and therefore it shows how NME are branching out their target audience to a wider niche and thus they include various genres on their front cover.



• Above the masthead is another story included, with possibly one of the most well known bands in the world at the moment. This well known band, Oasis, have a wide fan range and people who would not usually buy this magazine may look twice to see how their comeback gigs went. This feature would include various reviews, and maybe even a reader's poll to show the public opinion as sometimes reviews are mistaken.



• To the right of this cover story, there is non-music related news, suggesting that the magazine is trying to reach out to newer readers who would not usually purchase the magazine. This news article is slightly controversial and, as I stated earlier, they are trying to reach out to a wider audience by including world news which may interest people who would not usually read the magazine.
  

I find this a good magazine cover. My only real concern is that the band (Late Of The Pier) are new on the scene of music and therefore people may look upon this magazine cover with caution, however I believe that NME has a wide enough fan base who will be committed to NME and therefore trust their decisions. Saying that, I feel that the vibrant colours used and the imagery bring a different dimension to the usual front covers, as these colours are in sync with the 'new rave' style of music.

The next magazine front cover I am going to have a look at is another music magazine, this time Kerrang, a magazine for the public who enjoy listening to hard rock and heavy metal type music.

This front cover already lives up to my expectations of hard rock or heavy metal. This particular genre of music is not particularly colourful and therefore black and dark colours are the standard colours that people would expect from a magazine of this kind.
These dark colours used will attract their intended target audience, as these are the colours that the public most associate this niche as being.

The masthead is spread across the top of the front cover as it is week in week out. It is not particularly distinguishable between this and the background, however fans of this magazine will recognise it as being the magazine that they are looking for.

• There is a very distinct main image, that of the famous band (in the world of rock) Machine Head. They are posing with stern looks, however the front man of the band has his hands up in the form of fists, setting him apart from his other band members. He is also the only member of the band whose head is in front of the mast head, again showing his authority. This gives the magazine a 'bad boy' look and therefore lives up to it's stereotype. Again, there is eye-contact with the audience, increasing communication.



• Equally as large as the mast head is the main cover line, bold and jumping out from the page with it's vivid colour change. The text is the name of a band which the target audience will know. The text is in capital letters, bold and has a difference in colour, therefore it will catch the audience's eye, even if it is not what they were looking for. The text above reads "Feuds, Friendship and the Future". There is alliteration in this cover line, and so this will appeal to the audience as it is easy to read and quite catchy. Also these three things are all fairly interesting, as there are normally feuds in bands which are resolved, people will want to know how well the band gets on and also whether or not they are planning to release another album or tour again. These three points are beneficial to the magazine as it related to three important debates.
  
  
• Across the top of the front cover are four other pointers of what to expect inside the magazine. Four more well known bands (to this genre) and this will strike a chord with the target audience as chances are they are a fan of this band. As with the NME front cover, it does not go into much detail, however it is enough to make the reader buy the magazine because of the recognition of the band. Also, across the bottom are are even more mini-feeds, with even more recognised bands.



• Perhaps the main sub-feature is that of the 'Posters' box, where it is an addition to the magazine. This gives the reader an incentive to purchase this magazine, as they are getting something for their money, this in the form of posters of well known bands. The fact that the main focus of the posters is Kurt Cobain shows how Kerrang magazine want to bring people who were in 'love' with Cobain and his band Nirvana into their world of musical knowledge. This one person (Cobain) will bring a sense of nostalgia into the magazine as fans who were deeply upset by his death will want some more momentos.



• Towards the bottom right of the page is another mini-feed relating to two lesser-known bands, these being Gallows and Bring Me The Horizon (shortened to BMTH, which fans of other genres would not know). Underneath the names and images is the text 'Destroy the USA!', telling the audience that they have recently toured the USA and have been a success in causing havoc. People will want to know how their gigs went and therefore may be compelled to purchase the magazine.
  

I like this magazine front cover, but I feel that in relation to NME it is not as vibrant or enticing, however it is pretty much what I would expect from a magazine promoting this genre of music, this being not too much colour. If I were to choose between NME and Kerrang, I would choose NME simply because it is more enticing and uses more vivid colours.

The next magazine cover I am going to analyse is Brew, a magazine surrounding the 'brew your own beer' phenomenon across America. Without looking at the magazine itself, one would assume that it would have something to do with beer or other alcoholic beverages.

This magazine cover is, again, to a select audience. This would seem that their niche is to people who want to brew their own beer, although I think that this magazine could be there on the shelf for any unsuspecting customer looking for a magazine to buy. This magazine can be bought by anyone, and I feel that this magazine is not just for their original niche audience.

• The mast head is spread out across the whole page, and takes up roughly a quarter of the cover. Each individual letter is different in font and size. I have looked at other 'Brew' magazines and I found that the masthead is the same image and in the same place throughout. Above the masthead is text explaining what 'Brew' magazine is all about, as this magazine's main purpose is not as ovcious as other magazines.





• The main picture is a cleverly edited image of the Statue of Liberty, who is now holding a glass full of what is implied to be 'Belgian Beer American style'. This makes me think that this magazine is slightly biased towards Americans, as it has an image of the Statue of Liberty, and it has said that they have made Belgian Beer into an American version. Saying this, I can see this magazine being distributed in the USA and therefore they need to create a bond with the audience, albeit slightly biased. The beer is the main focus of this page, which gives the audience a better idea of what this magazine is about.



• The colours of the front page are not particularly inspired. There is the blue sky with clouds, and the green of the Statue, but apart from that it is a fairly ordinary black font, with the red main cover line to make it stand out. The green is iconic as the public will associate this green with the Statue of Liberty and therefore it is still recognisable as the Statue of Liberty, even with the torch being swapped with a glass of beer.



• The sub-stories make absolutely no sense to me as I have never tried to brew my own beer, nor have I ever heard of a 'mash tun' and so this magazine will only really be read by people who know what they are doing, contrary to what I said above. It seems to me that this magazine is no more than a novelty item, however upon further research I have found out that this is a long-running magazine with plenty of other issues.



• The mast head 'Brew' is not enough to tell the audience what it is, and so the editor has decided to place a description of the magazine within the mast head. The description, "The how-to homebrew beer magazine" gives the audience a better idea of what to expect, even though the word 'Brew' brings the word beer to mind.



• Across the top of the page is a black banner, which is also advertising the 'award winning home labels for homebrew'. People normally get quite excited about award winning things, an so this is a good line to include as people may get the magazine to see why the home labels were, indeed, award winning.
  

This magazine is not particularly eye-catching. The only good thing about it advertising-wise is the humour of the image used. This magazine uses the colours and headlines well, but not as well as other magazines which have greater success, mainly because of their poor target audience. I feel that this magazine has a very limited target audience and therefore it cannot really open up and embrace other members of the public and so, for me, I believe that this magazine has been poorly thought out. Having said this, I am not aware of other magazines which focus on brewing your own beer and therefore perhaps it is a welcome topic.

My next magazine that I am going to analyse is that of Q magazine, with editions dating back to 1986. This shows how this magazine has been around for a long time and therefore a lot of people will have heard of it.

This magazine has a strict target audience at mainly old indie bands, such as U2 and Stone Roses, however they also include some articles on newer, more controversial bands, such as Lily Allen. This broadens their target audience and, with their older fan base already intact, with the addition of these newer bands they are recruiting more people to purchase their magazine and therefore gain more fans.

The mast head is the largest icon on the whole page, and thus it is very obvious and apparent for the reader. This same mast head has been kept the same since 1986 when the magazine was first published. This consistency will make sure that the audience knows exactly where to look for when they are looking for this unique logo. Another point about this masthead is that it is red, and thus stands out from the dark front cover.

• The use of animals on this front cover is different to most other magazines, especially those relating to music. The use of black tigers can be used to show Lily Allen's darker side, which has been reported in the press lately. With the use of these creatures it differs this magazine from that of NME or Kerrang above.



• The main feature of this magazine is, obviously, Lily Allen, who is standing slap band in the middle of the page, thus drawing attention to herself. The fact that she is topless will entice some male audiences to purchase this magazine, and this coupled with the black trousers give her a playful yet sinister look, therefore opening up her personality into more than one thing.



• The cover line is well positioned, spreading across the whole page; again bringing in the audience's attention. Also, the subtext to this cover line is "...and her wicked, wicked ways". The repetition of the word 'wicked' implies that she is a controversial artist, and also these words are bigger and brighter (red) than the rest of the cover line, thus grabbing the attention.



• Towards the top right hand side, there is a 'sneak peek' of what is inside the magazine. As I explained earlier, Q magazine mainly targets the olfer indie generation, and therefore their main bands in the top right are Oasis, Stone Roses and U2, all indie stalwarts. Just the mention of these bands will have indie lovers grabbing the magazine, however Q decide to delve deeper into this sneak peek by giving a subtext to these bands, all different and all worthy of their own headling (Exclusive - Stone Roses, Interview - Oasis, Masterpiece, U2). With these subtexts it gives the reader an even better reason to buy this magazine. With the more well known bands at the top of the page (bigger, brighter and more prominent), we see across the top of the page another little sneak peek, however this time with lesser known bands who have perhaps come into the limelight over the last few months, for example Elbow and Pete Docherty. This difference in popularity gives them a bottom of the page slot, however people may still recognise these names as they are slightly newer (in recognition) and therefore attracting a younger audience.



• Slightly away from the music scene is the 'stamp' towards the middle right of the page. This feature is 'the 25 greatest rock movies'. As I see this statement, I am unsure as to what a 'rock movie' is, and therefore this may entice the audience to purchase the magazine to see exactly what a rock movie is. I can't even hazard a guess as to what they are, and therefore a curiosity runs over the audience, with an impulse buy to see what rock movies are. Even if you know what a rock movie is, then this would also be a good selling point as everyone is open to their opinions and the audience may want to see what Q's opinion of the top 25 rock movies are.

This magazine cover is different to how I would expect a magazine from Q to be. Firstly, I wouldn't expect them to take such a dull and dark colour scheme, however I feel that it is justified when they chose Lily Allen to be the front page attraction. The colour scheme works with her jet black hair, and therefore I can understand why they have chosen these colours. The more important words have been highlighted (bigger and different colours) and therefore this is a welcome change to the dull colours which are the main focus of the front cover. I feel that this magazine reaches out to Q's audiences well, with the uses of well known bands and also of the newer bands. With the combination of new and old, I feel that this magazine has fulfilled it's objective of keeping in touch with it's already strong fanbase, yet reaching out to newer fans.

My next and final analysis will be that of a car magazine, relevantly called 'Car'. As with 'Brew' magazine, the audience will know what to expect from the magazine simply from the title and therefore they (the magazine) have already roped in advertising with the name.

This magazine focuses mainly on the subject of cars. Already, given the name of the magazine and what is on the front cover, it is obvious who the magazine is reaching out to, these being car enthusiasts. I cannot see this magazine looking for a wider audience, and so I believe that they are looking to keep their already loyal customers. On their website, they stated that they have listened to customer queries and have redesigned the magazine into this, therefore keeping in touch with their audience.

The mast head is positioned in the top left hand corner, as it has been throughout all issues of 'Car' magazine. This is a large mast head and is therefore very prominent in the front cover. The audience will immediately recognise this as the magazine they are looking for.

• The main image of the magazine is that of cars, as one would expect when purchasing a magazine about cars. The car in the foreground is a vibrant green, which would attract the audience to look at the magazine. If this car were white, then it would not have the same effect as white is a colour you see in most magazines, thus the green will attract the eye. Also this car has been positioned closer to the camera and therefore seems bigger than the other cars, giving it the feeling of importance on the track. There are a vast number of cars on the front of this page, and therefore the sheer number of cars will get a car enthusiast's head to turn. Also, the picture is taken on a race track, implying that there will be some sort of race; either this or the fact that a race track is most often associated with cars and therefore the mise-en-scene of the image is correct.

• The cover line backs up the image idea (race) when it has "New Focus RS vs 12 hot hatch icons". The 'vs' gives the impression that it is a competition, and the race track setting will further imply this theory. They also include a list of the '12 hot hatch icons', as the user may well have one of these cars and therefore would be curious as to how their car fared against the new Focus RS. The white font of the cover line somehow stands out from the page, mainly because it is on a darker background, and thus the cover line will be easily seen as it is a distinct colour change from one colour to another. It is also in bold and will therefore be even more appealing to the audience.

• Towards the bottom of the page we see, as we have done with all the other magazines, an insight into what is also included in the magazine. These insights are all brief, and all relatively bland, however the statement to the right which says "Smart of iQ - who's the thickie?" makes it slightly more interesting. This is because it is a rhetorical question and will ask the reader who they think, or even tell them what to think when they read it. If you are browsing through a rack of magazines and you see a rhetorical question, it gives a sense of communication between the user and the magazine, as if it were reaching out. Also, the browser may want to find out who is the thickie and therefore purchase the magazine.

• In the top right hand corner of the page is another sneak peek of what else is in the magazine, however this sneak peek is much bigger than the others below it. It is fighting for space with the mast head, and thus it's importance is clearly apparent. Seen as though I do not know that much about cars, I can tell from this sneak peek that the XFR beating the M5 is a big deal, as this headline is much bigger, bolder and more obvious than the others on the front page (excluding the cover line).

• The magazine seems to be promoting a relaunch, and therefore includes a 'new look' sticker on the front. This "New Look!" is in black, bold writing and therefore stands out for the audience to see. As I said earlier, the website have taken on board everything that their customers have been saying and this is good for the customer appeal. They have now advertised the fact that the magazine has changed and thus strengthened the bond they already had with their customers. Also on this sticker is a teaser as to what they have changed about the magazine, in this case 'more drives, scoops and GBU is back!'. I don't know what GBU is and therefore this has lost my interest, however I am assuming that regular buyers of 'Car' magazine will know and immediately recognise what GBU is and so, again, they are strengthening the already strong ties with their loyal fans.
  

This magazine has many strong points in it's design, however I feel that it depends too much on it's original fanbase. As a third party reader, I do not quite understand some of the terminology used and therefore I feel slightly excluded from their intended target audience. I believe that, even whilst keeping their fanbase, this magazine should be able to reach out to newer members of the public and therefore increase their publicity. This magazine cover is something that I would probably expect from a car magazine, to include many cars on the cover and also to include the lingo that I wouldn't understand and so this magazine lives up to my expectations.



Music Magazines
From the three music magazine that I have looked at, I feel that they all use the same basic techniques, these being an obvious mast head, eye contact from the bands, and sneak peeks into what is coming from the magazine. Even though I chose three magazines with three different genres, their appeal to their audience is the same, as they use what they know in advertising to reach out to their targets, whether these be colours, bands or terminology / phrases used. I did not expect the three magazines to have anything different other than their target audience, and I am pleased to see that this was the case.

From these 5 magazine front covers that I have looked at, they all use mainly the same techniques. They all include an insight into what else is coming in the magazine, and also I find the colour red to be an apparent colour in all (except Brew). I think this is because red has many representations in the media, be it passion, love or ruthlessness (depending on the genre of magazine). All 5 magazines have realised their target audience, however I feel that only Q magazine has done anything about branching out and reaching new audience, although all magazines may have this in the back of their minds when creating the front cover.