Magazine Conventions - Cover Pages

To make a good magazine cover, it must have:

A main image should be with the main person looking at the camera to seem more inviting. If the magazine should be scary then they might be very straight faced to seem intimidating, however if it is a music magazine, the artist might want to smile to seem more inviting and open to people.

A masthead which stands out and is memorable without any colour clashes to make the writing easier to see and make sure it is easy on the eye as well as bold enough to be seen.

Cover-lines which are interesting to make someone want to read the inside of the magazine. They should be written in sans because block is easier to read than serif from a distance.

A strap-line should be something which brings the audience in by stating the extra parts of the magazine, for example '3 pages of extra pages with exclusive images and witness reports'

A dateline so that people know how old the magazine is and whether the information inside is up to date.

There should also be smaller images to allow people to have a sneak preview to the inside and grab their attention so they want to buy it and read the contents of the magazine.

Lead article, which would normally be about the story which is linked to the people in the image on the front of the magazine.

Every magazine has a barcode on the front (usually).

The price is usually somewhere printed somewhere quite large to make it seem like its a really good deal. For example 'ONLY £1.29'.

Sometimes magazine covers will also have a puff with some 'shocking' or 'revealing' news to make it stand out.

Usually the magazine would have a colour scheme which keeps similar colours throughout.

Throughout the whole magazine, the font that the actual articles are written in would usually be the same font throughout, however the mastheads of stories might be different to add a different affect.