Other conventions of magazine front covers – based on the October 2008 ‘EMPIRE’ magazine

(pictured)

1) The price is indicated on the upper left hand corner of the page, in very small font. The purpose of the small font is so that the reader will be enticed by the content of the magazine before finding out the price which will make them more likely to buy it instead of being put off straight away by the price. Although the price is quite high, at £3.99, this suggests the quality is high.

Price

2) The date is also present above the price, ‘October 2008.’ The fact that a specific date of publication is not mentioned indicates that it is a monthly magazine, which may explain why the price is slightly high.

Date

3) The website for the magazine is also placed in small font, usually under the masthead title, although not in this particular issue, which is an added bonus for audiences who want to find out more about the magazine and explore its content further. This is a way to keep the magazine up to date and attract new audiences by being more diverse, especially with the rise of technology these days.

An example of ‘Empire’ magazine presenting their website under the masthead

4) A bar code is also always present which denotes professionalism. However, it is usually placed in the bottom right hand corner of the magazine to avoid drawing attention from other features of the front cover.

5) A tagline to entice the audience into buying the magazine, this has the purpose to raise enigmas too

6) A masthead which, along with the key image, stands out most on the page. Therefore it should be catchy and is usually in bold, large font with outstanding colours.

7) Text that raises enigmas so that the audience will want to buy it and read on, for example ‘friendships shatter, evil unites,’ which will urge any Harry Potter fans to want to find out what this is about.

8) The key image needs to be very strong in order to entice the audience. For example, Daniel Radcliffe is looking straight into the camera which immediately makes the audience feel engaged.