Conventions of a Magazine Cover

Masthead

The masthead is the name or logo of the magazine, usually presented in the largest and clearest font on the magazine cover. This represents the magazine. From the examples above it seems that the masthead most commonly is presented as a square or title in the upper left hand corner of the cover, or across the top of the cover, almost like a banner.

Headlines

The headlines are in the second largest font on the magazine cover, after the masthead. They give the reader some information about what is going to be in this issue of the magazine. On the covers of music magazines, the headlines are usually the name of the artist or group being featured in the issue.

Coverlines

The coverlines are in the third largest font on the magazine cover, after the headlines. They give the reader further information about the other articles in the magazine, other than the main one, and often include pull quotes.

Pull Quotes

Pull quotes are used on magazine covers to capture the attention of those who are scanning over them. If the quote is from a target audience member's idol, favourite singer or artist, or involves a certain interest of theirs, they are more likely to be prompted by the quote to read the rest of the article within the magazine.

Font

The different fonts are Serif and Sans-Serif. Serif is the more traditional and conservative style of font, whereas the Sans-Serif font ('sans' meaning 'without' in French) has neither hooks nor brackets on its letters, so it is seen as being bold, modern and youthful.

Lure

The lure is something that stands out to capture the attention of the target audience on the magazine's front cover. It is usually a pull quote.

House Style

The house style is usually the colour scheme and layout of a magazine - how the magazine is presented and how the target audience recognises it. For instance, from the examples above we can see that Q Magazine's house style involves the masthead being a red square in the left hand upper corner of the cover with a Q on it in a Serif font in white to stand out against its background.

Visual Syntax

Visual syntax is the order in which the reader looks at each aspect of the magazine cover. For example, in the fifth magazine cover above the reader is first drawn to the masthead, then the subject's eyes, then the headlines and then the coverlines.

Gutter

The gutter is the space between the columns of text on the front cover. On some of the examples above the gutter is quite large, whereas on others it is virtually non-existent.

Straplines

The straplines are headlines in a smaller font that appear below the main headline. From the examples of magazine covers above we can see that many of the straplines are pull quotes concerning the band or artist that is part of the main article of the magazine.