Magazine Conventions

Examples of College Magazines

This is my first example.

               Conventions of this magazine:

 Masthead - This is the title of the magazine, on this magazine it is 'COLLEGE.'

  Coverlines - These are the featured articles in the magazine, for this example one cover line would be 'TUCKER MAX: He Better Hope They Serve Beer in Hell'

  Barcode - This allows the magazine to be scanned and sold at the checkout, it is usually in the bottom right hand corner.

  Cover Price - This shows the cost of the magazine, it is usually placed under the masthead or next to the barcode.

  Publish Date - This shows the date the magazine was sold in retailers, it is usually found under the masthead.

  Main Photo: This is seen on almost every magazine, it shows what the magazine is about and who the main feature is going to be about. It covers almost all of the magazine front.

  The colour red is used throughout the cover, this is the colour theme. This is vibrant and eye catching, which would make the magazine stand out against the other magazines on the shelf. The Colour red also stands out against the natural background .

College

This magazine cover is completely different to the one above. 

In my personal opinion I think this is the better out of the two examples I have given.

This magazine features more conventions that we would usually expect to see on a front cover of a magazine.

This features a plug, the plug is the small pink shape, it is there to make the magazine seem more attractive. Plugs are usually used to promote free gifts or exclusive offers. In this example the plug is a total different colour scheme to the whole magazines colour scheme. The editor has done this to attract attention and make the plug stand out.

This magazine also features pull out lines, these pull out lines are topics which the edition of the magazine focuses on. These are used to promote the articles within the magazine, they are key to making a magazine 'buyable' because no one will buy a magazine if they aren't interested in the topics covered.

The colour scheme of this magazine is very bold and I think it is very playful or youthful. This shows the audience that the magazine is aimed at, this is also done by the use of the main image: the main image sets the audience, so I think this magazine is aimed at college boys.