Conventions of the Magazine Front Cover

After looking into three different magazines, Little White Lies, Sight and Sound and Empire I will sum up the general conventions that can be found on most magazine front covers

• Masthead - Displays the name of the magazine in a large font at the top of the page, will be in a distinct colour, matching the colour scheme for that magazine

• Colour Scheme - Will be the same or similar on every edition, to make the magazine memorable and so people will immediately know from a distance which it is e.g. red/ black for Emipre, white/ black for Little White Lies and yellow/red for Sight and Sound 

• Background Image - In general the background of the magazine will be a single image, taking up the whole of the page, this image will display one of the leading actors, stars, from the film that the feature article in the paper will be about 

• Film Title - This is usually right in the centre of the page in text as large if not larger than the magazine title, conveying what the feature article will be about, however this is not seen in all magazines as Little White Lies will sometimes place the title at the bottom or not contain it at all

• Skyline - Contains a catchy slogan to get the readers attention, normally about the magazine itself or a film that is featured in the magazine 

• Other Articles - This is often in different places depending on the magazine but usually somewhere across the front cover you will see a list of the other key articles it contains 

EB