This document discusses conventions and codes used in music magazine covers. It identifies several key elements of magazine covers including the masthead, tagline, central image, cover model, anchorage, secondary images, cover lines, mode of address, puffs, pugs, barcode, price, edition, and color scheme. It then analyzes examples of music magazine covers, noting elements like use of a central image that overlaps the title, color schemes, and stylistic choices for the central image. Finally, it evaluates a magazine cover analyzed in class, noting both effective elements like color representation of the music, and ineffective elements like a barcode covering the image.
2. Codes and Conventions
• A convention is something that is typical of a
specific type of media.
• The codes are words or letters giving meaningwhat we get when we read/look at the
magazine.
3. Conventions of a Magazine
• Masthead- think about colour, font, style and the
name of the magazine.
• Tagline- near the masthead, what the magazine is
about, who it is aimed at.
• Centeral Image- most important part, links to the
feature article, think about the denotation
connotation.
• The Cover Model- Celebrity, linked to the
theme, think about the mise-en-scene, location
and clothing.
4. • Anchorage- Caption that comes with the
image, links the picture to the article.
• Secondary Images- smaller images on the
front cover, relates to other stories with
magazine.
• Cover lines- around magazine image, front
cover, about 6-7, think about
language/presentation features.
• Mode of Address- the way the magazine
communicates with readers, uses personal
pronouns in text and pointing in images.
5. • Puff- ‘puff of air’, bubbles, stars, often offers
free things, special features.
• Pug- ‘ear of magazine’, either at the top left or
top right corner.
• Barcode, Price, Edition- small, doesn’t cover
image.
• Colour- follows a scheme , can depend on
edition, links to the image.
6. Music Magazine
This is an example of a music
magazine cover that I really like.
It has one main image that
covers part of the title, and
follows a colour scheme of pink
and white.
This is a music magazine cover
that I don’t like as much. I don’t
like how the person used as the
centeral image is dressed, and I
don’t like the bright, block
colour background.
I like this example of a front
cover because of how simple
yet effective the image is, and
the fact that the blue on her
eyes matches with the blue
used around the edge.
7. The masthead
and logo of the
magazine- stands
out, white
against black.
Centeral imagefeatured
artist, slightly
covers title/logo.
Tag Line- Disocver
Great Music
‘Puff’Special
feature/messag
e about
magazine
Barcode- small
and hidden in
the corner of the
magazine so that
the readers don’t
really see it.
Name of the
featured
artist, stands
outwhite, bold, ca
ptitals.
Cover linesother
articles/stories
featured in the
magazines
Anchorage- caption
that goes with the
centeral image
8. Magazine Analysis In Class
This is the magazine that I looked at
and analysed in class.
I didn’t think that this was a very
good example of a music magazine
front cover for multiple different
reasons:
• The barcode covers part of the
image, and stands out a lot
because its and the image
behind it is black.
• The writing/anchorage that
accompanies the image is really
hard to read because it is in a
thin, white font and on a black
background.
• The main/of the main people
within the centeral image is
wearing sunglasses which could
make the readers/audience feel
disconnected.
There were also things
that were good about
this magazine front
cover:
• The people in the
centeral image are
wearing black,
which could
represent how their
music is/what it’s
like.
• The masthead is
black and has a
smashed/cracked
effect which conveys
what kind of
magazine it is and
what kind of music
it is about.
