Technical terms for magazine cover components

1. Magazine Covers

2. Magazine Option
cover page - terminology
• Buzz Word
• Puff
• Coverline
• Masthead
• Barcode
• Anchorage Text
• Superimposition
• Slogan/strap line
• Unique Selling Point
• Main image
• Pug
• Sky line/top line
• Strip
• House style
e.g. superimposition is
the placement of an image
or video on top of an
already-existing image or
video, usually to add to the
overall image effect, but
also sometimes to conceal
something.
Justify your decisions

3. Research: Magazine option
• Generic variation, particularly in house style, is considerable across
magazines.
• As with newspapers, there are certain consistent elements which recur.
• A strong analysis can take place when you understand what these
features are before you begin to account for their specific meanings.

4. Research: Magazine option
Your task:
• Exploring the technical codes and features used within a magazine.
• Use a range of magazine front covers and the list of the technical terms for the features included on
magazine covers.
• Match the terms to the section of the cover it relates to, not all magazines will have all of these
elements.
• Discuss the terms, compare covers, justify your decisions.

5. Your task
research a genre of magazines such as:
• Home
• Music
• Car
• Teen
• Gossip
• Gaming
• Fitness
• Fashion
• Travel
• etc.
1. Who is this magazine’s primary audience?
if they have a magazine website check it out.
2. What techniques have been used to appeal to the target audience?
3. In what way is the design of each page the same/similar? This is called
‘house style’ and will need to be replicated in magazine productions
4. How have images been used to ensure they appeal to the target audience?
5. What are the connotations of the images used?
6. What different types of articles are included in the magazines?
7. How does the layout of the different entries vary? (Draw up pages that
include boxes located where the text falls is a useful activity)
8. Where and how often online and social media links are situated.
You must clearly show which genre you researched and what your findings were.

6. Planning: Magazine option
• You know the pages you must create, draw blank versions labelled with your intentions.
• You should include:
• recce reports for locations for photo shoots
• contact prints of original images
• risk assessments
• It is important to use correct and specific terminology, for example:
• close up shot of a teenage girl wearing sunglasses
• medium shot of someone on a stage playing guitar
• other appropriate mise en scene in shot such as a drum kit, keyboards and mixed lighting etc.
• Before you create your mock-up, you should decide on:
• an appropriate house style for your chosen genre of magazine
• the content of any articles
• a range of images

7. Planning: Magazine option
• Create a mood board that explores the options for:
• the house style
• use of colours
• formatting of page numbers
• fonts
• images
• This can be a useful stepping stone to making some of your decisions.
• When this planning stage is complete, you can start to construct your productions.

8. Review & refine: Magazine option
• You can browse the magazine productions:
• for critical reflection
• peer assessment
• Prior to the final edits on the coursework productions.
• Use a feedback pro-forma like the one on the next slide to ensure that your feedback
is suitably critical whilst also being constructive.

9. Review & refine: Magazine option
Observations :
Likes/Dislikes
Recommendations
What symbolic codes can be identified as supporting the genre of the
production?
Does the end product have a clear house style? (magazines)
What might stop this product being viewed as a professional product ready
for publication/distribution?
What aspect of this production do you feel works particularly well?
If you were to re-edit this product yourself what would your top three
priorities be?
1)
2)
3)
1)
2)
3)
Other recommendations for re-editing: (camera angles, transitions,
spellings, grammar, layout, links to producers/social media/other media
forms, use of colours/lighting)

10. Magazine Option
match the terms to the section of the cover they relate to
• Buzz Word
• Puff
• Cover line
• Masthead
• Barcode
• Anchorage Text
• Superimposition
• Slogan/strap line
• Unique Selling Point
• Main image
• Pug
• Sky line/top line
• Strip
• House style

11. Terminology 1 of 5
• Masthead/Flag: The title used by known typography to
make the readers familiar with what magazine they are
reading, usually fixed and consistent.
The name of the magazine may be associated with a
strapline.
• Slogan/Strapline: A short, striking or memorable
phrase. strapline = UK, tagline = US.
Sometimes accompanies the masthead – promotional
slogan. Straplines sometimes make claims about the
merits of the magazine or give information about its
contents.
• Puff (Flashes/Slashes): An incentive which is placed on
the magazine cover to make something stand out.
Usually by putting text into a shape. Often a sticker,
used for promoting something inside the magazine.
A feature which may be a promotion or other item that
adds perceived value to the purchase.
Cover lines
Examples by Students

12. Terminology 2 of 5
• Main/Primary Image: Typically showing a person(s) or object
associated with the main feature/article. Usually a single image
bleeds to all 4 corners of the page although some magazines
have a border around the cover. Often a full face or a body
shot. With well established magazines it’s popular to often a
portion of the main image overlap the masthead.
• The image(s) used on the cover may consist of one large
primary image or a number of images with a sense of hierarchy
in size and positioning, or one primary image with a number of
secondary images.
• The area in the middle and to the left of the cover, where the
eye tends to rest, is known as the sweet spot, but commonly
the whole of the left side third is considered prime space when
attracting the consumer’s attention.
• The left side third area of a magazine cover is where key
content is usually positioned.
Examples by Students
Anchorage text/Main coverline:
Text relating to the main image

13. Terminology 3 of 5
• Coverline/sell line: Usually on the right or left hand side, arranged
around the cover image. They usually have a Kicker in a large font and
an explanatory line in a smaller font.
• Coverline colours are often taken from the cover image.
• Feature and secondary articles promoted. The most appealing content
will be picked out for coverlines, to entice the audience by letting them
see the scope of articles included – particularly the lead article.
• They often use a personal mode of address to help signify the genre.
• The middle to left area, where the eye tends to rest, is often used to
engage the audience by positioning either a prominent coverline such
as a feature article, an important element of an image, or a puff.
• The lead article is usually clear and selected for promotion over others.
Buzz word
Top Strip / Skyline
Examples by Students
Mode of Address simply means how the text speaks to the audience, and involves them.
They use slang, colloquial vocabulary and the personal pronoun to engage their target
audience. A personal pronoun is a short word we use as a simple substitute for the
proper name of a person. ... I, you, he, she, it, we they, me, him, her, us, and them.

14. Digital manipulation
• Feature articles are sometimes
referred to as entry points in the
magazine – articles which, as you
flip through the magazine, are
most likely to draw your eye.
• Unlike the capturing of real events
we see in newspapers, these are
often highly stylised studio shoots.
• Digital manipulation of these
images is common, with lots of
retouching and post-production
work to get exactly the right look
for the magazine brand and article.
• In interviews, it’s common to see
the subject gazing into the lens,
creating a direct mode of address.

15. Terminology 4 of 5
• Strip: These are the strips on the magazine that give further information to
what may be included.
• They were originally found at the bottom of the page, although variations
in house style and edition may see them moved to the top (sometimes
referred to as the skyline or running header) or even as a side bar in
unusual cases.
• Menu strips may have different functions, but their most common use is to
promote familiarity by displaying regular content.
Examples by Students
Buzz word
Top Strip / Skyline

16. Terminology 5 of 5
• Pug: ‘The ears of the magazine’, can either
be at the top left or/and right-hand
corners of the front cover. The prices of
the paper, the logo or issue number is
placed there to catch the reader’s eye.
• House Style: ‘trademarks’ of the magazine
e.g colour scheme, layout, typography.
• Buzzword: a word or phrase, that
becomes very popular for a period of
time. ... a fashionable piece of jargon: a
chic, fashionable, voguish, trendy word.
There are LOTS of word lists available
• Typography: font, serif fonts with tails,
sans serif fonts without tails
• Barcode/Issue number/Dateline & Price
Top and Bottom
Examples by Students  Puff
usually
in main
article
or Anchorage text

17. Magazine Option
house styles (1 of 2)

18. Magazine Option
house styles (2 of 2)

19. Straplines
Magazine Strap Line
Q “The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine”
Eldr “Celebrate Aging!”
Get Born “The Uncensored Voice of Motherhood”
Live Design “Envision. Build. Go. Live for Broadcast.”
Coastal Living "The Magazine for People Who Love the Coast"
Wondertime "Celebrate Your Child’s Love of Learning"
Colorlines "The National Newsmagazine on Race and Politics"
Everywhere "Travel is All Around You"
Fretboard Journal "Not just another guitar magazine."
The Word "Intelligent Life on Planet Rock."
The Source "The Bible of Hip Hop"
Budget Travel "Vacations for Real People"
Soundings "Real Boats, Real Boaters"
Radar "Pop Politics Scandal Style"

20. Useful articles
• https://www.canva.com/learn/graphic-design-terms/
• https://learn.canva.com/learn/5-principles-effective-visual-hierarchy/

21. What am I? Fruit machine classtools.net

22. Genre development – film magazines (history)
• HISTORY: Film magazines have a long history in the UK. The first recorded example
was only 16 pages long.
• WHEN: Published in 1911, The Pictures proved very popular with fans of cinema – for
written material about their favourite stars and films.
• CONTENTS: They were the first celebrity magazines, often filled with gossip,
Hollywood fashion and forthcoming releases.
• FREQUENCY: Another famous historical title was Picturegoer, which was published
first monthly and then weekly from 1921 for almost 40 years.
• OTHERS: Since then, a number of magazines, such as Film Review for mainstream
audiences and Sight and Sound for people with a specialist interest in film.
• TARGET AUDIENCE: Although film magazines were initially popular with both men
and women, TV impacted on sales of film magazines, with film entertainment no
longer at the heart of women’s lives in particular.
• MODERN VERSIONS: The brand leaders today, Empire and Total Film, launched in
1989 and 1997 respectively with a male target audience in mind. Both maintain good
circulation figures despite online competition, with glossy exclusives on upcoming
releases, big director and star interviews, and privileged access to sets.
Your task: Research the history of a magazine genre of your choice.
Write a post about its origins, any set-backs, successes, modern versions

23. Codes & conventions – true crime magazines
• GENRE: Crime magazines are a niche genre.
• TARGET AUDIENCE: Its difficult to define the readership, but readers are
obviously interested in crime, and particularly a fascination with violent
crimes and murders, the police and investigation procedures. Its not so
strange when you consider that TV crime drama series are very popular.
• APPEAL: This might seem macabre, but these magazines fulfil the same
audience pleasures as might be experienced by a horror film viewer – they
are reminded by their experience of the text how comparatively safe and
happy their own life is. It’s highly unlikely that someone whose real world
in any way came into collision with any of the kind of experiences recorded
in these stories would want to read them.
• COVERLINES: Most of the crimes selected in the coverlines are extreme
examples, not common crimes such as the regular murders that happen
every week in the UK as a result of domestic violence.
• OFFER: They offer a safe way of closing down fears about violence in
society – they are all about how perpetrators of crimes, no matter how
cunning, were ultimately caught, exposed and punished.
1 of 3

24. Codes & conventions – true crime magazines
• COMPERITORS: There are 5 main titles on the market in the UK:
• True Crime
• Real Crime
• True Detective
• Master Detective
• Murder Most Foul.
• Some also produce special editions.
• COMMON FEATURES: From looking at the images, its clear that each
individual title shares some features in common with others.
• Historical crime cases from around the world form most of the coverline
content.
• All of the editions have a feature crime focus, which in 4 of the 5 cases is
positioned on the left-hand side around the sweet spot.
• Other secondary images are used in conjunction with coverlines to
emphasise the human nature of the subject matter and to hook the
readership in.
• The lexical coding (words selected to generate specific effect) uses
frightening words with strongly negative connotations – monster, lethal,
hell, slaughter, rape, slayer. These emphasise that the magazine covers the
extremes of human experience of crime in a sensationalised way.
2 of 3

25. Codes & conventions – true crime magazines
• ICONOGRAPHY: The majority of the magazines use similar iconography –
many black and white images indicating the starkness of the subject matter
and the historical nature of some of the crimes.
• COLOURS: Red and black, which can have a connotation of danger, and
yellow – which combined with these can seem to be a sickly or disturbing
colour – form the majority of the palette.
• BACKGROUND: The background selected in each case is dark and cold,
blues or blacks.
• HOUSE STYLE: The house style is not dissimilar in its cluttered look to many
women’s weekly titles which feature a mixture of true stories, puzzles,
some celebrity news and lifestyle elements or even soap weeklies. This is
similar for an audience age range of predominantly middle-aged and older
women in lower socio-economic categories.
Your task: Collect a range of examples from your chosen magazine
genre, such as sport and fitness or hobbies and crafts etc.
Write a post – a case study exploring the genre conventions and
similarities as in this example.
3 of 3