Magazine front covers

Wednesday 27th April 2022

L/O: to identify the features on a magazine front cover; to explore genre codes & conventions. 

Masthead - the printed matter in a newspaper or periodical that gives the title and details of ownership, advertising rates, and subscription rates. The purpose of a masthead is that it marks the site and page, and delivers identifying information to web users.

Dateline - a line at the head of a dispatch or newspaper article showing the date and place of writing. The purpose of a dateline is that is tells the reader where we obtained the basic information for a story.

Main image - takes center stage and covers most of the front cover. The purpose of a main image is to be of interest to the reader and draw attention to the magazine. 

Cover lines - a headline on the front cover of a magazine advertising a story or feature inside. The purpose of cover lines is to identify the names of the contributors, not the topics of their articles.

Main cover line - this is very large - taking up about a quarter of the cover area - and comes in three layers, each with a different color. The purpose of a main cover line is to advertise a story or feature inside.

Barcode / price - code identifies the sale of one title by one publisher. The purpose of a barcode / price is to play a critical role in data collection strategies. 

Tagline / strapline - a tagline is a marketing message, which means people will subconsciously cut the positivity in half. The purpose of a tagline / strapline is to leave consumers with a lasting positive impression of the brand.

Pull quote - short excerpts from the presented text. The purpose of a pull quote is to pull a text passage out of the reader's flow and give it a more dominant position in the post or the article.