Codes and Conventions

Codes and Conventions of Magazines

The common codes and conventions of a magazine front cover are;

-        A masthead (the name of the magazine)

-        Cover lines of the magazine

-        The main image (this is usually an image of the celebrity from the main cover line)

-        Barcode

-        Price

-        A form of advertisement

The masthead is often positioned at the top of the page, and usually stands out the most. The cover lines are positioned around the front page, sometimes on overlapping the main image. The main image is often the largest part of the front cover and takes up a large percentage of the page. Forms of advertisement and offers normally are positioned near the boarders of the magazine.

Similar to cover pages, contents pages follow a comparable set of codes and conventions;  

-        Columns of text providing information about the contents

-        Page number references

-        The name of the magazine (normally at the top)

-        Images - often a larger image relating to the main article

-        The colour scheme is normally similar to the front cover

Most of the codes and conventions of the front cover are similar to those of the contents page; this is mainly because the magazine wants to keep the same theme through the magazine to appeal to their audience. The codes and conventions are very important as the front cover effectively ‘sells’ the magazine, also certain codes and conventions will appeal to a certain type of people which should be their target market.

There are three types of codes: symbolic, technical and written

Symbolic codes - These are to do with what the objects in the page connate. Such as colour or body language

Technical codes – These are usually to do with the photography of an image, including lighting, depth of field and framing