Magazine Cover Research

Historical ChangesTo give you an example of how magazine covers have evolved throughout the years, in terms of how the layout has changed and other general ways in which covers have been modified, I used the ‘Empire’s’ official website. In there is a magazine cover archive option which really helped me put this timeline together. I thought it would be quite interesting to see the amount of transformations front covers have made from 1981 to our current period of time.

1981-19951996-2000

2001-20062007-2010

2011-Current

Examples of Film featured magazines

Main features of front covers

Leading Article: Usually the second biggest font after the masthead, it shows the audience what the main article is about and because it is the leading article, it will be covered in great depth inside

Barcode: barcode reader included for purchasing reasons, often it includes the ‘release date’ important notice for consumers.

Main image: The main image is really important and a key factor to be considered. The image should be chosen for a reason, it links in with other features such as the ‘pulled quote’,’ leading article and the overall the theme. They should all be relevant and well suited in corespondent to the main image. It also ties in with the ‘star’ featuring the magazine; highlighting their statues, in/off character and possible interviews.

Masthead: The masthead has to be one of the most striking part of any magazine cover, firstly is establishes the Company’s name so consumers begin to recognize the brand and secondly, it instantly places the magazine into a specific category. Alway big and bold, formatted in a way so it is easy to remember i.e ‘Empire’ the font used is really iconic, it once again reiterates on the brand identification.

Cover line: Giving a glimpse of what is inside ( mostly material which is most interesting). Images can be included as well as text.

Skyline: Stating some of the other features inside the magazine. Placed on the top. In this case it tells us the genre of the magazine “Action’ .

Pulled Quote: Direct quotes made linked to the main image or the leading article gives it an establishing look.

Advertisement: Key component of any magazine, it gives an opportunity for companies to advertise their products. Front covers of magazines are known to be successful marketing aid because of the number of people who purchase magazines on daily basis. Films who invest in franchising sales also have the chance to display their lineup as it is relevant to the main image and other aspects.

Bottom left third: This is the section visible to costumers whilst browsing through the shelves so it is really important to ensure it is printed