Regional magazine

Codes and conventions

Properties of magazines

Colour- this is one of the main properties to identify as it is one of the most noticeable. Different colours have different connotations as blue and white are seen a peaceful and innocent, where as reds and blacks are more harsh colours. The colour of the magazines are usually used to create the mood of a magazine.

Layout- The layout of the magazine usually creates the style of magazine. More sophisticated magazines will have stories evenly spaced out with a sophisticated font. However magazines aimed at a younger audience usually look a bit more chaotic, cramming as much information onto the page as possible. The shapes of the writing will help the reader to determine what is more important to read.

Style- both the layout and the colour will influence the style

of the magazine.

Magazine styleThe style of a magazine is essential for making the magazine look appealing to potential buyers and regular readers, the style of the magazine will either make the magazine look excited and interesting or it will make it look boring. The style of the magazine usually depends on the target audience. For example a magazine aimed at girls will have brighter colours and more feminine fonts.

ProsPeople will usually buy a magazine if they like the way it looks rather than the quality of what's inside

ConsPeople might not like the design of the magazine and therefor not buy it

Cornwall life magazine Background - Cornwall life magazine is a magazine that explore the different aspects of Cornwall, the beautiful beaches and the picturesque countryside. The editor of the magazine is Carol Burns, she works with her son who is a photographer. She has been the editor of Cornwall life magazine since June 2013

Top border - the top border is usually the logo of the magazine, the issue number and the date

Main photo- the main image is usually an image of the place that the magazine is writing about, the photograph is usually

colourful or stands out making it appealing to the reader.

Lower border- the lower border shows the main article, the title is in bold and the description in thinner writing

Kent life magazine Title( masthead) – has a unique font that gives the magazine its identity. It fills the width of the cover or sometimes in the top left corner

Main image- usually an image of the place the main article Is about.

Strip- across the bottom of the magazine with a list of the magazines of thing advertising a list of articles that feature in the magazine.

Article titles- The titles of the magazines are bold and stand out from other text.

Conventions of regional magazinescover line– the cover line is at the top of the magazine, on the left hand side is a sticker advertising a completion inside the magazine, a tactic to make people want to buy the magazine. The job of the cover line is to give the reader an idea of what to expect inside the magazine.

Masthead – the masthead of this magazine, is bold and white, standing out against the blue background. The masthead includes the date and the web address of the magazine in a smaller print.

Head line – the headline of this magazine is bold, however not as bold a Title, it is written in a different font than the masthead . It is short yet informative. It is written in white following the white and blue colour scheme of the magazine.

Main Image – The main image of the magazine is a drawn picture of Dorset seaside, this goes slightly against convention as its not a real life picture however it is still an image of the location

Colour Scheme – the colour scheme of the magazine is white and blue. These colours reflect the seaside element of the location

Barcode – on the right hand side of magazine

Cover stories – the cover strories are written on the side of the magazine, in white following the colour scheme

Hampshire Life magazine

cover line– Includes three images and the names of three places shown in an article inside the magazine v

Masthead- The masthead is written in a bold white font which seems to be a convention of regional magazines. It include the date in a smaller font underneath the title on the right hand side.

Main image– the main image of the magazine is of sailing boats in a harbour in Hampshire.

Barcode– on the bottom right hand side of magazine.

Headline – the main headline of the magazine is ‘sailing to victory’

London magazine

Sub title/cover story – written in bold capital letters with ‘its all about the attitude’ written underneath in a smaller white font.

Masthead- The masthead is written in a bold white print similar to the other magazines i have analysed.

Main Image- The main image goes against the conventions analysed in the other magazine as the image is not of the Place it is an image of a person that would live in the place, this is suggested as she is wearing sophisticated expensive looking clothes that we would stereotypically see in Chelsea.

Cover stories- written in a small bold black print. Giving the titles pf articles featured inside the magazine.

Surrey Life magazine

Masthead- The masthead is written in a bold white print similar to the other magazines i have analysed.

Cover lines- written in a small white print, advertising what is featured inside the magazine with the names off different places to visit in Surrey.

Cover line- written in a white font following the red white colour scheme of the magazine. ‘Photograph Special’ is written in white in a red box, making it clear to the reader that there is something special about this magazine, making the reader more likely to purchase it.

Barcode– on the bottom right hand side of magazine.

Main image- the main image is an image of two deer in a foggy field, this gives the impression that this is a

winter edition of the magazine

Yorkshire Life magazine

Masthead- The masthead is again written in a bold white print similar to the other magazines. Again the date is written in a smaller print underneath the masthead which is a convention of magazines

cover line/strapline – The strap line of this magazine is written In capital letters saying ‘The biggest and best selling country magazine in Yorkshire this is almost

bosting making the reader want to buy the magazine.

Barcode– on the bottom right hand side of magazine.

Cell line- the cell line is bright pink standing out against the green background. It has an image of a women relating to a story inside the magazine. It is advertising an article inside the magazine

Main image- It is a picturesque image of the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, the blossoming flowers

suggest it’s a spring/ summer edition.

Cover Stories– written in a smaller but still bold white print

Devon Life magazine

cover line/strapline – the cover lien is made up of bullet pointed words. ‘Festival fun’ is written in bold letters

suggesting its one of the main features of this magazine

Barcode– on the bottom right hand side of magazine.

Masthead- The masthead is written in a bold white font. With the date underneath on the right hand side.

Main image- It is an image of rocky hill with clear blue sky again following the convention of having an image of the Place as the main image

Cover stories –written in a white lower case font. Giving short titles to the ar4ticles that are featured inside

Kent life double page spread

Header – the header of this magazine is written in a large orange font standing out against the background making it clear that it’s the header.

Pictures – there are five pictures in this article all relating to the topic of the magazine.

Kicker – this piece of writing summarises the article in a small paragraph. Written in a smaller print underneath the title

Cornwall life Double page

Main article– this is the main story, here it is written in two columns.

Main image – this is a picture of a part of the Cornish coast

Header and sub-header – the title is written on the left hand side and is the only writing on this side of the page.

Kicker- the writing in italics giving an over view about what the article is about.

Yorkshire magazine Article

Main image – this is a picture of the Yorkshire countryside

Image of author -

Header – this is the main story, here it is written in two columns.

Kicker– two lines underneath the main title giving an overview on what the article is about.

Main article– this is the main story, here it is written in two columns.

Time out Article

Main image – the main image is a picture of some street art in London.

Header – this is written in a simple small black font. This may have been done so it doesn’t take anything away from the main picture as art is the main focus of this magazine

Quotes – Quotes from the article are written in a bold black font making them stand out against the rest of the writing.

Cardiff magazine double page spread

Main image – the main image is a picture of the inside of a castle in Cardiff

Header – the header is written in a black bold print.

Main article – written in three paragraphs

More images- most articles include around three images

Surrey life magazine

Header – ‘the artist’ is written in black capital letters showing its significance to the article, where are ‘meet’ is written in lower case letters and a softer colour.

Main image – in this article there isn’t really a main image, there are three images as explained in the pervious slide having three images included in the article seems to be a convention of the magazine.

Main article – the main article is written in two columns across both pages.

Hampshire double page spread

Main image/images - the main Image is located at the top of the article and is of a family enjoying the country life of Hampshire .

Header– is written in an italic font making it look quite feminine

Main article –written in five columns across

both pages.

Codes and conventions Kilbourne's theory of the perfect women with

perfect make up and hair was shown in London Magazine with Cara Delavigne as the model.

The title on the front cover seems to be written in a bold white print most of the time.

Barcode is written on the bottom right hand side not to draw any attention to it.

Competition ‘win’ advertised on the bottom left hand corner in a round sticker.

Date written underneath the title of the magazine

Simple colour schemes such as whites, blues and green seems common in regional magazines.

When I design my own regional magazine I plan to take all of theses codes and conventions into account and see how I can apply them.