FRONT COVER OVERVIEW

In order to dig deeper in to my research, I thought a front cover overview

would be a good idea. It will allow me to find out the symbiotic link between

front covers of a particular magazine, and also the codes and conventions they

use to address their audiences. I will be looking at 12 front covers from the

Billboard magazines, as it is similar to the magazine I intend on creating. It is

aimed at a female audience who have an interest in RnB/HipHop magazines.

The 12 front covers all feature general magazine front cover conventions. We

see expected and general layout conventions, such as a main image that

dominates the front cover, sell-lines that surround the main image and a

masthead in a conventional place and appropriate font.

Most of the magazines of Billboard feature a female artist, this clearly shows

who it is aimed at. Also, there is a constant appearance of solo artists. This

indicates that bands are rare in the industry of RnB and Hip Hop as most artists

sing solo. In terms of costumes of the artists, it is mainly a dress they wear. The

fact they all wear dresses allow them to look more beautiful and alluring too. It

also adds to femininity and continuity of the magazine. Despite the fact they all

wear dresses; one thing that is also apparent is that, each time, the dress

differs according to the individual star image of the artist in question.

Another feature that crops up again n again is the masthead. It is the same

font each week, however the colour varies. It is either white or black

depending on the colour scheme of the magazine. The circles on the letters ‘b’

‘o’ ‘a’ and ‘d’ are coloured in the same font each week; red, yellow, blue,

yellow. It is positioned in the same place as well. Most of the time the main

image covers the masthead, this makes it possible to only see a few of the

letters. As the magazine is well known, audiences are able to recognise the

magazine from the style and from part of the text displayed so it becomes

conventional for some of the letters to be hid and maintains brand identity.

The main sell-lines of Billboard are always the names of the artists. It is placed

at the bottom most of the time. They are in a place where eyes can be lead to

first, and after seeing the main image, audiences would like to know who the

artists is if they don’t already. This has also become the magazines convention

as it occurs in all of the 12 magazines above. The sell-lines of the magazine

focus on the success of the artists and other features related to music, rather

than gossip about them. This displays the target audience of the magazine as

an older audience would not really like to read about gossip. They would want

to read something inspiring.

All 12 magazine covers also have a plain background. This makes the audience

concentrate on the main image and easily be able to read the sell-lines on it

without struggling. This has also become the magazines brand identity. For

example, if Billboard where to have a main image with a city background, it

would not share a symbiotic link between the other issues of its magazines.

The pose of the artists are similar and match the personality of the artist. In all

12 front covers, the artists are directly looking at the camera. This makes them

look more confident and powerful. As well as the pose, the models are also the

similar age, roughly mid 20’s to mid 30’s. They also have similar levels of

success, most of them are in relationships, similar styles of music (hip

hop/soul/R&B) and most of all, and they are the sort of people that audiences

look up to as role models. The camera shots in most issues tend to be medium

close-up or medium long shots. These shots could be used the most to allow

the reader to see the hour glass figure of most of the artists, or simply see their

beauty.

In conclusion, it is common for a magazine to continue its brand identity and

follow their conventions in each issue.