Magazine Cover Development –

House StyleHolly Taylor

House StyleNot only do we need to follow the codes and conventions of all magazine covers, but we also need to follow the codes of conventions of our chosen magazine companies house style. House style is where a magazine uses similar layout and structure for all their covers.

• House Style can be achieved through the use of masthead, font, colours, logo, placement of pictures and location of barcode.

• A defined House Style is used by nearly every magazine on the market today to give each magazine a specific look and layout.

• By having a more recognisable cover, it is easier for the reader to discover the magazine on the shelf as they are familiar with the layout and font types of the magazine.

Entertainment Weekly

Yet also the magazine company Entertainment Weekly is a highly successful company with a circulation of blank. By making sure our magazine is made recognisable to this company it will make it more popular.

To do this we need to follow their house style, so we did some research into their style, on the following slides:

Our chosen magazine company to market our film on their cover is Entertainment Weekly.

In order for the magazine to market the film best it can, to gain a wider audience for our film. The magazine will need to follow common conventions of a magazine to persuade readers to pick up a copy.

BackgroundAfter research, we discovered a common element of the background colours and images that occurs in many Entertainment Weekly covers: the use of a gradient background.

• The gradient background often follows a theme, of being lightest in the middle and gradually gets darker to the corners.

• This is very effective as the light in the middle highlights the image of the characters on the cover and the darkness around the edges is a good background for the typically white sell lines to stand out against.

• The gradient is often achieved through the use of two colours but has also been done through the use of light in images (typically clouds).

Masthead• Entertainment Weekly always uses the same

font for their masthead, making it more recognisable for their audience. So we would need to copy this font.

• The Mast head is always located at the top of the magazine, this is done so when the magazine is stacked on shelves the reader can still spot the magazine.

• Sometimes the image also overlaps the title due to it being so recognisable anyway, however not ever cover does this.

• However there is not one notable colour for the masthead that is generally linked to the company's house style, although there are certain colours that do seem to be repeatedly used.

• Common colours; red, blue and grey. Also sometimes the colours have a gradient effect.

Main Image• The main images that are used on the

magazine are always placed in the center of the cover, matching to the gradient background which highlights the image.

• The image is also very large, generally covering much of the cover, really making a bold statement to the reader.

• The images are generally of characters from films or TV shows or singers. The image is always of a character not the actor, so they are dressed and posed like the character they portray in the film or programme.

• There is a range of full body and close up shots, but always of people.

This is why we chose the picture of us holding the sign as it more relates to our characters. Otherwise it would not be as obvious it is a picture of our character rather than the actors.

Sell LinesObviously due to each issue being about a different type of entertainment, film, TV etc. It is hard to imply there is a single phrase that is repeatedly used, but there are some general phrases used often. Plus there is a common theme of the typography of the titles:

• Common repetition of the phrases ‘exclusive’ and ‘first look’ intriguing the audience due to the uniqueness of the magazines feature.

• The most common colour of the titles is White. Due to the background colour of the magazine rarely being white, by using a bold white font makes the sell lines stand out.

• Location: The titles are normally either side of the image and surround it. Implying that the sell lines are related to the image. So If the audience picks up the magazine based on the image, they can infer that a lot of the magazines content will also be to do with this.

Other text devices• Barcode and Price – After researching many magazine

covers of EW, we discovered there was only a few covers that actually had a barcode on it. We found out that normally they sell the issue in a separate plastic covering which has the barcode and price on. The barcode ultimately distracting the reader from looking at the image and sell lines on the cover.

• Date and Issue – The date and issue of the magazine is either just below or just above the mast head. It is very small in size so does not take too much attention away from the masthead and image. Yet the letters are bold and in all capitals so it is still readable.

• Anchorage text – On most covers there is an anchorage texts over the image, linking the text to the image. Such as an image of a character of a film has the an anchorage text over it of the title of the film

• Banner – on many issues there is a banner at the top of the magazine above the masthead. The banner states the same thing each time “ BEST MOVIES TV MUSIC BOOKS”. Giving a clear indication to the reader what the magazine offers.

Our MagazineWe must now make sure that we use this research of

entertainment weekly when making our final copy. We can now always refer back to this PowerPoint during the

process to make sure what we do is accurate and to inspire us.

In order to achieve the most recognisable and effective house style of Entertainment Weekly.