Codes and Conventions of Magazine Layout

Masthead – this is normally found at the top of the magazine cover. It also takes up the whole of the width of the page. Each one is used like a logo for the magazine as they are used to make the magazine easy to recognisable. And with some of the magazine, you can tell what sort of magazine it is by the masthead. In this example the mastheads is not as wide as the page but it is close to it, and they have used big bold letters and colours, to make it standout more.

Dateline – this is the displays the month and the year that the magazine was published. In this example, it has the date line of ‘MAY 2010’.

Main image – this is the image that is used behind all of the text on the front cover of the magazine. Most of the time they are models looking out of the page and giving full eye-contact. Sometimes they have a solid background colour or sometimes they are part of a scene. In this example the main image is part of a scene and the model is not making eye-contact with the reader.

Model credit – this is a comment that is made by the model that they used for the main image. In this example it reads ‘DON’T STAY IN your clubbing plans sorted every month’.

Cover lines – these are the title and the author of one of the main article that can be found in the magazine. They are placed around the main image but try not to distract from it. In this example there are seven cover lines.

Main cover line – this is the biggest cover line, and shows the magazines biggest story. In this example the main cover line is spread in a big font across the middle of the page.

Left third – this is where most of the cover lines go. They do this, so that if the magazine is in a shop rack, you can see the top articles in the magazine. This is so that if you don’t normally read that magazine, it still has a chance to get your attention. In this example the left third holds about half of the cover line.

Bar code – this is just a bar code that is used by the retailers. In this example it is in the bottom right corner.

Selling line – this is a line of text that they use to try and help sell the magazine with. In this example it is in above the masthead and reads ‘THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DANCE MUSIC AND CLUBBING MAGAZINE’.