Codes and Conventions of a Front Cover

By Samuel.Johnson

This front cover is taken from one of The Source’s magazines. The well-known artist, The Game, is an element which is immediately noticeable when first looking at this page. The stance and expression on his face draws in readers attracted to this particular music genre, as it is unique and interesting and not commonly seen on music magazine covers in general.

I think the way that the use of the gun and the way his tattoos haven’t been concealed opens the reader up to the culture behind this type of music. It introduces them to reality of some life associated with the music and the artists own personal experiences. This influences the reader to create a connection between themselves and the image, and makes them consider opening the magazine and reading further into it.

As you can see, the artist covers a section of the masthead of the magazine. This is a feature which is used on well-known and popular magazines. It shows the artists dominance on the page and also informs the reader that the magazine doesn’t have to completely show its brand for consumers to recognise it.

Overall, there is a black and white colour scheme. The designer has used this in the text to enable each piece of information to stand out individually in order to allow the consumer to take in all the text on the page. Red is a particularly suitable colour for this genre of music magazine, as it is a strong and powerful colour which often relates to anger, violence and warfare. This, which is a common subject associated with the hip hop rap genre. Alongside this, red is a colour which is generally used to grab a person’s attention, therefore this magazine has the ability to do so down to its colour scheme

• The masthead takes up the whole top row of the rule of thirds which makes it clearly visible and noticeable to the consumer. Furthermore, the masthead is the exact same in each issue other than the change of colour to fit with the particular issue and the effect of this is so that the reader automatically knows it’s vibe magazine. In addition, the masthead sets the tone and house style for this issue. It is bright blue giving a sense of a chilled personality which reinforces the chosen artist for the front cover of the issue.

• The main image is of the urban and rap artist Kanye West who is proven to be extremely popular which is the reason Vibe used him. Additionally, the image of him is a medium close up in which he is giving the consumer direct eye contact which would be effective because it’s as if he’s welcoming them into reading further. The background is plain and white with a slight shadow of the artist emphasising his importance, Kanye is also wearing a grey jacket with a blue collar reinforcing the house style of the colour.

• The cover lines, are all professionally aligned within in the rule of thirds automatically making the cover look like a professional layout. Furthermore, the text of the cover lines are all in the selected colours of the house style which would be: blue, pink and black. By keeping a house style it looks a lot more fresh and modern which is what Vibe magazine are aiming for.

• One cover line is a pull quote saying “I am rap” which emphasises the genre of the magazine as well as explaining in a simple way, what he is about and what his music is about which feeds the consumer a small piece of information to intrigue them further to buying the magazine. Another cover line gives a small incite about the music you should be listening to and if the consumer looks up to Kanye then they’re most likely to purchase this issue

• Jay Z is the photograph on this Rolling Stone magazine cover. This is a close up shot of Jay Z wearing sunglasses with a serious facial expression; this choice of shot could have been taken to show his emotion due to the metaphorical cover line ‘…King of America…’

• The colour scheme consists of the colours black, white and red. The background is white, which makes Jay Z, wearing black clothes and black accessories, visually stand out. The name of the artist is not very big, however he is known worldwide this could also emphasise ‘King of America.’

• The barcode is not visible on the front cover of this magazine.• Masthead: The Rolling Stone’s masthead is very distinguishable due to the

unique logo with a serif font. The letters within the logo joins up which creates this universally known logo. The first letters of the words ‘Rolling’ and ‘Stone’ also seems dramatically rounded to give it a bigger look and effect (makes it more noticeable).

• ‘How Jay-Z Became King of America.’ The size of ‘King of America’ is bigger to accentuate his status within the rap scene. The cover line also indicates that Rolling Stone knows exactly how Jay Z conquered American music. This could be because he has more number one albums than Elvis Presley who is commonly known as the ‘king of rock and roll.’

• Jay Z is the cover photograph of this particular Rolling Stone’s cover. The Brooklyn rapper is wearing sunglasses; this could connote him looking nonchalant/cool, hide emotions in the eyes, to feel intimidating or maybe mysterious. He is also wearing a black looking leather jacket and a black t-shirt complemented by black necklaces.

• The cover lines are about general topics in the news such as the major criticised gulf oil spill (‘The Scandal At The Heart Of The Crisis.’ Located in the top left). This is included on the cover because all media outlets (BBC, Sky News, etc.) were highly critical of this ‘disaster’ at the time this was magazine was published.

• The cover lines use a serif font, which compliments the style of Rolling Stone magazines in the past. It is highly recognisable because of the consistent styles on the magazines.

Alternate Codes and Conventions of Different Genres

The masthead in this case isn't colourful but it is simple, this is because the brand ‘’Billboard’’ is a well established magazine brand. On the other hand the red and infill for the ‘b’ and the ‘d’ has more of an effect against the black writing and white background, furthermore the writing within the front cover also coincides with the infill.

The colour themes are black, white, blue, red and yellow- These are the primary colours throughout

A medium body shot is used here, which connects with the audience personally. (body language)

The main cover line is his name, which is made very clear by using large bright font this helps catch the audiences attention and he is a well known country musician

Direct mode of address: Helps cement a personal relationship between cover artist and the reader (Gratifications and theory)

Cover lines are bold and bright, using red will help them stand out. By using rhetorical question will entice readers to read inside

Countertype of a stereo typical magazine, normally have other artists as a main focus too but these names are in small font in the corner so cant catch the audiences attention

The barcode is conforms to the conventions as to where the barcode is normally situated (bottom left/right hand corner )

Further codes and contentions of Bill Paisley

• Masthead- the magazine of Brad Paisley conforms to all of billboards magazine issues as they keep the same primary colours black white, yellow, red and blue. This is good for the company because it shows consistency which will help the readers recognise the magazine next time

• The plain white background helps connote to the reader that it’s a lifestyle magazine which they need to have in their day to day life. Also it doesn’t draw any attention to the mise en scene. Its not fussy and the reader can relate.

• Further more the mise en scene when looking at is always 3-d for example in the front cover the man is positioned just in front of the masthead. This makes him the main focus of the magazine as it is trying to grab the attention of the reader.

• The cover lines on this magazine is good because they are bold and bright. #Red is a good colour to use because it stands out from a far distance and is very central. This is good as it shows the reader the main story line as it is clear, quick and simple, this means people will see this straight away even if they read the magazine or not.

Masthead showing the form name of the publication in its easily recognisable logo (in a specific font and letter holes filled in)>The masthead is also partly covered by the central image showing how recognisable it is to audiences even when its covered

The name of the artist is featured on the cover which is clearly displayed in a large form in similar font to the masthead suggesting that he is as popular as the magazine

Flush with text aligned to the left. The majority of text shapes around the image. Inviting the audience to read the magazine if you like Bruno mars Date of issue and website

addresses invites people to look what else they have online if they like the look of that magazine. Underneath the barcode is also the price of the magazine

List of other artists are included in the magazine, appealing to their fans and a wider target audience. Also the only part of the text that is over the artist suggesting they are just as good

This part shows us who the target audience is the background colour supports the stereotypical idea that a boys favourite colour is blue

Central image is the standout feature of the page, even more prominent than the masthead. It is of a recognisable figure in the music industry, attracting his fans in particular

Date of issue and website addresses are here so if they liked this magazine they might like other so will go on there website. Underneath the barcode is also the price of the magazine.

This magazine cover has a masthead which is one of the main codes and conventions of a cover. It is positioned behind the cover star's head which is another code and convention that makes a magazine cover looks professional

Buzz words are included on the cover in order to draw reader’s attention such as Special Edition

There is also a main cover line that is linked with the cover star photo usually larger text compared to other taglines included on the page. This is a code and convention of a magazine which also is stereotypically the name of whom ever the cover star may be.

There is no barcode on the front cover of this magazine this strays from the typical codes and conventions

The cover is also filled with cover lines relating to other features included within the magazine consisting of diverse fonts and colours. The text also overlaps the cover star as she overlaps the masthead which illustrates the structure and build of the magazine’s front cover

The house style of this magazine’s front cover includes a range of colours, fonts and sizing. The mast head is the largest piece of text which has a bold font and a brightening white colour with splashes of red, blue and yellow filling a few of the letter’s sections. The yellow splashes from the masthead also consists through the cover line's text colours as they are white and yellow with a range of different fonts and sizes. The cover photo seems to follow a colour schemes with shades of yellow, brown, gold, red and pink. This contrasts well with the text against it as everything is visibly magnificent.

There is a link for the magazines website which can also be a conventions for a front cover

This is an advertisement puff image publicising the Billboard Music Awards informing audience of the times and date its being broadcasted live

There is a quotation of Beyoncé's interview on the front cover this is to entice the audience or readers to read the rest of the article.

There is a cover star which usually is photographed mid shot as it is a code and convention of the majority of billboard magazine covers. However not always is the front cover image shot in such a way. This cover star image has strayed away form this in this issue