Magazine Essential Parts

                   Magazine Essential Parts

Step 1: List the parts of a Magazine Cover labeled on the image.

Masthead (title, logotype, logo or nameplate)	The name of the magazine displayed in a specific typeface. This is the visual branding of the title and is often done in a specially designed typeface to be easily recognised and unique. The masthead - also called a title - is usually used on the contents page inside as well as the front cover, and as a logo for advertising and branding purposes. Titles for leading magazines are often designed by specialised typographers such as Dave Farey and Richard Dawson (Good Food, Maxim, Design Week) andMatthew Carter (Private Eye). Note that the Cosmo title above overlays the cover image. Some magazines will put the image on top of the title, as with the 1916 Bystander. Rarely these days, the title letting will be split or the whole title moved to allow space for an image
Dateline	Month and year of publication, often with the price. Note that a monthly magazine usually hits the news-stands the month before the cover date
Main image	In the case of this front cover there is a single image of the model Shania. The image is used in a classic way, the face is big enough to stand out on the news-stand, with the model making full eye-contact
Model credit	This says: 'Shania: So hot.' It is unusual for such a credit to appear on a magazine front cover, but it is done sometimes on fashion magazines. The photographer and model credit is usually on the contents page
Coverlines	From the 1950s, greater competition on the newsstands resulted in more cover lines. Today, some magazines print special covers for subscribers' copies that use few cover lines. Cosmopolitan magazine uses a lot of cover lines, which are distributed around the main image without detracting from it too much. A mistake often made with cover lines is that they run over an image that has a lot of colour changes, rendering the words difficult to read. This is a problem here with the red text on the hair on the left and the smaller yellow text against Shania's skin
Main cover line	This is very large - taking up almost a quarter of the magazine cover - and comes in three layers, each with a different colour. It promotes the use of naked male centrefolds, a feature of Cosmopolitan in the UKsince its first issue. Note the main cover line is positioned against the model's shoulder so it shows up clearly
Left third	The left third of the magazine cover is vital for sales in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage. The title must be easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. The start of the masthead is important here, as are short cover lines that are easy to read The top fifth of the cover - usually dominated by the masthead - may be the vital part in supermarkets, where magazines are displayed differently
Bar code	Standard bar code used by retailers, displayed on UK magazines since 1988. Will often include publication date and price. Special subscriber covers often omit this
Selling line	Short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point (for Cosmopolitan: 'The world's No 1 magazine for young women') or perhaps setting out its editorial philosophy, such as FHM's 'funny, sexy, useful'
Covers evolve over time	They may be tweaked to exploit new printing techniques; switch from full face to a body shot; use illustration rather than photography; move the target readership age up or down; or simply to freshen things up. Take a look at 4 Girl covers for one example; or 3 covers from Record Mirror. Compare the cover above with Cosmo's first UK issue in 1972. What's changed and why? Pay attention to detail - does the cover image go in front of or behind the masthead? Why do you thinkCompany's 2001 masthead is so similar toCosmopolitan's?
More cover ideas	women's magazines - see how the glossies do it men's magazines - compare and contrast 150 covers weekly magazines - approaches from the 20th century teen magazines for inspiration explore music magazines 4 pages of magazine covers to surf through
Legal issues	There have been many legal cases brought by publishers accusing each other of copying designs. The main charge is that one title is trying to 'pass itself off' as another. Among the battles have been: The Financial Times tried to prevent London'sEvening Standard printing its business pages on pink paper. It failed, with the judge saying readers were unlikely to confuse the broadsheet FT with the tabloid Standard. Celeb weekly Hello! warning OK! not to copy its look. Red and Real clashed over their title designs, with the latter giving way and redesigning its masthead. Compare Red and Real here. However, many titles do imitate another's design or name and some sectors, such as the celebrity weeklies and home magazines end up with a similar look. Among the main design strategies are: title and cover text laid on top of a bleedimage (as with Cosmo above); a cut-out image on a white or coloured background - see In Style, Queen and Four Four Two for examples; the main cover image in a box below the title with a white border around all the sides. SeeEducational Computing (1987) and Car (2006); the title on a white background above an image that bleeds off the bottom and sides, such as Topic in 1962 and Interiors; historically, some consumer magazines carriedcover adverts, such as 1935 Bystander. The practice has carried on for some trade magazines, and is now coming back in the 'freemium' sector such as wraparound covers on Shortlist and Stylist.

Step 2: In your own words summarize what each of these 9 parts does.

Blog #2 - Best magazine covers of 2014 and the last 40 Years

Finalist

Texas Monthly, June, The 50 Best BBQ Joints . . . in the World!

"Every five years, we are tasked with not only ranking the top fifty barbecue joints in the state (pass the Tums, please) but also with coming up with a cover to make our readers drool. To help with the latter, the owner of our number one joint, Aaron Franklin, arranged a heaping tray of his finest meats, while creative director T.J. Tucker painstakingly hand-lettered typography drawn by Jon Contino in barbecue sauce. The rest was left to photographer Wyatt McSpadden, who captured the full scene in all its glory. If this cover isn’t the definition of food porn, we don’t know what is."

Finalist

The New York Times Magazine, December 29, The Lives They Lived

Photographer: Henry Leutwyler

Designer: Arem Duplessis

"For our annual Lives They Lived issue, we commissioned the photographer Henry Leutwyler to shoot a portfolio of personal effects of famous people who died in 2013. We featured James Gandolfini’s beloved Cadillac convertible on the cover. Shot from behind, the car is a moving point of entry for the issue."

 

 

Finalist

ESPN The Magazine, September 16, Floyd Mayweather in The Fight Issue

"Benjamin Lowy’s photograph of Floyd Mayweather wasn’t intended to be a cover; he took this shot for what we call a “technique shot.” Yet when we saw the defending champ demonstrating his famous shoulder roll, we knew it had to be the cover of our Fight Issue, one with profiles and separate covers of Mayweather and his opponent Canelo Alvarez. We decided to go with a bright white background—a rarity for The Magazine—to contrast the fighter’s dark skin, showing off the beads of sweat on his forehead and intense concentration in his eyes. We offer this cover as an athlete who is the embodiment of his craft in a rare moment when boxing rose to the top of the sports conversation."
 

Winner

W, December/January, The Art Issue

"For W’s December/January Art Issue, the magazine collaborated with artist Yayoi Kusama to create this iconic cover image depicting George Clooney. The visually arresting image is the highlight of the cover story, for which five leading female artists were invited to create interpretive portraits of the actor. Clooney wears a suit painted by Kusama with her signature polka dots and stands against a polka-dotted backdrop. Planned to coincide with the opening of an exhibition of new work by Kusama at David Zwirner Gallery, the cover makes a powerful reference to the artist’s iconic self-portraits."