Codes and Conventions of Magazines

In order to produce my magazine i must follow the main codes and conventions of magazines.

All magazines have a masthead; this is the largest and boldest title and is located at the top of the page. It usually relates to the genre of the magazine, appeals to the target audience and connects to the content (e.g. 'Slam' indicates some sort of sport and relates to the basketball interviews inside)

All magazines have a house style; this is a certain on-going theme of colours, fonts and images that run through the magazine and in future editions that apply to the genre of the magazine. A relevant house style is an important feature in a magazine to appeal to different ages, social classes and genders. For instance if the magazine wants to attract a male audience the fonts would be modern and creative, the images would be masculine as well as feminine and the colours would be blues, blacks, greens and greys.

Magazines have articles they all have different styles, topics and info, magazines have columns or articles of writing, sometimes they have more than one page (double page article), sometimes called a spread.

Magazines also have a contents page, this lists what the magazine includes and further lures the reader into the magazine. The contents page is complemented by surrounding pictures with numbers to make it clear which stories are on what page so the reader can navigate throughout the magazine.

The Central image is located on the front cover and is in the centre of the page, the image would relate to the genre of the magazine and appeal to the target audience. It would be the most distinct feature on the page, the central image would target the audience of the magazine; for example an image of a seductive lady would target both genders but for different reasons, this is where the psycho-dynamic audiences come into play, it would target aspirers and followers, female audiences would aspire to be like her, whereas males would be attracted to her.


The issue number, date and barcode are always located on the front page. The issue number and date both provide information which informs the reader to know that the magazine is the most recent issue. These three features are placed together because they are the only features that don't relate with the inside information.

Interactive features are common in magazines to interest the reader further and they allow them to become more involved ( doing something physical - e.g. a football magazine may ask if you wanted to record yourself doing a fun activity in order to win prizes), these interactive features are fun and enjoyable for the reader.