Magazine cover conventions

A magazine has to advertise as much of the contents inside the magazine as they can to potential readers. The best way to do this is to use the magazine cover to present short and concise teasers of what will be inside the magazine, so that someone who passes by the magazine can easily tell what will generally be in the magazine.

To make key points stand out from the rest of the magazine, the magazine can use different techniques to achieve this. For example, they may use different coloured, bright text to make it stand out. This technique can also be used in pugs. The masthead  is typically always in the top third of the page, and centralised.

This brings me to the 'rule of thirds'. The rule of thirds is a technique used in many media texts. It is a technique which provides a layout which most magazines follow. The rule of thirds is shown best by laying a grid over a magazine cover as shown below:

This is a brilliant example of the rule of thirds. We can see in the top third of the page, the masthead as to the rule of thirds is present. The main picture of the cover normally takes up the centre of the page. If there is a main cover line, it is typically also laid out in the centre of the page. The bottom third of the page is typically taken up by banners as shown in the picture. On either the left or right side of the page, the secondary cover lines are normally laid out.