MAGAZINE RESEARCH
​
MAGAZINE COVER CONVENTION
In a typical magazine cover, they usually consist of the masthead, main image, coverlines, main coverlines, tagline, barcode, price line and date line.
MASTHEAD:
The masthead is basically the name of the magazine brand. Sometimes masthead is also used as a logo or a trademark that is used to represents the magazine brand as a whole. Every magazine has to have their own name and they should not use existing masthead name in order to create their own unique identity that stands out from other magazines. In order to have an effective masthead, they should create a memorable and unique name and they should also choose a proper typography that best suits their identity. Masthead is conventionally placed on the very top of the cover page and largely sized so that it can immediately be attract to the viewers.
MAIN IMAGE:
The main image is usually just one image that takes up almost the whole magazine cover page. It is used to catch the viewers’ attention and sometimes used as an appeal to specific audience. The image chosen for the cover image is usually the ones that will be feature in the main article of the magazine.
COVERLINES:
There are usually two types of coverlines, the ones that are listed in the coverline strip and the main cover line. Coverlines are made up of article titles that are taken from the contents of the magazine itself.
To differentiate between the two types of coverlines, they usually either increase the size of the main coverlines font or by using bold colours to make the main coverline stand out. The main coverline is conventionally taken from the main story that also anchors the main cover image.
TAGLINE/SLOGAN:
The tagline is normally found somewhere near the masthead either placed above the masthead or below it. The purpose of the tagline is to deliver a message of what the magazine is about or what issue the magazine is focusing on or just basically the magazine motto. Taglines are usually made in one short sentence or a phrase. Since the tagline is constant throughout all the magazine with the same brand, and should only made up of a few words, the tagline wisely uses an inspirational and persuasive tone to send the message of the magazine to the same target audience to be more appealing.
BARCODE/PRICELINE:
A barcode consists of bars and spaces of varying width, that are designed to code the information of the magazine, and this information can only be read with an optical barcode scanner. The barcode is commonly use to scan the price of the magazine when buying it in a bookstore because it is easier for a cashier to read the altered price of the magazine when it is given a discount. Meanwhile price line is where the actual price is written in numerical and symbol form for example SGD$10.00, € 6.22, RM 15 etc. The purpose of a price line is so that it is easier for people to check the price of the magazine before buying them.
DATE LINE:
Date line is a line that shows the date of release of the magazine. The purpose of having a date line is so that readers are aware whether the magazine is an old or newly release magazine because this can help readers to decide whether the information in the magazine are still valid or not or if the trends in the magazine is already outdated. The placement of the dateline on magazines tends to change according to the magazine itself, sometimes it is placed near the masthead, on the side of the magazine or near the barcode. The reason that the date line placement seems almost insignificant to the readers is because editor does not want the readers to turn their focus anywhere else from the more important part of the magazine cover which is the contents of the magazine.
FASHION MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS
Before creating my magazine plan, I did a few research on bag magazines but I hardly find any magazine that only features bags, the only thing I found similar with are the basic fashion magazine like Elle, Vogue, Harper Bazaar, and they usually place the bag article in one section of the magazine. Therefore, I did my research by looking through these bag article featured in some these fashion magazines.
RESEARCH #1
HARPER’S BAZAAR MAGAZINE COVER HOUSE STYLE:
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
This particular Harper’s Bazaar cover is one of the first fashion magazine cover that appeals to me with its floral and feminine theme. Assuming they came up with this floral theme for the month of May which may be linking to the spring season. This hyperfeminine and overall pink cover with a female model in medium close up shot could suggest that the target audiences are women. For this magazine, the masthead is designed to match the theme as well in which it is decorated with flowers on each letter meanwhile maintaining its regular font (Fashion Didot).The masthead is also placed and sized proportionately to not distract nor cover the main image.
I was also inspired by the creativity of editing on the main image which uses color-matching-concept for example, the colors of the flower which the model is holding matches the green color of her eyes and her pink eyeshadow, the pink eyeshadow color also matches the pink background of the image meanwhile the pink color of her lipstick is more contrasted to balance the color of her overall make up. Both pink and green are complementary color which helps brings all the elements in the image together. However, there is a mystery in the model’s facial expression, her eyes appear to look serious but the expression of her mouth rather appeared surprised or speechless. The mystery in her facial expression could also be one of the interesting parts of the cover.
The magazine cover line uses the popular combination of Black and White to help with the consistency of the text design and uses three different fonts (Fashion Didot regular, Fashion Didot italic and Haiti SC). The different sizes and style of the font could help suggest the variety of contents within the magazine. The cover lines are filled in the space of the magazine image background therefore they are not overlapping the main image. The main cover line is placed at the bottom of the magazine cover and appear larger than the other cover line to shifts the reader’s main focus. And with the word BEAUTY highlighted by the usage of capital letters, this further suggest that the target audience are female.
The date line and price line are placed between the A and Z letters of the masthead and by placing it there I think it would be easy for the readers to refer to, though for me, I would prefer the price line to be placed near the barcode instead since that is where people commonly use to scan product pricing.
RESEARCH #2
MOD MAGAZINE COVER HOUSE STYLE:
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Another magazine cover that I was inspired by is this particular MOD magazine that was released for autumn 2019.The image of the model, Nnenna Rimma appeals to the target audience because girls and women who look at her will also feel empowered with her confidence, sophistication and modesty and look at her as a role model. The mid close up shot of Nnenna standing in a military posture and expressionless makes her look confident while wearing a white blouse covered with a matching blazer that makes her look classy and fashionable at the same time.
The background of the desaturated blue skies gives off a cool tone to the overall magazine and this is in order to match the theme of the magazine, which is cool and minimalistic. The minimalistic theme and overall neutral color for the main image of this magazine cover also gives off a high profile appearance.
In this magazine they only use one font which is the San serif similar to Vogue’s signature font. The font used is also popular among other high fashion magazine because of their articulated and stylish typeface. Black and White typography is very popular among fashion magazines and most of them also do not use color in their typography layout design in order to keep the versatility and modernity of the magazine.
The coverlines in this magazine only mentioned some other names of celebrities that will appear in the magazine with their credited photographers. The coverlines are placed in between the spaces of the background to fill in the awkward space. The size of the font is small in order to minimize the usage of text so that audience focus on the image instead. The font color of the magazine edition title is matching with the background of the skies but it is darkened so that it doesn’t blend in with the model’s blouse. The magazine edition title is placed at the bottom in the very middle of the magazine cover to attract the audience attention. The description below the magazine edition title, ‘CHILLY-WEATHER TRENDS TO TRY NOW’ further tells the audience that the magazine is made for the cold autumn season. Overall, everything appears to look so put together and each the elements in the magazine does not go out of theme.
Like other magazine barcodes, it is conventional to be printed on the front cover at the bottom.The barcode is not interrupted by other elements from the magazine and have plenty of spaces around it which makes it easier to scan as there is no distraction.
​
MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE CONVENTION
​
HEADING:
The heading of a magazine contents pages usually has the magazine ‘masthead’ to identify which magazine the page is taken from and the ‘contents title’ to indicate it is the contents page.
COLUMN:
In a contents page, the column number can be varying for up to 4 columns maximum. Each column conventionally consists of article titles with their respective page numbers and descriptions. In some contents page, the article titles are divided into certain categories for different topics.
IMAGES:
The images in a content page usually taken from the magazine pages. These images are sometimes numbered according to which page it is taken from and used as a sneak peek of its page. Images can also be used to attract the viewers interest by making the images appealing.
DATELINE:
In a conventional contents page, they usually include dateline to indicate when the magazine of the contents page is release whether the magazine is recent or outdated. The dateline is usually made in small font size and places around the corner either at the very top of the page or the very bottom of the page.
PAGE NUMBER:
Since the contents page is located inside the magazine, it is also important to add the page number of the contents page. The contents page is conventionally made in a small font size and located on the very corner of the page.
​
FASHION MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE ANALYSIS
RESEARCH #1
​
​
I had choosen to analyse this Marie Claire contents page because I like the direct and neat overall appearance of it’s layout. One of the factors that made this page looks organized is by their usage of colour theme in which all the images and texts are either using a range of particular red, yellow, nudes and shade of black and the choice of colors complements each other. At the very top of the page, they used the Marie Claire masthead to show their brand identity and the word ‘CONTENTS’ to indicate that the page is for the contents page.
All the article titles are arranged by columns, these columns represents the category of which the articles belongs to, the categories includes ‘BEAUTY & HEALTH’ and ‘LOVE & SEX’. Each articles are placed under its categories with their respective page numbers and description. the page number is placed align with the article title so the readers do not have to search around for the page number elsewhere. If the readers are interested in skincare and makeup, they can simply refer from under the BEAUTY & HEALTH category to find lists of articles under that topic, moreover, the articles is also arranged according to which articles will appear first in the magazine instead of just jumbling up the list of articles, this is so it is easier for readers to find where the article they are interested in reading first. The page numbers, titles and descriptions are of the same font namely Heroine Pro, however, both the page numbers and titles are bolded in order to separate them from their descriptions so it is easier to read. The articles are also spaced properly so they are not overlapping the images as well as to make the page appear less crammed.
I also like the fact that there are images used to indicate the article contents instead of just using description. For example, page 138, they used a picture of the jewellery designer, Monique Pean wearing her own jewellery for the page article. I think the reason they use this technique is to attract the readers through the usage of image. Moreover, adding many images is also a good way to fill-in the page. In this case, they photoshopped a few pictures related to random articles in the page to fill the page with more colour.
One thing I also realised is that, the editor does not necessarily have to choose the most interesting picture for the contents page, as long as its best suits the theme and goes along with the whole page the editor would simply include it because what is considered as interesting is very subjective and may differ from one person to the other therefore choosing what the editor considered as interesting would not always be interesting to the readers.
They added the masthead and the date of release at the bottom of the page next to the page number of the contents page in order for readers to know that from which magazine .
​
RESEARCH #2
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
This is another one of the contents pages that I was inspired by because of its simplicity. This magazine is not one from a fashion magazine but it correlates with one of the category titles I had planned to include in my contents page. The articles are listed in a single column and they are not separated into a sub category instead the article title itself is a category and I believe it is because the magazine covers mostly catalog of products throughout the pages and not of cover stories. They arrange the articles according to which pages that appeared first inside the magazine so that it is easier for readers to find the them.
What I intended to corporate inside my magazine contents page is the way they layout the images. They combine together products under the same category into one image and add the page number on the corner of each images . The reason I am planning to use this in my magazine contents page is because it saves space as the products are combine in one image and also by having more products shown will get readers more motivated to check out the products on the actual page.
However, I do not like that the contents page’s heading only writes ‘CONTENTS’ but the masthead name is nowhere to be found, because of this I somehow felt like the page is missing its brand identity as I cannot find which magazine this contents page is from. At the bottom of the page, there is written ‘jet2shop’, maybe that is the name of the magazine from which it came from. Due to this inconvenience, I am going to make sure that in my magazine contents page, I will have to add my magazine masthead on the heading to ensure that my readers are well aware that the contents page belongs to my magazine as well as to strengthen the brand identity throughout my magazine pages.
​
FASHION MAGAZINE DOUBLE SPREAD PAGE ANALYSIS
RESEARCH #1
​
​
At first I did not know from which magazine this double spread page is from but after further analyzing, I figured that this double spread page is from COMPOSURE magazine as is written on the top right corner of the page. The layout of the article title ‘RENAISSANCE FARE’ and the description are placed in the center of one of the two page and I think it is a good way to attract the reader’s attention to the tittle. I like how simple the arrangement of the items are in the page. I think the reason they made the layout so simple is so that it is not confusing when the readers are viewing the page. If the page appears too crowded, the information will not be delivered clearly, as items may overlapped or distract the text.
In this double spread page, the content demonstrates a collection of outfit and accessories that resembles or inspired by the renaissance era from dress, blouse, shoe, bag and jewelries. From this magazine double spread page, I decided to incorporate the way they add information of the items such as the brand, price and where these items can be shop. I think this page will appeal to readers that prefers to shop online instead of going out to shop.
It is not obvious at first but I believe that this double spread page has its own color scheme which includes violet, blue, red, gold, white and black. However I felt that this coverlines are lacking of appeal and information because there is not much that can be extract from this double spread page.
​
RESEARCH #2
​
​
​
​
The double spread page that I had chosen is an article titled ‘The Gift Guide’ which I assume was made specifically for audience in a romantic relationship. The whole spread page is divided according to each gender. Both pages are designed to almost mirror one another in which one side is specifically made for male consumers while the other page is made specifically for the female consumer. I like that although, the items are arranged almost randomly around the page, but due to its monotonic appearance, one whole page is sorted in blue color and the other page is sorted in red color, therefore, the pages still appear organized and look very well put together.
Aside from that, I am also attracted to the sophisticated choice of font and the layout of the texts. In this page, the texts are made of the same font (Fashion Didot) but with different style (italic, bold, regular) and sizes. By using only one font, this ensures consistency in the magazine and so that it does not look messy.
The passages in this spread page titled ‘FOR him’ and ‘FOR her’ are made short which I think is a good technique because the readers are more interested in the items rather than the texts. Aside from the passage, I think it is a great idea of adding the price and description on each of the item so that audience know whether it is expensive or worth it.
In this page they also add tips and trend for doing hair and mustache perfect for date night at the lower part of the spread page which might be very helpful for the readers and make the page rather informative.
However, I personally do not prefer the idea of gender oriented colors as it is limiting the color choices for what women and men can wear. Lately, the advent of “Gender Reveal Parties” has reinforced the “pink is for girls, blue is for boys” rule where pink and blue have remained the two dominant colors that people use to show the sex of their babies. In reality, men and women share the same wide range of color choices, women can wear blue and men can wear red. I understand how this is a strategic way of attracting attention from the target readers , specifically, young adults and adults going on a romantic date however this can lead to stereotypes such as men wearing pink being seen as not man enough or gay while women are called boyish or not attractive and these types of labelling stereotypes can be harmful towards their gender and sexual identity. I think a better way to create this kind of article is without associating gender to these colors instead, for both pages they should combine both men and women’s products but still maintaining its monochrome pages.
​
​
​
​
​
MAGAZINE PLANNING
MAGAZINE MAIN COLOUR SCHEME
The reason I had chosen these colours is because I wanted to create a colour scheme that gives off a summer-at-the-beach vibes that suits the Summer season with the beige replicating the sand. Meanwhile the usage of red and pink is to add a sense of femininity and passion to the magazine. I also believe that the colour theme is consistent and also complementary to each other. The usage of black and white colour on the other hand, is to give off a sense of seriousness in style and it is a must have colour in a magazine.
​
​
​
MAGAZINE COVER
FIRST MAGAZINE COVER LAYOUT PLAN
Below is the draft of my initial magazine cover layout plan:
​
​
​
​
​
CHANGE OF MAGAZINE COVER LAYOUT PLAN
The reason that I have two magazine cover layout plans is because after I started executing my first magazine cover and almost done with my editing, I found myself not liking the outcome and I did not think any further editing on my first magazine cover will end up making me satisfied because it does not seems effective enough to attract my target audience. At that time, I had also changed my plan from creating a minimalistic themed magazine to a high fashion magazine. Before I made my final magazine cover layout plan, I had to make a new research on the new type of magazine cover I wanted to do.
First, I wanted to change the masthead name. the current name, ‘Purse & Heels’ may convey the right idea to the audience about what the type of magazine I wanted to produce and it sounded high fashion and as well as easy to remember as it only has three syllables. However the masthead is too long. Think of VOGUE, ELLE, harper’s BAZAAR, MOD, these are some of the high-profile magazine I wanted to achieve and most of these magazine’s masthead are all shortly spelled and the advantage of this is that the masthead can largely place on the top of the magazine cover without having to squeeze the letters in them.
So I came out with the name ‘SONSAC’ meaning ‘her bag’ in French. I like the new masthead name better because it is shortly spelled and only contained two syllables. I also changed the genre of the magazine from specializing on bag and shoe products to now only specializing on bag products. This new masthead not only sends the message that the magazine is specialized for bag products but also tell that the target audience are female readers.
I like the tagline ‘the pursuit of the ultimate bags and shoes’ because it perfectly conveys the objective that I expected from my readers. My initial tagline was inspired by the movie, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ where in the ending the main character found his happiness and this is what I hope the readers of my magazine could find. However I had to also change my tagline since now my magazine only specialized on bag products and not bags and shoes.
Although I like the image that I used for my initial main, but I figured it not suitable to be used on the magazine cover as it is too simple and does not convey the high-profile magazine I had in mind. Though my initial plan was to create a minimalistic themed magazine, I had changed my plan and decided that I want my magazine photoshoot to look somewhat editorial. And I planned to save this image for my contents page.
In my initial draft, I planned to put my coverline stripe on the white area of the magazine cover following the minimalistic magazine convention. Since I changed my magazine theme, I also decided to change the way I organize the my coverline stripe.
Since I decided to create a new magazine cover with a whole new theme, I had to create a new magazine cover layout plan for my magazine cover.
​
​
FINAL MAGAZINE COVER LAYOUT PLAN
Below is my new magazine cover layout plan and its explanation:
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
MASTHEAD – the name SONSAC derived from the French language meaning ‘her bag’. The word ‘SON’ which means ‘her’ which represent my target audience which are female readers and the word ‘SAC’ which means ‘bag’ further demonstrate that the magazine is specialized for bag products. I came out with this name while I was translating the word ‘bag’ in different languages and I found that it is one of the short-spelled words among all the other languages and I had also considered using it because French is one of the most spoken language around the world because using popular languages could help attract wider audience from different demographic. I find the phrase ‘SONSAC’ easier to remember and it is also a shortly spelled word which makes it easier to lay out in the magazine. I will be using either Fashion Didot or San Serif for the masthead font to achieve the modern style and because it is also commonly used by other high fashion magazine such as Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Elle.
TAGLINE- The tagline is ‘THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION OF BAGS WORLDWIDE’. This indicates the quality and wide range of the bag collections that will be included in the magazine. This exaggerated tagline is also used as a convincing tool and an appeal to the bag enthusiast around the world.
DATELINE – the dateline will be placed on the letter ‘O’ of the magazine. I was inspired by the MOD magazine that I had analyzed earlier and incorporated the idea onto my magazine cover because I think this is a creative way to place the dateline.
COVERLINE – I haven’t decided the title of my coverline nor how many I will I be putting in my cover page yet, but they will be placed around the main image. I will use the Bodoni font because it appears neat, simple and it also matches the masthead font.
MAIN IMAGE- The of theme of my main cover image is ‘summer inspired’, I want my model to shoot at the beach, by having my model laying on the sand can help give off the summer vibes as the beach is one of the common places to go during the summertime. The whole outfit that the model is wearing should be inspired by the beige colour of the sand. And the bag that my model would be wearing is a deeper tone of beige in order to contrast the whole image. The bag should be the focusing point of the main image
BAR CODE / PRICE LINE- the barcode is going to be placed on the bottom part of the magazine cover, I would lay it vertically in order to save space for the magazine edition title. The reason I have included a barcode is so that if there are any price changes, that scanner can automatically alter the database to the new price when buying in a bookstore.
Meanwhile, for the price line, it will be put on top of the barcode. This is because so that the potential buyers can check the price before buying them. The pricing of the magazine would be somewhere in between 8-to-15-dollar BND, it is not cheap nor is it too expensive, the high price is for the quality assurance for the buyer. I will also make sure that the price line is not located in the barcode box or align with the barcode so that when scanning, the price digit does not get mixed up with the barcode digit or else the barcode will be invalidated or get the wrong database.
MAGAZINE EDITION TITLE- The magazine is supposed to be published in May during the summer season hence, the magazine edition is called ‘The Summer Edition’. The edition title will be placed at the bottom of the page following the convention. And the purpose of this edition is to indicate to the audience that it is made exclusive for the summer season.
​
​
MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE
CONTENTS PAGE LAYOUT PLAN
​
Below is my magazine contents page layout plan and its explanation:
​
​
HEADING - ‘SONSAC’ to indicate that the contents page is from SONSAC magazine. ‘CONTENTS’ to indicate it is the contents page. I was inspired by the marie claire contents page that I had analyse earlier. I will use the same font as the one I used for my masthead for consistency.
CONTENTS – The page is divided into two columns. I will organize the article using categories and page numbers. This is also inspired by the marie claire magazine that I analysed earlier. The categories will be divided into BAGS & FASHION, BEAUTY & HEALTH and GIFTS & SPECIALS.
In each category I will arrange the article according to the article I expect to appear fisrt in the magazine followed by their page number on their right side . For each article title I will include a description or objective of the article. I will be using Bodoni font to match the font that I had use in the coverline of the magazine cover for consistency.
This is the list of potential articles that I will include in the contents page:
​
BAGS & FASHION
-
WHAT BAG SHOULD I BUY NEXT
-
MONOCHROME CHARM
-
BLACK BEAUTY: 15 ways to style a black bag
-
ISABELLA Khan CHRISY NG witness the recent launched of stylish modern bag collaboration with the dynamic duo Isabella and Chrisy
-
THE MUST HAVE BAGS & SHOE Bag designer, Denisha Roy sort out the ultimate must have bags and shoe collection from fashion week 2021
-
JEWEL IN THE HAND jewellery maker create bags
-
12 BOLD NEW BAGS TO SECURE THIS SEASON now is the time to think creatively about what you carry as you do about what you wear
.
BEAUTY AND HEALTH
-
REVOLUTION discover Revolution Makeup, the home of fast, affordable beauty cosmetic.
-
THE ORDINARY the review of 20 Best ordinary skincare products worth your money 2021
-
Scent and sensibility: y/n as the new face of Marc Jacobs fragrance
-
GUCCI gorgeous scent for every woman
GIFT &SPECIALS
-
THE GIFT GUIDE Find that special present for her from the comfort of your seat.
-
SUMMER GIFTS to inspire you this Summer
-
DIAMOND CASTLE finds the perfect timeless and sparkling accessories to match with your besties
IMAGES – For one of the image I will be using the one from my intial magazine cover draft annd for the other image I wanted get a picture of a bag and have some stuff layed out around it to show what is inside the bag. For the stuff inside the bag, I will also put products that I will include under the BEAUTY AND HEALTH category. Below is the inspiration. Source: https://www.itl.cat/pngfile/big/199-1997685_bag-whats-inside-my-bag.jpg
​
​
​
MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE
CONTENTS PAGE LAYOUT PLAN
​
Below is my magazine double spread page layout plan:
​
This DSP is inspired by the second research that I did on double spread page. I decided to use polaroid frame to give a nostalgic look.
The title of my double spread page is ‘4 WAYS TO STYLE BLACK AND WHITE OUTFITS’ by Lila Mizahura which is the author that I made up for the article. I was also inspired by the 90s minimalist look book from Pinterest, and tried to replicate theirs style. The black and white monochrome clothing was popular back in the 90s even in the luxury brand industry such as Prada, Chanel and Vera Wang and they often add colors on their accessories. These looks are versatile and still popular nowadays. So, for my magazine Double Spread Page I would like to give my readers some fashion inspiration and where they can buy the bags. I separate the looks according to what bag is proper to be used at different occasion. I will be adding the price and the brand of each bag next to the picture of the bags so that my readers can know if they can afford it or not, this is also a way to market these products to my readers