Beth Urwin's AS Media Blog: Research Into Conventions of Magazines

The magazine cover is dominated by the title of the magazine. By using a white font the title is extremely bold and the capital letters emphasise this. By being a simple and plain title this reflects on the magazine, it connotes that it gives the reader what they need without being cluttered by unneeded information and content. The Fly is quite a small magazine which is not known to be amongst the mainstream category of the music magazine industry. An element which enforces this point is that the title is layered on top of the main image of the magazine, it tells us that the name is still growing and the magazine is not yet known widely enough to use the image layered to cover the title. The title also includes a sub-line which shows the URL of the magazine’s website, this shows the reader that there is more than just the magazine and online there can be more content. The use of the website also shows that the magazine is based in the UK, this aspect appeals to the British audience, often a national audience are swayed towards picking up their own magazines.

The magazine also has a buzz word associated with the title, “Free”, this is also aesthetically pleasing to the audience in the way that it uses the style of a yellow price tag sticker, which most people have come into contact with in their life. The “price tag” also has the date of the magazine on it, this shows that the magazine is a monthly magazine and therefore shows the reader that there will be a lot of content in there, which opposes the general look of the magazine.

The background of the magazine is an artist who we can assume is the main feature in the magazine. She has minimal make-up on and is addressing the reader directly, by using this close-up shot of the artist it creates a connection with the reader and draws them in. The artist has quite a blank expression on her face but her mouth is poised as if she is about to speak, this ties in with the sub-line which says “The first lady of folk speaks”. This again, reinforces the fact that she is addressing the reader directly. When considering the lighting used, it is very light which gives the artist a pale complexion; this compliments the title of the magazine with the pale, neutral colours. However, this juxtaposes the bold, black colour of the name of the artist.

The cover lines on the magazine are positioned at the sides of the magazine, the frame the artists face and, in a way surround her, which could connote the layout of the magazine, indicating that the cover story will be in the centre of the magazine. The cover lines use a serif font which gives them more presence on the page, also, the use of the colouring links with the title and emphasises the link shared between them. There are only four extra cover lines on the cover of the magazine, this again links to the idea of not overpowering the reader with information, only the names of the artists are used on the cover of the magazine, this leaves the audience wanting more information and beckons them to pick up the magazine.

Another key feature of the magazine is the main cover line. The text is a serif font and simply highlights the name of the artist. The black colour contrasts the white that is used in all of the other fonts however, white is used to back shadow the text which emphasises the colour scheme once more which is, for the most part, black and white. All of this in context again shows that the magazine is simple and straight to the point simply doing its job and doing it well. There is one small feature which adds a small amount of complexity to the magazine in the form of a small element which, I believe, is used to balance the layout of the wording, if it was not used it could be said that it was too heavy on the side of the letter “G”.

This is a click through link to the analysis of the contents page: