Task 2: Magazines and Audiences Part 1 - Terminology

Masthead - The name of the magazine displayed in the typeface that it was designed This is an example of visual branding and it made to be very recognizable.

Dateline - This shows the month and year of publication and sometimes the price.

Main image - The main image on the front of the magazine, this usually involves a close up of a model making direct eye-contact with the audience.

Model Credit - A credit to the model/photographer, however this is very unusual to appear on the front cover.

Cover lines - Snippets of information from the articles in the magazine that are placed onto the front cover. This is used too advertise what is inside of the magazine.

Main cover line - This promotes the main article of the magazine, something that is either popular to the target audience or can be seen as controversial. In the example above the main cover line is a bold red colour and is perfectly in line with the main image so that it is in direct eye contact.

Left third - This is a very important part of any magazine, it makes the magazine recognizable among many others so that the target audience know what to look for. It always contains the more important articles where in the western world it is natural to read left to right. (Source: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/glossary_of_magazine/)

Barcode - Standard barcode used by retailers. This is to identify the issue and for the company to be aware of how many magazines they are selling all over the country/world. (Source: http://www.nationalbarcode.com/info/use-of-barcode-scanners.html)

Selling line - This sums up the magazine and is usually used as the magazines main marketing point. It usually is a catchy hook or an achievement. Eg. The cover above has "The world's number 1 magazine for young women)


Bleed - The front cover image is usually printed on slightly larger paper and trimmed so that the image reaches the border. (Source: http://agcj.tamu.edu/405/PDF/Basic%20Magazine%20Terminology.pdf)

Drip Advertising - Advertisements/ Products that are shown for long periods of time.

Burst Advertising - Works alongside Drip advertising, usually a big advertisement of a certain brand that relates to the target audience and can usually be placed at certain times of the year. For example. Swiss watches will be advertised in middle class newspapers around Christmas time to encourage sales. Drip advertising keeps up the promotion of the product in the magazine for weeks to come so that the buyer is constantly reminded of it.

Checkerboard - A type of magazine advertising with diagonal quarters or half pages.

Genre - Characterized by font/ articles/ cover and main image. Stereotypically a magazine aimed at men would include blue themes with articles about gadgets, sports or women whereas a female magazine would stereotypically have a pink theme with articles on fashion, health and shoes.

Cropping - cutting the image so that only a particular part is shown. This can be put on front covers to be used as a visual hook to make the reader curious. This can also be known as masking.