Codes and Conventions of a magazine

Although magazines each have their own readership that they need to caterer for, most of them follow the same codes and conventions.

• The magazine title or master head is usually the first thing we see on a magazine cover. It is always positioned at the top, at the left or centre of the magazine.
• Images inside the magazine are typically to the right of the text, and images on the front of the magazine are usually in the centre of the page below the title.
• The main image on magazines are usually large and fill the whole page. 
• The main image is usually of celebrity that is being interviewed in the magazine. 
• The magazine will usually have a title which has the same colours on it every week/month; however the general colour scheme of the magazine is subject to change weekly/ monthly. 
• There is text and/or images around the main image giving the reader an idea of what is in the rest of the magazine. These are usually colourful to grab the reader’s attention. 
• Secondary leads are also a code and convention. It is a short extract of an article or story within, and is often linked to the picture on the front cover. It can be found on the index page or on the front page.
• The contents page is found on the first page (after the front page). However, there may be advertisements on the first couple of pages pushing the contents page back. The contents page lists everything that is included inside and what page they are on.

So, those are the codes and conventions of a magazine. Whether it is a fashion, sports or music magazine pretty much all of the magazines follow these expectations.