Conventions of a magazine genre

All magazines must follow the same rule what ever their genre is. These rules are, image and logo. This says that the header must fit the content and the target audience, for example for a magazine targeted at males the title must be big and bold with straight lines, this will appeal to the target audience more then a more softer and smaller header. Also the name of the magazine must also do this in order to grab the right target audiences attention. The colour scheme is very important too in creating a style to which the target audience appeals to, for example pink and purples for girls magazines. 

 Mode of address. This is where the text creates a relationship with the audience, the most common MOD in magazines is direct address, this is created when the person on the front cover looks straight out of the magazine which invites the reader in. Indirect is when the person is looking away, it is not convention, but has been used on magazine covers. MOD can also refer to the writing of a magazine and how it addresses the reader, usually in a friendly non formal way through things such as the font of the writing. 

 Stars and celebrities. Magazines usually include stars and celebrities on their covers in order to increase sales and therefore profits. famous musicians are conventionally included on magazine covers to sell the magazine.

 The front cover of the magazine is its main advertisement, this is because it represents the whole of the magazine. It should be bright, interesting and eye-catching to entice the reader to want to buy the magazine and buy it. The colours should represent the target audience, but also in a music magazine it should represent the genre of music. e.g black for a rock magazine. There usually is different fonts on the cover to make it visually interesting and eye-catching. This is also apparent through out the magazine.

 On the cover also the logo and header are placed at the top of the cover to make it easily recognisable to the target audience. The leading caption usually dominates the page which shows the reader that this is the main article in the magazine and anchors the cover story. Also seen on the cover in smaller writing is the subheadings of other items featured in the magazine, along with a strapline usually on the top or bottom on the page which are used to highlight others stars or stories in the magazine. Barcodes and a date are placed upon the cover usually along with a web address for the magazine.

Content pages, also like the cover, should be bright and colourful, images dominate the txt in order for grazing with direct address on all images. Also the title/header should appear on every page and a full list of the contents of the entire magazine. 

The majority of the money that makes the magazine profitable comes from advertising revenue, therefore the magazine has to appeal to its audience and sell well in order to make revenue. If the magazine does sell well it can then charge highly for advertisement space and encourage companies to advertise within their magazine.