Conclusion On Magazine Covers

Overall, after research both within and outside of my chosen magazine genre, I have gathered various generic and specific conventions of magazines.

In general, magazines conventionally have very defined house-styles to present the concept of their magazines as a brand image. Along with this, the images used are often mid-shots of recognised people within the media, which attracts the target audience, because it will most often be somebody that a person of that audience admires. The camera usually focuses on the eyes to make the cover seem more personal, because of the eye contact being created, and the audience therefore feels engaged with the cover, for it attracts their attention. 

The celebrity usually draws attention by somehow contrasting with the text surrounding the image, be it through costume or through general presentation.

In terms of the content on the cover, there are usually unique features that the target audience would be interested in. In the case of music magazines, the headlines feature stories on artists, music reviews and news, along with competitions and free gifts. All of these combined together intend to win over most people within the magazine's target audience, which is why they proceed with buying it. 

With a magazine aimed at teenage girls, the cover ought to have pops of colour alongside the established colour scheme, to bring an aspect of fun, so the target audience is attracted to the different colours, and can easily highlight that the magazine is aimed for them, because the varying in font sizes and colours is unique to magazines of that age group. 

For my magazine, it is important for me to understand that conventions relating to the Pop/Rock genre of music magazines have to be present, along with the fact that the expectations of my target audience must be fulfilled.