2. House Style
Not only do we need to follow the codes and conventions of all magazine covers, but we
also need to follow the codes of conventions of our chosen magazine companies house
style. House style is where a magazine uses similar layout and structure for all their
covers.
• House Style can be achieved through the use of masthead, font, colours, logo,
placement of pictures and location of barcode.
• A defined House Style is used by nearly every magazine on the market today to give
each magazine a specific look and layout.
• By having a more recognisable cover, it is easier for the reader to discover the
magazine on the shelf as they are familiar with the layout and font types of the
magazine.
3. Entertainment Weekly
Yet also the magazine company Entertainment Weekly
is a highly successful company with a circulation of
blank. By making sure our magazine is made
recognisable to this company it will make it more
popular.
To do this we need to follow their house style, so we
did some research into their style, on the following
slides:
Our chosen magazine company to market our film on their cover is Entertainment
Weekly.
In order for the magazine to market the film best it can, to gain a wider audience for
our film. The magazine will need to follow common conventions of a magazine to
persuade readers to pick up a copy.
4. Background
After research, we discovered a common element
of the background colours and images that occurs
in many Entertainment Weekly covers: the use of
a gradient background.
• The gradient background often follows a
theme, of being lightest in the middle and
gradually gets darker to the corners.
• This is very effective as the light in the middle
highlights the image of the characters on the
cover and the darkness around the edges is a
good background for the typically white sell
lines to stand out against.
• The gradient is often achieved through the
use of two colours but has also been done
through the use of light in images (typically
clouds).
5. Masthead
• Entertainment Weekly always uses the
same font for their masthead, making it
more recognisable for their audience. So
we would need to copy this font.
• The Mast head is always located at the top
of the magazine, this is done so when the
magazine is stacked on shelves the reader
can still spot the magazine.
• Sometimes the image also overlaps the
title due to it being so recognisable
anyway, however not ever cover does this.
• However there is not one notable colour
for the masthead that is generally linked to
the company's house style, although there
are certain colours that do seem to be
repeatedly used.
• Common colours; red, blue and grey. Also
sometimes the colours have a gradient
effect.
6. Main Image• The main images that are used on the
magazine are always placed in the center
of the cover, matching to the gradient
background which highlights the image.
• The image is also very large, generally
covering much of the cover, really
making a bold statement to the reader.
• The images are generally of characters
from films or TV shows or singers. The
image is always of a character not the
actor, so they are dressed and posed like
the character they portray in the film or
programme.
• There is a range of full body and close up
shots, but always of people.
This is why we chose the picture of us holding
the sign as it more relates to our characters.
Otherwise it would not be as obvious it is a
picture of our character rather than the
actors.
7. Sell LinesObviously due to each issue being about a different
type of entertainment, film, TV etc. It is hard to
imply there is a single phrase that is repeatedly
used, but there are some general phrases used
often. Plus there is a common theme of the
typography of the titles:
• Common repetition of the phrases ‘exclusive’
and ‘first look’ intriguing the audience due to
the uniqueness of the magazines feature.
• The most common colour of the titles is
White. Due to the background colour of the
magazine rarely being white, by using a bold
white font makes the sell lines stand out.
• Location: The titles are normally either side of
the image and surround it. Implying that the
sell lines are related to the image. So If the
audience picks up the magazine based on the
image, they can infer that a lot of the
magazines content will also be to do with this.
8. Other text devices
• Barcode and Price – After researching many magazine
covers of EW, we discovered there was only a few
covers that actually had a barcode on it. We found
out that normally they sell the issue in a separate
plastic covering which has the barcode and price on.
The barcode ultimately distracting the reader from
looking at the image and sell lines on the cover.
• Date and Issue – The date and issue of the magazine
is either just below or just above the mast head. It is
very small in size so does not take too much attention
away from the masthead and image. Yet the letters
are bold and in all capitals so it is still readable.
• Anchorage text – On most covers there is an
anchorage texts over the image, linking the text to the
image. Such as an image of a character of a film has
the an anchorage text over it of the title of the film
• Banner – on many issues there is a banner at the top
of the magazine above the masthead. The banner
states the same thing each time “ BEST MOVIES TV
MUSIC BOOKS”. Giving a clear indication to the reader
what the magazine offers.
9. Our Magazine
We must now make sure that we use this research of
entertainment weekly when making our final copy. We
can now always refer back to this PowerPoint during the
process to make sure what we do is accurate and to
inspire us.
In order to achieve the most recognisable and effective
house style of Entertainment Weekly.
