Main task: Codes of an Indie music magazine front cover.

• Masthead. are used in order for the buyer to recognize the product they will be buying, although some well known magazines cover some of the masthead with the main image because the buyers will still recognize the style of the magazine. the masthead can also show what genre the magazine is because of the font and colour of font. the masthead is often bold and can be situated anywhere on the top of the magazine, i have found that most mastheads on a music magazine are usually placed towards the top left corner.

• Font. usually in most music magazine there are around 3-4 fonts, and usually are similar, this is the same for indie magazines.

• Colour Theme. this consists of 3 to 4 colours, the reason for this is so that the magazine looks neat and will fit in with the theme of the contents, this also attracts the attention of the audience because they will all fit in together.

• Buzz words. often used in magazines because they attract attention towards the magazine and offer the audience more.

• Main Image. reflects the genre because of the artist/band. there could be more than one image, but usually there is one central image. The image is usually a mid close shot or a long shot and the artist usually looks at the camera, this could show the magazine looking towards the buyer. The body language represented in the image can reflect the genre. the image may also interest those who enjoy the band or artist that is on the front.

• Cover stories. usually go with genre of the magazine, they also attract the buyer because they may see interest in what is in the magazine.

• Smaller pictures, give more of an insight to what will be in the magazine, these may not always be used on the front cover.

• A banner. used mostly for added information, it is also used when a buzz word is used to grab the buyers attention.

• Taglines. promote the magazine and create a catch phrase.

• Interviews. often lead the buyer in, like the coverstorys would becaue they will be looking for the artists they are interested in.

• Issue Date. is standard codes and conventions of a music magazine because this will infrom the buyer how up to date it is. the barcode and the price are usually positioned in the sam place as the issue date because this allows the buyer to gather the information needed quick and easy.