The conventions of a Magazine cover (College and Music magazine)

• Masthead Title Piece - This is the magazines title and is usually found in the top left corner of a magazine.
• Left Third - This is the most noticeable part of the magazine where the title, advertisements and main features of the magazine are shown. This is very important as it ensures customers can notice the magazine more than its competitors. Also the top 5th corner is important for similar reasons, it is vital in supermarkets where magazines are displayed differently.
• Cover Lines - These are distributed around the main image without detracting the emphasis from the masthead. They can advertise other topics featured inside of magazine and are usually found on the left and right sides of the cover.
• Sell Lines - These are short, sharp descriptions of the title's main marketing point. The magazines motto. 
• Bar code - A standard code used by retailers to tell what the product is. 
• Dateline - Shows the month and year of publication within the print.
• Splash - This is the front cover of a magazine.
• Credit - This is presented on the magazine and tells the reader who wrote the article.
• Kicker - A short phrase found above the mast head, it is used as an introduction to the magazine, a punch line to get the reader interested in the article.
• Teller - This is a subtitle that tells you what the article is about.
• Screamers - A phrase on the front of a magazine that shouts at you, this can be determined by the colour, font and whether the writing is bold/underlined etc. 
• Skyline - The skyline is the section of the magazine above the mast head; here is where what the magazine is about (celeb gossip ... food ... exercise) is usually featured.
• Flash - This is like an advert which appears to be raised above everything else on the page, it often advertises free products and may be in the shape of a star (for example, Win a FREE holiday!).
• Graphology - It flashes at you.
• Anchorage - Giving the picture meaning, for example if there was a picture of Barack Obama, the anchorage would be text saying something like 'Obama's big speech'.
• Colour Scheme - This if generally three or four colours that are used on the front cover; for example the background may be purple, some text red, some green. Any boxes or Flashes on the page would stick to these colours.
• Vocabulary - The words used.
• Images - Self-explanatory; photographs, animated pictures (clipart).