Magazine Genre Cover Codes and Conventions Research Project Pt.1

            Codes and conventions of "Mother Earth Living"  Cover                 

       To further consider what I will be including in my magazine, i've come to analyze yet another magazine. I've chosen to look into the magazine titled "Mother Earth Living" because it is closely related to what I am basing my own magazine on. It mainly focuses on the holistic and medicinal uses of natural resources from our earth. By looking into the different issue covers, I identified their codes and conventions.

       Symbolic codes play a major role in the magazines covers  introducing their unique topics. The setting in this magazine can give a general feel of what the issue will be related to. In the June 2018 issue, the cover of the magazine is taking place outdoors in what seems like a backyard, embellished with a set of lavender flowers. This symbolizes that this issue will perhaps deal with outdoor gardening and useful yard work strategies. In my magazine I would like most of my covers to be pictures that take place outdoor such as this particular summer issue.
      Although the magazine concentrates mainly on technical codes, it also  has a significant use of symbolic codes. By including clearly presented objects and ingredients they create a lucid story and depiction of what the magazine will contain. For instance, in the November- December issue, a passport, travel-sized containers and a bag are set up together to suggest the concept of traveling. These symbolic codes are used to communicate the narrative of travel to the audience and make it clear as to what the issue will be focusing on. I would like to do the same in my magazine since I will be centering it around plants, I will need the pictures to tell a narrative so the audience can distinguish the theme of one issue from another.
     Another use of symbolic code is the color choice of the front covers. They often incorporate clean and calm colors such as deep greens, purples and blues. This gives the audience a simple and eye-catching depiction of the topic, while keeping the photo editing very subtle. I would like to keep this calm color scheme but perhaps add some more complex aspects to my images.

     The mast head is written with a combination of serif font and sans font. The smaller words "Mother Earth" are written with sans serif. The may be because it is written out in smaller text, and sans font would make the words clearer to the reader. The word "Living" is written in significantly larger and brighter text to outline that the magazine concentrates on life-style. The large text is written in serif, adding a decor factor to its cover page yet maintaining its simplicity. The mast head consistently takes up about one fourth of the cover page, being accompanied by the main article inside their magazine with bold black letter, which varies from one issue to another. The bold black letters must be intentionally used to make the article stand out, enticing the reader to open the magazine and read further into it. In my own magazine I would like to come up with an original structure for the written codes but maintain this easy-to-read aspect.
     Written codes are never included in the lower right quadrant of the page, leaving that space open for the photos and any visual elements. Diction such as "garden","flower" and "herb" give a direct picture of the magazine's objective. They are included in the different issues. In the lower left of the cover, a list of what is included inside the issue will be found. This is a simple way of displaying its interior and the audience will always know where to find the topics selected for the issue. It is also notably legible since it is encompassed by a light rectangle and sans serif dark litter are used. I'm going to keep these clear written codes but perhaps add other words to focus on my health theme and add more articles that associate with plants from different parts of the world.