Doctor Who Key Magazine Conventions

Title – From the Doctor who front cover we can see that the title ‘Doctor Who’ is clearly visible at the top of the magazine cover. This is so it is easy and clear to see, the title also links in with Doctor Who as in it is like a sort of theme font that you would only notice when you see Doctor Who. A part of the Doctor Who sign is covered by one of the Doctor Who’s which shows flexibility and a sense of recognition on the part of the loyal audience.

Slogan – A slogan is something which is short and catchy which can also be a phrase and is used to sum up the magazines image and stick in the readers mind. On this Doctor Who front cover we can see the slogan is ‘The day of the Doctor’. This gives you an indication of what you will be going to read in the magazine as there are three different doctors on the cover this links with it.

Central image – Most magazines employ a strong central image however in this case there are three different individuals but one is at the centre of all of them, which may show he has the most power out of all of them. As you can see all three of doctors are looking straight at us as if they are wanting us to buy the magazine themselves sort of like drawing us in.

Cover lines – When the cover is shown by the central image you would see text around to advertise the contents of the magazine. These also link with the cover image and have a meaning to why they are said. One of them in this front cover would be ‘The doctors past comes back to haunt him’ this links in with the central image as the main doctor who is in the middle is surrounded by the other two doctors and they are most likely the past.

Free offer – Some magazines came with small gifts and promotions, short messages would alert the reader. The gifts are closely targeted to those who are the magazines core consumers. On this front cover it says 12 anniversary art cards, 9 downloads of Doctor Who adventures and you could win blu ray, DVD’s, CD’s and books which all add to the promotion of the magazine.

Colour scheme – In most magazines there tends to be a limited colour scheme so it doesn’t look so confusing. Certain colours are used to try and portray a certain vibe. In this front cover there are mainly darker colours and no bright colours and this links in with the main image as they are not smiling because if they were smiling and the colour of the magazine was bright like a sort of yellow it wouldn’t link and would therefore confuse the potential consumers.

Name checks – Name checks on the front cover act as a clear indicator of the cultural territory this where the magazine focuses on something in which those consumers can link to. So for e.g. on this certain front cover it says inside and shows tardises which is something if you watch Doctor Who would understand and draws the viewers in.

Language – The language on the front cover would also be significant, it would be snappy and efficient this is so because readers would read the front covers at a very short time possible and wouldn’t want to see a whole lot of writing. So the language used on the front cover would have to be sort of USP’s to try and draw the readers in. Also using jargon on that certain magazine would help. The writing on the Doctor Who cover is bald and stands out also most of the language is short and snappy and there are not many words on the front cover as there is.

Bar code, date and price – For straightforward commercial selling purposes there as to be these three things on the front cover. The pricing and barcode are seen on the Doctor Who front cover at the near bottom left of the magazine and is visible for everyone to see.

The ‘real’ target audience – It is not uncommon for magazines to target an audience that might not immediately target that audience. For e.g. a magazine may officially target 17 year olds but 13-14 year olds could still read them. In this case for Doctor Who I believe it would target a whole wide audience. This is due that it comes on at BBC1 on Saturdays and also on prime time showings on TV, so as a result would target families, teenagers, adults and even elderly people. However I believe the magazine would target a much younger audience due to the fact it is a magazine and older ages may not want to read magazines and would rather read newspapers.