PARTS OF A MAGAZINE AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The main parts of a magazine are the cover, cover pages, table of contents, imprint, editor's letter, articles, and back. A magazine is a periodic publication of content -articles and interviews especially-, accompanied by advertising, horoscopes, and thousands of creative ways of representing information.

Some of the most internationally famous magazines are Time, Forbes, National Geographic, Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Motor Trend, The New Yorker, Marie Claire, among others.

A great way to share your own vision is through a magazine. To make a magazine, you only need to create meaningful content around a solid theme capable of attracting a specific market, then organize that content with an attractive design and publish it digitally or through print.

Even a single person can make a handmade magazine, or use software to design and print a professional quality magazine.

In general, today's magazines follow the same structure and although there are magazines that do not, this approach is predetermined. It is a reference point that can be modified in many ways for the needs of each particular publication.

Main parts of magazines

Magazines consist of seven parts: the cover, cover pages, table of contents, imprint, editor's letter, articles, and back.

- Cover page

Cover of Time with Al Capone in 1930.

This is the first page of the magazine, so in some ways it is the most important. It is never too early to start thinking about what a good cover photo might look like.

Most editors use an image related to an important feature that will be developed within the magazine.

- Cover pages

They come after the cover, they are usually of the same material as the cover and almost 100% of the cases are advertisements. The second page of the cover is reserved for advertising. This is the second most expensive ad page.

The third cover page is again reserved for advertisers and is the third most expensive ad page in the magazine.

The last cover page is at the back of the magazine and is the most expensive ad page.

- Advertisements

In addition to the price of the magazine, the companies that sell it make money from advertising. Usually the ads are related to the theme of the magazine; If, for example, it is a Formula 1 magazine, there could be advertisements for cars or motorcycles.

They usually occupy a large part of the number, in many cases up to 60% of the content of the magazine. They stand out for being impressive images in full color.

Ads are usually placed on odd-numbered pages (the ones on the right), as the reader tends to be the first thing to look at. In turn, they can be double-sided, being a more spectacular but also more expensive format.

Top one page ad and bottom double sided. Vanity fair magazine.

- Table of contents / Index / Summary

Table of contents of the magazine Ojo de agua

After many pages of ads, the table of contents serves as a quick breakdown of how the magazine is organized. It is especially useful when a reader is intrigued by the cover and wants to read more, to flip to the content and easily find the article they were looking for.

The table of contents can be designed with or without margins, but it is important to distinguish the content elements so that the reader can understand what the page number is, the title of the topic and a short description of the topic if you want to include it. A good typeface choice is crucial in this part.

In some cases the arrangement of this element can be really creative, with photographs or illustrations and a very attractive typography for reading.

- Imprint / contributors / writers

GQ Magazine Team

This is the part of the magazine that is normally placed in the front of the book, although some magazines place it in the back.

Imprint or "masthead" is the list of all the people who work on the magazine. From the newsroom to the marketing people, sales, ads, to editors and key people in the publisher that is producing the magazine.

The design of this page is quite simple and clean. The logo is generally placed at the top of this page.

- Letter from the editor (s)

In this magazine, they joined the editor's letter with the list of contributors.

It is the first editorial page of the magazine. It is a welcome letter from the editor-in-chief in which he explains the content of the topic.

It depends on the style of the publication and the journalistic voice of the editor. It basically covers the main topics, but may also contain some thoughts on the topics this magazine covers in general.

It is usually a page and includes an image related to the message or the publisher (s).

- Articles

This is the largest bulk of the magazine. There is no specific length for articles, and they can be short and occupy half a page or be long and cover up to ten pages.

In fact, when the magazine is organized, short and long articles tend to happen. For example, a five-page article may be followed by a two-page article instead of another five-page article. This improves the rate of reading the magazine.

The designs related to these pages are where the designers have the most freedom, although a certain style of the publication must be adhered to.

It is important to state that each article must be visibly different than the other because the reader can be confused if he does not know where one ends and the other begins.

- Rear

Short interview with Martin Berasategui. Vanity Fair Magazine

This part of the magazine contains the remaining content, shorter articles, news, listings, remaining columns and horoscope. Again, as in the beginning of the magazine, this part of the magazine follows a rigid structure and the design is hardly changed.

In general, so-called "classified" ads can be found here. Smaller ads, 1/4 of a page to 1/16 of a page, are grouped and placed on these pages.

Depending on the nature of the magazine, the last page is reserved for a columnist, a short essay, a short interview, or some similar relaxed content.

- Others

Glamor magazine issue with sunglasses as a gift.

Some magazines may include freebies to attract readers. For example, computer or video game magazines may include CDs with demo software / games; fashion magazines samples of cologne or sunglasses; health ones offer sun creams and those dedicated to literature or history bring mini books on a specific topic.

References

1. Nikola. (2013). "Structure of the Magazine". Recovered from magazinedesigning.com.
2. WikiHow Editor Team. (2017). "How to make a Magazine". Recovered from wikihow.com.
3. Casson, V. (2012). "Magazine conventions and terminology". Recovered from es.slideshare.net.
4. Macmillan English Dictionary - a free English dictionary online. (2016). "Types of newspaper or magazine". Recovered from macmillandictionary.com.
5. Nikola. (2013). "Elements of a Magazine Page". Recovered from magazinedesigning.com.
6. Permunian, K. (2016). What are the main parts of a magazine cover? How is a magazine cover designed? ”. Recovered from quora.com.