Fangoria magazine cover analysis

The ‘Fangoria’ layout style is fairly organised and uniform due to the colours of the cover lines and fonts matching up on each side. The only difference is the masthead, main cover line and the tagline. This is because they want each of these to stand out on their own. Every magazine will have a masthead. This conforms to the typical convention by being unique in terms of font and its whereabouts on the page. The colour scheme of ‘Fangoria’ utilises conventional horror colours such as black and red to connote the genre of horror to the magazine. Black represents darkness and shadows, while red usually connotes blood and gore. The shape of the masthead is also very reminiscent to the film ‘Dracula’ as the edges – the ‘F’ and the ‘A’ are arched like fangs which relate heavily to horror. Above the masthead is the sell line, the font is in yellow to stand out against the background and go with the yellow ‘Splash’. The purpose of a sell line is to give the readers a little more information as to what features inside the magazine. The feature of the magazine is the main image located in the centre of the front cover, which donotes the themes of horror in many aspects. For example the pale, white old woman with blacked out eyes and green tinged hair simply symbolises terror. Although there are many other features, this one is the most eye-catching due to the candle she is holding. The cover lines on either side of the old woman make the magazine uniform because the colours are ordered the same on each side and in the same font which makes them eye-catching as a whole. The main cover line is ‘Insidious’ because it is the largest cover line on the page, and in a different font making it stand out. This means that the main article will be on the film insidious. The use of red on the ‘SI’ also makes it uniform even though it’s in a different font. Unique and very appealing features of this magazine are the 4 sub-images located at the bottom of the page, which are scenes from memorable moments in horror films. This is very effective at gaining the attention of the reader who recognises these images. They are separated from the main cover line by a dotted, white line in the same font as the cover line.