Barcode

The barcode is an optical machine readable representation of data and is needed on the magazine so that the buyer can purchase it.
Few magazines have the barcode on the top of the magazine front cover or close to the title. In the example to the left, the barcode is positioned on the bottom left hand side, out of the way of important sub content titled on the front cover. This is the position for the barcode used by many magazines.
The barcode seems an irrelevant aspect on any magazine that you buy because it is purely for the retailers use. Therefore, we could question, why it is placed on the front cover rather than inside, out of the way? This is because the shop assistant selling the magazine needs to quickly scan the item rather than flicking through pages to look for the barcode.