Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Analysis Of Magazine Front Cover

The magazine I am analysing is called ‘Seventeen’ and is a pop magazine aimed at a teenage audience. I have identified a variety of typical conventions and will discuss these in my analysis. The obvious conventions to make a magazine realistic are the barcode and the price, without these the magazine would not look professional.

Masthead – the masthead is placed at the top of the magazine cover. This is a typical convention of a magazine cover as this is typically where you would first look and there for it makes it stand out. The masthead is in the colour pink. This is stereo typically a girl’s colour; which therefore suggest the magazine is aimed at girls. The masthead is a simple font and looks similar to handwriting, suggesting that the magazine is aimed towards teenage girls. Also by having a simple font it takes less attention away from the model used as the main image.

Sub headings – the sub headings are placed around the edge of the magazine. This allows the main image to be more noticeable. The sub headings tell us what is inside the magazine; which draws us in as an audience because they will find it interesting and want to know more about it. There typically is one story on a celebrity. This tends to be what draws us in more as the audience like to know what goes on in a celebrity’s life. The main colours used for the subheadings are white and pink. This makes it look neat. The sub headings include “plus: exclusive discounts inside” the plus is in orange. This makes it stand out more and draw in the audience attention. Including discounts; makes the audience want to buy the magazine more because they can save money on other items.

Feature stories– the feature story is typically placed nearer the title and is always big font as this makes it stand out more. In this magazine the feature story is in large font and in the colours yellow and orange. This is sticking with the colour scheme; which makes it look neater. Yellow represents happiness and there for makes the magazines have a happy vibe to it. 

Main image- The main image is of a well-known celebrity; ‘Hilary Duff’ who would really appeal to the target audience and is also an example of celebrity endorsement. The camera angle chosen is a close up/ mid shot of the celebrity that is typical for a magazine cover. It is also at eye level so it would engage the audience. The facial expression is happy and cheerful which would appeal to the audience. Facially the celebrity used is very pretty which again would engage the audience and be an example of someone that the audience would aspire to be.

Costume- she is wearing a red dress, the colour red is associated with energy, strength and power. Therefore by the model wearing red it shows she is powerful and strong and that will encourage others to buy the magazine as they feel they can be powerful and strong like the model. She is wearing star earrings. Stars are associated with brightness and therefore make her stand out like a star.

The magazine I am analysing is called ‘Billboard’ and is a pop magazine aimed at a primary audience of 18-22 years of age and a secondary audience of 16-30 years of age. I have identified a variety of typical conventions and will discuss these in my analysis. The obvious conventions to make a magazine realistic are the barcode and the price, without these the magazine would not look professional.

Masthead- The Masthead is placed at the top of the magazine cover. This is a typical convention of a magazine cover as this is typically where you would first look and there for it makes it stand out. The masthead is in the colour white. This colour represents purity; which therefore suggest the magazine is aimed at younger women. Some of the letters contain a typically colours you would find it in a disco ball; the use of the colours red and blue and yellow within the Masthead can show that it is not gender specific and it contain both stereotypical gender colours and yellow which is said to be a neutral colour and therefore it applies to both. The masthead is a simple font, which means it takes less attention away from the model used as the main image.

Sub headings – the sub headings are placed around the edge of the magazine. This allows the main image to be more noticeable. The sub headings tell us what is inside the magazine; which draws us in as an audience because they will find it interesting and want to know more about it. There typically is one story on a celebrity. This tends to be what draws us in more as the audience like to know what goes on in a celebrity’s life. The main colours used for the subheadings are white and blue. This makes it look neat. The use of the colour blue indicates that the magazine can be aimed at a male audience as well as a female audience. The word ‘plus’ is written in yellow, this then stands out against the white and blue writing and makes it more eye catching. Also the word plus indicates the audience get something extra with the magazine and means they will want to buy it.

Feature story- The largest subheading is the typically the feature story. This is mostly a story about a celebrity. In this magazine the feature story is about Beyonce. Her name is written in large bold writing. This makes her name stand out. As Beyonce is a well known and extremely popular artist, having her name as the main feature will bring in a larger audience. unlike most other magazines they feature story is placed at the bottom rather than the top.

Main image- The main image is of a well-known celebrity; ‘Beyonce’ who would really appeal to the target audience and is also an example of celebrity endorsement. The camera angle chosen is a long shot of the celebrity that is typical for a magazine cover. It is also at eye level so it would engage the audience. The facial expression is happy and cheerful which would appeal to the audience. Facially the celebrity used is very pretty which again would engage the audience and be an example of someone that the audience would aspire to be.

Costume- she is wearing a white dress, the colour white is associated with power and elegance. Therefore by the model wearing white it shows she is powerful and elegant and that will encourage others to buy the magazine as they feel they can be powerful and strong like the model.

Top line – at the very top of the magazine there is a top line which says ‘women do music’. This shows that the magazine is aimed at women as they want women to buy their magazine and that if they do they will be just like Beyonce.

The magazine I am analysing is called ‘rollingstones’ and is a pop magazine aimed at a primary audience of 18-22 years of age and a secondary audience of 16-30 years of age. I have identified a variety of typical conventions and will discuss these in my analysis. The obvious conventions to make a magazine realistic are the barcode and the price, without these the magazine would not look professional.

Masthead- The Masthead is placed at the top of the magazine cover. This is a typical convention of a magazine cover as this is typically where you would first look and there for it makes it stand out. The masthead is in the colour red. This colour represents power and strength; which therefore suggest the magazine is aimed at young adults. The masthead is a simple font but is different to other magazines which makes the magazine stand out but makes sure the Masthead doesn’t take too much attention away from the celebrity model.

Sub headings – the sub headings are placed on the right hand side of the magazine. Typically the subheadings are placed all round the outside of the magazine, by going against this it makes it stand out as it looks different to the others. This also allows the main image to be more noticeable. The sub headings tell us what is inside the magazine; which draws us in as an audience because they will find it interesting and want to know more about it. There typically is one story on a celebrity. This tends to be what draws us in more as the audience like to know what goes on in a celebrity’s life. The main colours used for the subheadings are white. This makes it look neat. The use of the colour white indicates that the magazine is aimed at a female audience, as white represents purity and this is often associated with women.

Feature story- The largest subheading is the typically the feature story. This is mostly a story about a celebrity. In this magazine the feature story is about Adele. Her name is written in large bold writing. This makes her name stand out. As Adele is a well known and extremely popular artist, having her name as the main feature will bring in a larger audience. Again like ‘Billboard’ magazine the feature story is placed at the bottom rather than the top.

Main image- The main image is of a well-known celebrity; ‘Adele’ who would really appeal to the target audience and is also an example of celebrity endorsement. The camera angle chosen is a close up of the celebrity that is typical for a magazine cover. It is also at eye level so it would engage the audience. The facial expression is straight and serious which would appeal to the audience. also by having a relaxed and straight face it gives the magazine a more mysterious look and makes it more visually interesting and appealing. Again facially the celebrity used is very pretty which again would engage the audience and be an example of someone that the audience would aspire to be.

Costume- she is wearing a black top, the colour black is associated with power and elegance. Therefore by the model wearing white it shows she is powerful and elegant and that will encourage others to buy the magazine as they feel they can be powerful and strong like the model.