analysis of front cover magazines

I will now compare three magazines which are very different. The three magazines I will now compare are ‘teen VOGUE’, ‘COLLEGE’ and ‘Heat'

The target audience for this magazine would be teenage girls and boys age 11-16. The use of the main image of the model, Miley Cyrus a singer and an actor is a great way of targeting young teenagers because she has a lot of fans who would buy this magazine. She is wearing a white dress with daisies in her hair, natural make-up with a soft but fun smile, this makes her look innocent and sweet. Young youths will be influence by her which another great way of reaching out to their target audience. The subjects of the cover lines beauty, dresses, swimsuits makes it look like a girl’s magazine but if you read the other cove lines ‘girl hot vs. guys hot,’ is a popular selling line for both male and female, ‘earth angel’ suggest that it might also be aimed at boys. The masthead is normally behind the main image however here it is placed on top of the main image but it does not affect the picture because of the way it is being placed. Both the image and masthead stands out. The different colours and font that are used purple, green and yellow can relate to both genders and also help the reader to know the different articles that are featured in the magazine. They are very eye catching; the main cover line is in big front than the rest of the cover lines because shows its importance.

This is also a student magazine cover with medium close up of a male student standing in the middle of the frame, holding books about law, business and society which immediately tells the reader what this magazine is all about. This magazine also shows the model’s smile and posture is very inviting, relaxed which has a positive denotation. The costume of the model is formal. The model is portrayed as an educated person this shows the seriousness of the magazine but for a youthful audience. The target audience for this magazine is very clear, it’s aimed at male student age 16-19 or above due to the fact that students sometimes are a lot older in college. However this magazine might also be aimed at female students as they will be more attracted to the cover due to the handsome model that has been used. This magazine has been called a ‘College Lifestyle’ and has stuck to the codes and conventions of a magazine the use of three colours black , green and white which is very affective and which is a man’s stereotype instead of a woman’s.

The masthead is at the top of the page behind the model and the use of the colour green is eye catching and it stands out. Also the cover lines are both on the left and right sides of the frame, in different font sizes and the colour green and white. The cover lines have been placed so that the main image is not covered and the page not overcrowded, simple yet refined. The main cover line is shown clearly as it has bigger font.

Heat was launched in February 1999 published by Bauer Consumer Media and in 2004 became biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million

Heat magazine is an entertainment that features, gossip, celebrity news, fashion, TV listings celebrity interviews. The target audience of ‘HEAT’ would be female age 16 and above because everyone does like bit of gossip. There is a lot going on in this front cover. The main cover line on the frame is features two contestant from x-factor Alexandra Burke and Stacey Solomon about their body, the font is big and in pink and covers half of the page which catches the reader’s attention straight away. This picture is a paparazzi shot and  this makes the reader want to read on to find out who has what shape of body and what people think of it. There are other cover lines in different colours and accompanied by pictures at the top and bottom of the page that shows what other articles are featured in the magazine. The other cover lines and pictures have smaller fonts so that they do not distract the reader from the main cover line and pictures. The mast head is in large, bold red font which represent ‘heat’ makes it sound more dramatic. The ‘Heat’ magazine uses words like ‘new’ or ‘exclusive’ and exclamatory mark to make everything sound interesting and tell let them know that they can only get this information in the magazine.

The ‘teen VOGUE’ magazine did not follow the codes and conventions of a magazine because it has no barcode and no price on the front cover whereas ‘COLLEGE’ and ‘Heat’ both have a barcode and price. Also ‘College’ magazine used three colours, again also following the conventions but ‘teen vogue’ and ‘Heat’ have used more than three therefore would have had to pay a lot more for printing and has not followed the conventions. These magazines have different target audience because ‘teen VOGUE’ is age 11-16 and ‘Heat’ 16 and above. Both of these magazines looks informal whereas ‘COLLEGE’ is age 16-19 and it looks more formal. ‘teen VOUGE’ and ‘ COLLEGE’ have used one image for their front cover but ‘Heat’ has used more than one.