The document analyzes the covers of several magazines to understand design conventions that appeal to different target audiences. It finds that successful magazine covers typically include catchy headlines to attract readers' interest, prominently feature people or topics relevant to the audience, and use colors, fonts and imagery consistent with the publication's branding. The research identifies key elements like cover lines, photography style and barcodes that the document's author intends to apply in their own magazine design work to appeal to a target readership.
2. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
Audience Profile
Creative/artistic society
who enjoy films as well as
art and gripping graphics
3. Existing Product
Coverlines- draws readers in
Audience appeal
This cover appeals to its target
demographic in many ways
Firstly they have used a main
character/actor in a new
popular film. This would
interest the audience because
they are movie fans and so as a
result will want to know more
about the movie.
the have put the movie title in
the middle of the page further
showing the audience that they
will be writing about it.
They included enticing
coverlines such as, ”star-lords
gang returns” and “we are
going to surpass expectation”.
This makes the reader want to
find out more and get the
inside scoop
Conventions
Color scheme
The have a blue color scheme which
matches with the thee of OutSpace. They
have also made some of the text orange
to stand out. This color scheme make the
cover more appealing to the eye and will
make the target audience more likely to
buy it
Photography
they have included a picture of Chris Pratt
who plays a leading role in gradians of the
galaxy
Text/picture ratio
Compared to little white lies the amount
of writing on the over is a lot more. This
shows that whilst magazines talk about
the same topics, they are able to stand
out by having a different style. Some
movie fans will enjoy this type of
magazine more enjoyable to read, whilst
others prefer ”little white lies'" style
Font choices
The font on the cover are mostly bold.
This makes the writing easier to read and
draws more attention. Some of the text
isn’t bold, like below the quote, Chris
Pratt's name.
4. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
Audience Profile
Vegans both male and
female aged around 18 and
over would read this
magazine.
5. Existing Product
Audience appeal
The target market for this
magazine are vegans.
This cover appeals to its target
audience as it displays a photo of
healthy looking food. The food
looks appealing and so the
audience would find this
appealing.
They used color to make the
magazine look good and eye
catching, one thing they did was
they made some of the font and
blobs green to match the avocado
in the dish.
Because the audience is mainly
older people they have made
some coverlines bold such as
under pressure, which many older
people face and as a result the will
relate and want to pick it up.
the photo on the cover has been
taken on table with good lighting.
The reason why it wasn’t taken in a
studio is because it doesn’t fit with
their branding to do so. This
magazine targets the
working/middle class and include
simple recipes that they can follow.
By taking simple photo makes the
audience relate to the image. If it
was taken in a studio it would look
too professional and as a result
intimidate the target market
This magazine also include
some article mainly to do with
healthy living. This fts the brand
well because the target market
are vegans meaning that they
have actively made a choice to
be vegan and so will be
interested in the healthy
lifestyle.
barcode
Unlike the other vegan magazine this
one does not emphasize the amount of
recipes included inside. The talk more
about the articles included
6. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread
Audience Profile
The cosmopolitan’s demographic are
young adults mostly women. It
talked on subjects such as fashion,
celebrity gossip and has a variety of
AD’s for designer products.
7. Existing ProductHead is covering part of the title.
Just like cosmopolitan. This makes
the cover more focused on the
celebrity. The text also helps to
emphasizes the celebrity by
surrounding her.
This reflect the magazine well
since they talk about celebrities,
beauty/fashion and give advice
Color scheme
On this cover they have
stuck with neutral tones
(black white and grey) this
again put most of the focus
on Beyoncé. They have also
used red to emphasis some
of the text.
This photo was taken
in a studio
suggesting that its
high quality and
mainstream media.
Barcode
Because this is mainstream
media the photo has been
taken professionally in a
studio. This suggests to the
audience the quality if the
magazine.
Articles include updates
on celebrities and gossip,
adverts and fashion. All
things to do with
mainstream media
The writing is not intimidating. It
tells the reader what the
magazine roughly contains. They
use word that shock or interest
the reader such as “shockingly”
and “strong”.
8. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products have?
– They all design their covers to attract their audience and suggest what
their magazine is about.
– They design their covers based on what will attract their target audience
– Most of them all have cover lines to interest people into wanting to find
out more
– When they have a image/photograph of a celebrity they all put the photo
in front of the title (now films, cosmopolitan and vouge all do this).
– They all have a barcode
• What aspects of the research will you include within your
on work?
– I would like to include cover lines and studio photography.
– A barcode
– I also really like the design of little white lies
Choose a recent product similar to your own and annotate it- scan real magazines or use issuu.com
Type of content- studio/location photography, articles, reviews, adverts
Conventions – colour schemes, photography, writing style, text/picture ratio, font choices, mode of address
Codes – Written, symbolic
Audience appeal- how does it make its audience want to buy/read it?
Choose a recent product similar to your own and annotate it- scan real magazines or use issuu.com
Type of content- studio/location photography, articles, reviews, adverts
Conventions – colour schemes, photography, writing style, text/picture ratio, font choices, mode of address
Codes – Written, symbolic
Audience appeal- how does it make its audience want to buy/read it?
Choose a recent product similar to your own and annotate it- scan real magazines or use issuu.com
Type of content- studio/location photography, articles, reviews, adverts
Conventions – colour schemes, photography, writing style, text/picture ratio, font choices, mode of address
Codes – Written, symbolic
Audience appeal- how does it make its audience want to buy/read it?
