Magazine Cover Review

Magazines are designed to pull your attention. That’s why most magazines use bold big and bright lettering as well as celebrities on the cover page. Lots of the magazines I looked at did this. Magazines also have target audiences, for example some magazines target women and others target men. My initial impressions of these magazines were expected, they all had different group of contents and lettering and mostly all went along with the topic or focus of the magazine. Each image on the cover pages had significant impacts and really showed you the purpose or themes of the magazines. Also, each magazine targeted a different audience, some towards men, women, African Americans, Moms, and people who like fashion. My current position on selecting a magazine did increase because I do like the themes and the idea of how the cover photo and fonts can target different audiences. 

One of the first magazines I viewed was “O” (Oprah’s magazine). The cover page had a candid photo of Oprah holding her dog, smiling. The magazine went along with this and had a headline called “Joy in the Mourning” which was confusing at first but then you realize that it is about finding happiness or joy when you are grieving. All the other headlines were to go along with Oprah and the theme of the magazine like, “The O List”. It was the September issue, so she was wearing a fall colored sweater which matched the background and in the magazine there was a section of clothing where the sweater was so that you could buy it and in the contents it talked about grief and finding happiness, which connected all back to the cover page. 

The next magazine I saw was by “Cosmopolitan”. This magazine is known for using images that promote beauty standards, every cover has a pretty, skinny, model or celebrity. The cover also always tells you what to do meaning what to wear, what not do wear, how you should look as a women, and how you should want yourself to be viewed. This cover has the big cosmopolitan heading at the top and subheadings saying what's in style and is in smaller print to bring out the picture of the women.  

After this, I viewed a “Vogue” magazine. This magazine is known for fashion and for this issue they used Rihanna as the cover celebrity. It was a very bold image with Rihanna in an all-white suit and the background all white as well. When you open the page, it is all Chanel, Versace, Gucci, very high-end fashion. When you get to the content page is it focused on Rihanna wearing masculine high-fashion clothing, putting a new view on male and female clothing. But vogue did stay consistent with targeting women with money and the desire for high-end fashion. 

Next, I looked at a “Better Homes and Garden” Magazine. This was the September issue which focused on the fall season. The cover page was all fall colors with different colored pumpkins and the subtitle was ‘Halloween Tricks and Treats’ showing you what the magazine is going to be about. The magazine stuck with the theme to the end and used black and orange font to connect with the coloring of the cover page as well as sharing trending costumes and food to make during the season. 

The next magazine I viewed was “Men’s Journal”. This magazine was targeted towards men. The cover page had big white letters and the well-known celebrity Patrick Dempsey. The cover also had pictures of cars and all masculine headings and images. Inside the magazine there were tons of car advertisements and they stuck with black, white, and red fonts as do most male magazines. In the content section it was all about Patrick Dempsey and cars and how to be like him.