Magazine Cover Review

                                                                 

 I don't really read magazines, but certain magazines catch my eye when I walk by them. I also never realized that magazines and certain magazine brands are targeted toward a specific audience. Magazines put certain images, text, and people on the cover that will attract a potential reader. For example, on the "Cosmopolitan" magazine, the typography is mostly bold, pink font, with words such as "SEXY" and "style" on it. Cosmopolitans target audience is mostly women. Women will see this and be drawn in and they will want to see what the magazine is about.

When magazines have bold, colorful fonts, celebrities as the main image, and coverlines that have to do with current events, they are more likely to draw in more readers. If a magazine is boring and has no appealing pictures and text, nobody is going to read it. According to the article "Chances are you won't bother to read this article. It is just one long block of text, after all, unbroken by alluring pictures, snappy captions, or eyegrabbing infographics. You can't click it. You can't flip it. All you can do is read it. (Does Size Matter?)" it states ""It is absolutely critical these days to reach out and grab the reader" says Playboy's Kaminsky." If the magazine doesn't capture the attention of people, nobody is going to read it, the magazine will not be popular and the brand will lose money and not get very many advertisements.

In the "GQ Magazine", it has a famous rapper, Travis Scott, as the main image, bold font, colorful cover, diversity and high end advertisements. All these things will attract more readers. Travis Scott is very well known by some of the younger generation, so they will see the cover and want to read more about it. Also, in the "Rolling Stone" magazine it has a famous rapper, Lil Baby, on the front, bold lettering, and talks about current events such as the Black Lives Matter Protesting/ Rioting and mentions Trump. Both of these articles can attract almost anybody because the content doesn't apply to a certain gender and age, so anybody might choose to read it. By using famous celebrities, more advertisers and businesses will want to put an ads in these magazines because they know more people will see these magazines. When someone sees their favorite celebrity on the cover of  magazine, they will want to read it and know why that person is on the cover. Advertisers know that and they will try to get their ads placed with the celebrities.

Even if the magazine has an amazing cover page, something that will cause the audience to not be as attracted to it, is when the feature article has super long paragraphs. In the article        "Chances are you won't bother to read this article. It is just one long block of text, after all, unbroken by alluring pictures, snappy captions, or eyegrabbing infographics. You can't click it. You can't flip it. All you can do is read it. (Does Size Matter?)" it states "Conventional wisdom has it that readers are losing patience with long magazine stories." When feature articles are extremely long, the audience is more likely to lose interest and not want to read the rest of the story. For example, in the "Forbes" magazine, the cover of the magazine is black and white and it has a four page long article. Those two things are what is going to cause readers, mostly younger audiences, to lose interest. This article is geared toward more wealthy, older people, so they are most likely to read it. 

Magazines are meant to attract different audiences. In the "Southern Living" magazine, it is geared toward more young to middle-aged women and shows them different styles and ways to decorate. The cover has a very simple font, a modern, youthful style, and a cake on the front, so it will attract people who are interested in a more home decor style.

Having a good masthead, intriguing selling line and a well taken main image can almost make or break your magazine. A well done cover page is important because it creates curiosity in potential readers. If they are interested in the cover, they are more likely to actually read what's on the inside of the magazine. The magazine can be the main part to get more sales.