Magazine Cover Review

 

Magazine Cover Review

 

    I had never really looked at magazine cover before; it was just one of those things that a kid from my generation wasn’t entirely interested in because of all the technological developments distracting us. Now that I’ve been posed the question that requires me to look at a magazine cover, I realize how much more thought and decision making goes into this one thin sheet of sheen paper. This task has piqued my interest in creating my very own magazine that I will model off another famous title for my class project.  

    One of the styles I am most interested in is featured magazines such as Men's Health and Men's Journal. Both covers use large fonts and bold contrasting colors to make the words truly stand out against the cover image. This is most likely due to the fact “that readers are losing patience with long magazine stories” (Michael Scherer). But if the attractive males aren't already eye-catching enough, the attention-grabbing article titles make you enticed enough to go looking deeper into the pages for the story behind the cover.  

    Unlike Men’s Health and Men’s Journal, Vogue and Forbes magazine don’t need to rely as heavily on flashy colors or busy covers. The two high class magazines are well known enough to not need all the wild cover looks. Frankly, they seem to take a more refined and sophisticated look that is duller in color, but outstanding in subtly. The two magazines never seem to have a shortage of willing celebrities who want to model for them, because their name has gone far and long enough in the industry to help the actors rather than boost the company. From this you can observe how these magazines seem more fitting at an upper east New York Penthouse rather than in a middle-class working home. Vogue and Forbes clearly cater to the upper class, since we can assume that is where they get all their consumers and high-end brands featured in these world-renowned papers. 

    On the completely opposite spectrum there are magazines such as Southern living. This magazine caters to a completely different spectrum of people. This magazines audience is usually Middle-aged wives or mothers in the southern regions. The magazine offers different recipes, Activity ideas, and designing ideas for homes. Also, its cover is simple with very little flashes of text. It focuses mainly on the cover picture which is usually a picturesque southern style home or baked goods. This simplicity and longer written articles are most likely due to this magazine's belief that "there is still and always will be a sizable audience for larger pieces of excellent journalism" (Michael Scherer).