Magazine Cover Review

     My initial impressions of cover magazines have changed after my in depth and analysis of many magazine covers and the way they are set up, in the many ways that they bring attention to readers. As though many people don’t read them nowadays, we can find that even with the limited amount of copies of issues that are released, these certain companies use certain strategies to engage readers activities, and bring viewers in to buy their content.  

Magazines have revolutionized over the years, with changes such as covers, to length of articles. “Editor Ed Needham admits that he doesn't even bother to read long articles in magazines.” As the editor of Rolling Stone, we see that even he does not care enough for the long articles, as over time readers have lost the attention span for them. But over time we have found the magazine to be dying down, and nobody seems to care much for them. "The magazine is dead, long live the magazine." We can see that from here, magazines have lost much attention as technology has developed, but does that mean it’s really dead?  

As technology has developed, we have found that magazines have taken a step forward in a different direction. Although they seem to be dying, they are advertising themselves in a way which captures the reader's attention. We can also find that certain magazines target different groups of people, whether they come from a basis of class of wealth, race, or gender, magazines try to appeal to a certain group. With the Oprah magazine, we can see that her target audience are women. She looks to empower them, with a strong cover photo, and soothing text for her cover. Her contents contain feminine subjects, essentially targeting an only woman audience. We can see this in Vogue, using the cover as a strong independent woman wearing men's clothing to represent her strength, and essentially show she is no different, the difference here is that the advertisements pages are of very expensive name brands, targeting a wealthier audience. Another magazine targeting the wealthier audience would be GQ, except they are targeting affluent and wealthy males. Men's Journal, Men's Health, Motor Trend, and Sports Illustrated are all the same. In comparison, the way that women's magazines are set up are completely identical to them.  

So how exactly are they the same? The answer is simple, and it lies in its cover. The inside and makeup of the book are all completely different, but the setup of the covers are not. They all bring attention to a viewer and appeal to them, hoping they pick up the magazine and buy it. They all have a strong, powerful figure. Someone who dressed nice, or very good looking. The cover pages use the classical issue title, but use strong colors, and different types of fonts to bring in a reader's attention. They all appeal to the eye, catching you and drawing you in. I believe I can capture this with the right photo, and a strong use of font and color in my own magazine, being bold with it. Magazines, in a dying industry continue to thrive because of these reasons. They bring focus and light to the reader with eye catching articles, and photos of very good-looking people. Although they differ, they have the same basis, all with the same goal of bringing in a new reader.