If a magazine cover doesn’t fit a certain criteria then any normal teenager will not even lightly caress the first page. Often, these publications only focus towards female youths, providing of course it features who’s recently intervened and become pregnant. They usually consist of weekly gossip, interviews, saucy paparazzi pictures and fashion. Hardly ever does the magazine go without some sort of additional freebie such as lip gloss, pull out outlets and stickers. By researching one or two varied magazines, both of which targeted at different audiences, hopefully I will gather enough knowledge and information to be then eligible to create thee’ college perfect magazine.
Selection 1 - Cosmo Girl
Cosmo Girl is an extremely successful spin off of the world famously “Cosmopolitan” which was focused towards an older generation of female women. It’s an American magazine based in the heart of New York City, founded by Susan Schlulz and is produced worldwide, 10 times a year and selling at least 8 million copies a batch.
The Face of the Magazine (Colours, Connotations, Denotations, Meanings, Font, Text & Layout)
Instantly from the cover I feel as if I am indulging in a magazine by the fireside. The radiance and warmth of the gentle scarlet background and light orange text soothes and eases the readers mind. I feel that these certain colours really do have connotations of a warm fire side. They send off such a simmering vibe making the reader feel relaxed, clearing their mind and making it easier and more pleasurable for them to read. They are contrasted with the gentle, radiant tan of the model “Blake Lively” giving the cover an overall flush feel. In other words there isn’t any dark, cold shades such as blue or green which would cause a somewhat clash on the front cover.
Being kept extremely simple, the font on the cover barely varies in colour, shape or size. Main stories and important features are demonstrated by a little larger then the rest, white font, all a little more catchier then the orange and yellow text. The text is sexy and sleek with a small drop shadow behind it to make it slightly jump of the page. It’s a very mere drop shadow, only slightly noticeable, so that that writing doesn’t become to separated from the cover.
Taking centre stage, the model almost covers the entire face of the mag’ with a very intimate close-up leaving not much room for spaces. This instantly makes the cover feel complete as there isn’t any space left for other elements. It’s on the verge of being too jam packed which would make it appear quite unprofessional and tacky, however to me it is almost perfect. Leaving big spaces would make it appear completely empty and desolate, inferring that the inside of the magazine is empty with barely any storylines. But by having the text quite intimate and compact, I get the feeling that there is a variation and great deal of gossip.
A lot of magazine covers often have small images that almost act as bullet points. This really does over complicate the cover and makes it very fragmented. However on the face of “Cosmo Girl”, there are very few bullet points and the ones that are included are extremely simple. The arrows and plus sign could actually pass for Microsoft Office’s basic shapes, however the mere drop shadow gives them that professional and sleek appearance.
Across the top of the magazine cover is a deep black banner which reflects an important issue about jeans in an embedded orange and white font. This small aspect of the cover gives one issue main priority making it almost the most important publication in the mag’. The black could appear quite isolated and not even part of the magazine if there wasn’t any other black elements. But because the model’s top is a dark black/blue colour then the header feels much more associated with the cover.
The most important key element on the face of the magazine, which is actually one of my favourite aspects is the magazine name. I’ve never seen a name that has a contrast of two different fonts and colours. In a bold white, the “Cosmo” is very eye catching and sharp whilst the “girl!” is in a shimmering yellow in a curvy and gossip-like font. If they weren’t overlapping then the name would be quite fragmented and not become that signature logo that it is. In different editions of the mag, “girl!” constantly varies in colour so that it co-ordinates with the other colours of each theme. Above all each aspect of the cover is different but then also very similar so that it all feels very incorporated with the cover.
Layout through-out the Magazine
Profile Reader/ Target Audience
Layout through-out the Magazine
There seems to be a somewhat “house” theme through-out the “Comsogirl” magazine. All of the warm and subtle tones stay constant on every page which I feel brings the magazine together as a whole. It’s the same with each addition to be fair of the magazine; if the cover has a metallic theme then the metallic colours stay constant, and so on. It’s the exact same scenario also with the font and text all having a very similar look. Looking at some magazines, each different page has a completely different layout and it makes it feel to fragmented. Just rather browsing one magazine, it almost feels like your browsing several different.
Profile Reader/ Target Audience
From the type of gossip on the front cover of the magazine, I’m gathering that the audience is for teens aged 15-19 years. It appears to childish for adults and too grown up for early teens which is why I go this impression. The majority of teenage males wouldn’t want to know which “jeans” would suit them nor would they want to know what Blake Lively’s secret addiction is. This sort of cover definitely infers that it’s for teenage girls, like “cosmo girls” wasn’t enough though. Although the colours come across as quite feminine, I definitely think they could be used, as well as the layout for a college magazine. On this type of cover it’s what is in the font that makes it a girls magazine, not what’s on it. A girl that reads this sort of magazine is the sort of girl that lavishes all of the pop posters of hunky men from the magazine all over he wall as she dances on her bed to The Wanted. In the process of growing but then still indulging in her youth.
Layout Trademarks of "Cosmo Girl"
There really seems to be one key feature that keeps cropping up for me. With a lot of magazines these days the front cover is usually quite sexual and lustful. This type of image drills into teenagers minds that they have to look sexy and be desired all the time. However, with CosmoGirl I would hardly say the cover comes across as sexy. The expression oh Blake Lively’s face is filled with joy and fun which really gets a good message over to the youths reading the mag. The contrast of colours is also something that I find really appealing as it has a lot of warm and loving connotations!
Opinions on "Cosmo Girl"
There really seems to be one key feature that keeps cropping up for me. With a lot of magazines these days the front cover is usually quite sexual and lustful. This type of image drills into teenagers minds that they have to look sexy and be desired all the time. However, with CosmoGirl I would hardly say the cover comes across as sexy. The expression oh Blake Lively’s face is filled with joy and fun which really gets a good message over to the youths reading the mag. The contrast of colours is also something that I find really appealing as it has a lot of warm and loving connotations!
Opinions on "Cosmo Girl"
As time moves on, so does they full layout of the magazine which is what makes it different and almost special. I’ve never seen to date a cover that is identical to a previous or later one. As their layout is almost un-defined, then it swiftly rejuvenates making each magazine different to the last. Ways and means of teenagers are constantly changing and for Cosmogirl to continue appealing to them then it has to evolve other time, just like the readers.
Institution
As this college magazine is part of somebody else's media coursework, the creator is therefore a college student. I would of expected that because they were indeed themselves part of college society, then they would of put what they would of loved to of seen on a magazine into theirs. With no critersization intended, not many people would have joy fufilled within them at the chance of having a free pencil.
Ideology
From the free HB pencil, I get the impression that this magazine is targeted towards the college students only with a mere adult viewers to make the college appear better. From this I believe that the Ideology of the magazine is to create a more dynamic college with a better impression of the day to day life that it has. However as this the cover is almost focused towards a specific pocket full of students I don't believe that it is successful in it's bid. The connotations of the colourful logo infer that the college has such a variety of different and eccentric people, however this feeling is brought to a sudden halt when the magazine image only presents your average big headed teenager. All of these negative connotations don't at all promote the college and greatly discourage it!
Selection 2 - College Magazine & Contents Page
Language
Taking centre stage on the front, the denotation of the magazine shows a medium shot of a young, college male. Due to the rather largish headline beneath the characters face, I am lead to the impression that he has just became the new addition to the top of the pupil food chain. The expression of the character has connotations of superiority and success emphasising the largest headline. Arranged quite messily around the centre of the image are other smallish headlines which contribute to the rest of the cover - not necessarily a good contribution either. As they've just been dumped wherever there has just been room, the text bleeds too much into the image making it harder to see and creating somewhat awkward tension within the cover. As the background and students clothes are quite bland, they don't stand for much representation leaving the cover too dry and simple. Taking a much more stern stance, the masthead is very distinguishable and almost rememberable. The denotations of the masthead are eccentric and colourful due to the variations of pigments. From another aspect the way that all the diverse colours join together as one infers that all the different types of students come together as one to make an amazing college. Connotations of the masthead include fun and joyful, reflecting that their magazine is filled with joy, almost as much as their college. Strangely, in the left hand corner is the barcode tilted the wrong way, allowing the view to question if the magazine is even serious. Spelling mistakes and errors, such as the barcode give the magazine it's tackiness and really let it now. At the bottom rear end of the magazine cover is an eccentric green banner which is advertising a free HB pencil. This is an aspect which lets the magazine down as it pencils have connotations of boredom and work, perhaps inferring that such a college magazine is boring and almost will feel like working when reading.
A house theme is created within the contents and cover as of course similar elements such as font and colours stay constant within both. The denotations are of course the constant light blue and Gothard font, however this has connotations of wholeness. It brings everything together as a whole and doesn't leave the two feeling fragmented and completely different. The one thing that I disagree with on the contents page is the amount of dense writing. It's not often that you see a lot of events and stories on the cover as they simply focus on the hi-lights. As well as this, the font is incredibly small making it harder to read which then also adds to the feeling of crammed and compact, dense writing.
As this college magazine is part of somebody else's media coursework, the creator is therefore a college student. I would of expected that because they were indeed themselves part of college society, then they would of put what they would of loved to of seen on a magazine into theirs. With no critersization intended, not many people would have joy fufilled within them at the chance of having a free pencil.
Ideology
From the free HB pencil, I get the impression that this magazine is targeted towards the college students only with a mere adult viewers to make the college appear better. From this I believe that the Ideology of the magazine is to create a more dynamic college with a better impression of the day to day life that it has. However as this the cover is almost focused towards a specific pocket full of students I don't believe that it is successful in it's bid. The connotations of the colourful logo infer that the college has such a variety of different and eccentric people, however this feeling is brought to a sudden halt when the magazine image only presents your average big headed teenager. All of these negative connotations don't at all promote the college and greatly discourage it!
Audience
By using the male model in such a way on the cover, I feel as if this diverts the audience of the magazines to a specific handful of male college species. Although the contents page looks quite mature and professional, it is let down by the childish image on the front giving everything an overall feeling of vein adolescence stage. The headlines on the cover go into to much depth diverting them to only specific groups of people. Female college students aren't at all going to be interested in a male companion rising to the top of the student food chain, which I'm sure the majority of most other males aren't. As this is only supposed to be focused towards a small college community, there won't be larger masses produced as I'm sure only a mere few will actually contemplate on picking this up. On the chance for a high note, I would just like to comment on the neutral tone of colours. Due to this the cover doesn't feel only for males, or only for females.
Representation
As a whole I really don't feel as if this college magazine stands for much, if anything at all. I actually feel as if that stands for something completely diverse as to what college students are actually like; implementing a false impression of college society. Besides the choice on neutral colours, the magazine hasn't been made to appeal to everybody. Although this has been a bad college magazine, It has given me a lot of information and feelings to what I should and shouldn't do on a college magazine cover and contents page.
No comments:
Post a Comment