Front Cover & Contents Page
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.
Although it isn't specifically a magazine that focuses towards pop music, it does feature the music genre quite often in it's editions. I decided to analyse the magazine as I wanted to dig deeper into something a little different that produces something more then just music. I find myself that I’m having to buy 3 to 4 different branded magazines a week to get all of the information and gossip that I require. However magazines such as Cosmo Girl could be the future as they specialise in a lot of areas. So instead of buying and spending too much money on 4 different magazines, you could soon be purchasing just one that contains everything. Top Of The Pops Magazine is exactly the same that has a similar sort of layout and nature.
Language
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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