Vogue is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that is targeted at women between 20-40 years who are interested in the novelties of fashion and beauty.
When analysing the cover of the Vogue magazine, I saw that they had used a very simple and repetitive cover layout for 150 years. Vogue uses beautiful and relatively simple photography, typography and colour on all their covers. Vogue covers initially featured iconic fashion models like Kate Moss for instance in the past. However now they mainly feature actresses, singers and other celebrities (e.g: Harry Styles, Emma Watson).
Perhaps this transition is because celebrities are more easily recognized by the general public which in turn would increase the likelihood of purchase. Some of their cover photographs are close ups of the celebrities’ faces, medium shots of a group of celebrities and many of them occupy three-quarter of the cover.
The masthead is placed at the top of the magazine cover in a large font. They have very specific font faces and typography on their cover: the masthead font, a bold coloured sans-serif article title font and neutral, serif font that is used for sub-headings. Although these styles do vary from issue to issue, they are relatively consistent. The colour of the masthead and article titles is usually either drawn from a colour that appears in the main photograph, or it is a colour that contrasts the background.
Vogue uses a simple cover layout that reaches the audience by advertising the main articles that are inside, clearly displaying the magazine title and displaying the publication date.
The image even overlaps over the masthead (also known as superimposition), but it is still recognisable and noticeable from a distance. They mostly have editorial fashion photographs or high fashion photographs on their covers. At times even runway fashion photography is featured.
[Annotated Vogue magazine cover. Image taken from Pinterest. Annotations done by me when analysing the cover page.]
InStyle Magazine
InStyle is also another American fashion and lifestyle magazine which is also targeted at women between 25-39 years old.
When considering the language used in this specific issue of the magazine, both cover lines ‘Look your best’ and ‘Find your perfect coat’ give the readers the idea that the magazine is going to help them personally. This coverline helps to grab the reader's attention.
The masthead is placed at the top of the magazine cover in a large font. Its white font colour helps it stand out against the red background of the text. The image takes most of the space of the front cover, with the cover lines on the sides. The image even overlaps over the masthead (superimposition), but it is still recognisable and noticeable from a distance. Arial font is used and colours such as red, black, white and yellow are used, which suggests that this magazine is targeted towards an older audience rather than teenagers and kids.
Gwen Stefani is featured on the front cover of this magazine. She is a well known singer and a top fashion icon, which may attract and influence people to buy the magazine. This magazine targets new readers as well as usual readers. The cover image is in direct mode of address which helps simulate interaction with each individual reader. This image of Gwen Stefani is a medium shot and takes most of the space on the cover.
[Annotated InStyle magazine cover. Image taken from the Internet. Annotations done by me when analysing the cover page.]
Mac For Seniors Magazine
Mac for seniors is a digital and technology magazine targeted at senior citizens who want to learn how to use personal computers.
The masthead ‘Mac for Seniors’ suggests the target audience of the magazine and the bolded large letters hold people’s attention. The strapline gives a very brief yet informative guide on what the magazine is about. The coverline, especially the bolded text and the bright red puff gives a simple overview of the key function of the Apple devices aimed at seniors.
The colour palette used for the cover design is very minimalistic and has a calm tone to it. Red colour blocks are used to highlight the important aspects like the functionality of the magazine etc. a light grey colour background has been used to accentuate the black colour font used.
An old couple in bliss is featured in the cover as a way to show that they are extremely satisfied with the product. The couple featured have an indirect mode of address. The photograph is also one of a medium closeup minimised in size to blend into the background. The Mac PC is highlighted by giving a colourful wallpaper, contrasting the minimalist design, captivating the reader’s attention.
[Annotated Mac For Seniors magazine cover. Image taken from issue.com. Annotations done by me when analysing the cover page.]
Browsing through issuu.com and after reading quite a few magazines I came across selling lines and date lines in addition to the masthead, coverline and puff on the cover of some magazines.
[Elle magazine cover taken from Google Images. It was pre-annotated with the dateline and selling line marked on it.]
In completing the analysis I was able to determine the various components of a magazine cover and the importance of representation on the cover image used. It helped me to visualise the layout of my own magazine and put more thought into the photography, representation, typography and content etc. After researching and analysing these magazine genres and covers I decided to do a fashion magazine of my own for the foundation portfolio.
