Analysing Magazine Front Covers

I am going to analyse a Bodmin College magazine to gain a better understanding of the common conventions.

Target Audience - The target audience for the Bodmin College magazine is mainly students aged between 11 and 19 because these are the age ranges of students attending the college. There is also another target audience that is aimed at the parents/guardians of the student who are of an older age. Most of the people reading this magazine fall into the audience demographic within band C1 – E.

Masthead – The masthead is not the best design for its purpose as it doesn’t stand out because the colours of the text is not clear on the busy and colourful background; this means it does not catch the eye of the reader. In conventional magazines, the masthead would be an 1/8 of the cover meaning it would be eye catching. The text is an out dated font, which does not fit with the style and audience of the magazine. The theme and style of the front cover doesn’t interest the target audience.

Colour – There are generally too many colours used together on the front cover to make it appealing to look at, and doesn’t make it look very professional. Usually, a professional magazine cover would have a colour scheme that is continually used throughout and links with the theme/topic of the magazine. Whereas, this magazine cover uses colour that do not work well together, with the text colour not even standing out against the colours behind it. This makes the display of the cover seem unclear to the reader with no main subject standing out. The colours of the magazine are very busy, and it goes against the conventions of magazines, which usually use 3-5 colours only at the most. Again, this lacks appeal to the target audience.

Layout – The overall layout used for the magazine cover is not the general layout that usually seen on a magazine because it has three images that are of low quality long shots all of the same event, which makes the cover look too busy. To look appealing, the layout should have one main image with text overlaid of a contrasting font, and possibly a few smaller images – this layout would be less heavy and look much more professional. The cover should also show little teasers of information inside the magazine that would make the reader more likely to want to read it. This is also against the target audience, as students want something interesting on the front cover that gets their attention.

Images – These images go against the usual conventions of a magazine. There are three images that appear thrown together, whereas on a usual magazine cover, there would just be one main image with maybe a few smaller ones. These images are also all long shot photographs; the main image on a magazine is usually close up or medium shot as well as being poor quality images. Within the images, the content is mainly of girls – this supports Laura Mulvey’s theory that it will get male attention and is shown that this might be showing them as an erotic desire for the reader. The images are about dancing which means that it will not appeal to all of the target audience.

Typography – Quite a few fonts are used which takes away the professional aspect to it. Also, there isn’t any teasers which means the reader doesn’t get any information about what is included inside. The magazine doesn’t have an issue number; this means the reader doesn’t get any extra information.

Conclusions – Overall, I don’t think this magazine fits the purpose because none of the aspects are like the common conventions of a magazine. It goes against most of these conventions and it doesn’t appeal to the target audience because it is not eye catching to capture their attention. It looks too busy and is lacking a professional look, so I can connote that it will not be interesting enough for the audience to want to read it. It doesn’t have many similarities to something a student would want to read outside of school. The reader could assume that the content is as bad as the front cover because nothing is jumping out at them that makes them interested.

I am also analysing this magazine and am going to compare the two.

Target Audience – The target audience is again for the Bodmin College students aged between 11 and 19. This also targets the parents of the school students who are older. Again, most of the people reading this magazine fall into the audience demographic within band C1 – E.

Masthead – The masthead is a good design for its purpose as it does stand out because there is a plain black background and the text is quite clear.  The text has flames and smoke around it that fits with the word ‘Skive’ as it is something that is known to be a bad and rebellious. The masthead is eye catching as it is of a large size and is bold. The theme and style of the magazine is suitable for the topic and will interest the target audience.

Colour – The main colours that are used are black, white and orange. These colours give the cover a professional look as they work well together and do not make the page look too busy. The colour scheme fits with the topic of the magazine; the background is plain back with white text that stands out, and orange is used for the flames around the text on the masthead and the pictures on the right. The display of the cover is clear to the reader with the masthead standing out, as well as the word ‘stress’ and ‘monogamy’ at the bottom, which are probably some of the main topics that are in the magazine content. The colours of the magazine are quite plain; it also supports the conventions of a magazine (3-5 colours).

Layout – The overall layout of the magazine cover is the general layout that is usually seen on a magazine; the background is quite plain and has one close up image in the middle with text of a contrasting colour around it. It also has a few smaller images around it showing what else will be inside. It shows teasers of information that makes the reader more likely to want to read it. This will interest the target audience because it will get the attention of students in this age range. This layout looks quite professional, but on a negative note, the font is quite spread out making it look a little messy in some places.

Images – The images support the usual conventions of a magazine. There is one main close up image with a few smaller ones showing teasers of what content will be inside the magazine. The content of the images will be of an interest to both male and female readers.

Typography – There is one main font that is used for the text around the main image, two different fonts used for two of the main headings at the bottom and separate one used for the text on the masthead. The magazine has an issue number and teasers which gives the reader extra information.

Conclusions – Overall, I think this magazine fits the purpose because most of its aspects are like the common conventions of a magazine. It supports most of the conventions and it does appeal to the target audience because it is eye catching and will capture their attention. It has a professional look, so I can connote that it will interest the reader. It has similarities to what a student of the age would want to read outside of school.

Comparison – The Skive magazine is better than the Bodmin College magazine because it fits more of the common conventions and is generally more interesting to look at. To capture the target audiences attention, the Skive magazine would be better as it will be more eye catching and has a similar look to something someone of this age would be found reading outside of school. The colour scheme is quite plain but gives a more professional appearance to the magazine, whereas, the Bodmin College magazine has too many colours which makes it difficult to read and look too busy. The images of the Skive magazine are much better placed because there is one main image and few others to show what will be included inside, however I personally think the main image is over edited. The Bodmin College magazine has images that seem thrown together without much thought about presentation.