Magazine Cover Analysis

I chose two magazine covers (a fashion magazine and a car magazine) to annotate to give an example of the normal tactics used in a cover.

On this particular cover there is a clear colour scheme which coordinates with the image and the time of year (this issue is from July). There are two seperate coverlines that talk about sex, the publishers know that sex sells. The puff helps sell the magazine by adding value to it, people want to know if buying this magazine will save them money, make them better looking or a more desirable person in general.

This cover is quite different to the first one, the obvious difference being that the image depicts two shiny, expensive looking cars instead of a model. On the banner at the bottom of the cover it lists some cars, helping people figure out if this issue is of interest to them or not.

The target audience for this cover is young men (18 -35) with spare time and money on their hands, or men who can't afford but want to look at these expensive cars. It's similar to the first cover in the way that it tells you by buying the magazine you're adding value to yourself. Cosmopolitan is a woman's magazine with a similar age range of about 18 to 35. Both magazines share the same target class as the magazine covers don't brag about their 'good value', but hide the price near the barcode, making you look closer.