Front Covers

Throughout lessons we have been analysing various magazine covers and which type of publication targets a particular audience. In today's lesson I studied a magazine called "Cosmopolitan" which initially means an individual who is sophisticated and travels across the world, this could indicate that the magazine is sold nationally and not just in one country. The use of different colours and the text portrays the sophistication and  the use of the formal presentation on the cover gives off the impression that it's targetted to a much older, but also a female audience. This is shown through the use of "girly" colours on the page which are mainly a light blue colour and also pink which gives off the impression that it wouldn't interest a male audience. In my opinion this magazine is suitable for a much older audience the reason is because the term "sex" is used frequently indicating that older women would be more interested in these type of cover lines as opposed to someone under 16. 

There are cover lines about real life stories which could also be an attraction to the female audience as they tend to read stories about other people across the world for escapism from their own lives. This links in with a theory on uses and gratifications of publications as the reader is more interested in other people's lifestyles for diversion from their own. The publisher also uses a well known celebrity on the cover being "Dannii Minogue" as some women could be inspired by her, it also gives off the idea of sophistication to the audience as a famous person is modeling for the front cover. The cover-line to go with the eye-catching image being "Dannii talks-only to Cosmo" would show that the magazine isn't printing the same news as other publishing companies as the celebrity is only talking to "Cosmo", and could also make the audience assume the celebrity reads the magazine too which could attract women to read it as well as they feel they are interested in the same news as celebrities across the world. The main image is takes up the majority of the page and is clear to the reader what the main story in the magazine is based upon. There is also a cover line placed below the main image showing the significance of what it is the centre thread of the magazine entails, the words used "SEXIEST-EVER NAKED CENTREFOLDS" shows that the images are for a female audience.

The masthead is printed clearly on the top of the page to attract readers as it is easily recognisable, the date line is printed directly below the masthead on the left third of the magazine. This type of layout is affective as if the magazine is placed on a shelf in the shop it usually shows the left third of the cover which initially enables the reader to see the price and also the date it is published and short cover lines are printed in this section too making it easier to read, it isn't printed in a large font as it's not necessarily the main feature of the cover.