Magazine Cover Review

 The front cover of a magazine is its first impression. The front cover of a magazine is arguably the most important image the viewer sees. Among all other options on the shelf, the cover image and featured stories that magazine presents are what draws both long-time magazine lovers and the industries newest target consumers. After viewing several magazines, the thought and effort put into cover designs was quite evident. For example, on the long-standing GQ magazine cover, the bold and unique color choice stood out among any other magazine. The vivid distinction between red lettering and blue was consistent throughout and created a “vibe” no other magazine came near. Another consistency between a lot of magazines I viewed (Men’s Health, Sports Illustrated, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, etc.) was the choice to include a celebrity as the cover image. Seeing a familiar face (even if it’s one-way familiarity) can also attract the intended audience. If I were to create a magazine, I obviously wouldn’t have the luxury of asking any celebrity to be on the cover of it. While this would make my magazine up to the standards of a professional company, it just isn’t realistic in any way.

Above is the Oprah magazine with a photo of Oprah.

 However, using people as the cover still has the power to create an engaging image for the reader’s first impression because of the way humans psychologically connect with each other.  

Moving into more psychological aspects of magazines, there was an article written about people supposedly not reading magazines anymore. While it is apparent that feature stories have gotten shorter over the past 50 years, the magazine industry has adapted to the changing lifestyles of people along with children’s seemingly shortened attention spans through the use of images. When thinking about creating my own magazine, I have to carefully consider the imagines and design principles over the actual content. The acclaimed Rolling Stone Magazine’s front cover uses their bold red title font to reiterate the mark they have already made on their dedicated audience. This in then paired with article titles in more basic font colors like black and white.  

Additionally, the cover photo is primarily intended to informer the reader without them having to read (which honestly seems ironic). The October Edition of Southern Living was an example of this through its use of a picture of food. This makes the audience note the focus of the article is about food in this suburban southern lifestyle in the grand picture of the southern lifestyle itself. Similarly, the Motortrend magazine featured all types of cars throughout the magazine, but had a primary focus on SUVs, which were pictured on the front. Another aspect editors are expected to consider is their audience in terms of advertising. Even though I wouldn’t need to include advertising, it’s still interesting to see how a magazine’s advertisements vary relative to their intended audience. 

At this point, I’m leaning towards making a magazine as my project for Media Studies.