Front cover designing

Right, I've done a few comparisons between different magazines, but what makes the front cover stand out, more importantly, how does it stand out to different people? Could you imagine a 30 year old man picking up and issue of Bliss for its free lipgloss mascara combo and tips on how to get super shiny hair?

I will investigate different magazine covers and why they are appealing to different sex's and age's, I might even find a few ideas for my own magazine.

Brand ID.

The big name across the top of a magazine (title, headline...whatever) shows alot about the magazine, showing the buyer what they are buying for one but also showing new readers some information about the magazine, for example, if the Brand ID was pink, purple and had love hearts scattered around it, you'd naturally view it as a girls magazine.

see the difference?

Cosmopolitan is a fashion magazine, there are several plugs over the cover to draw people in such as "359 sexy fashion finds" and "The real reasons men cheat". These are clearly aimed at a female buyer, whereas Kerrang magazine is a music magazine for rock/metal/punk bands fans to read up about tours, band members and even get posters of these bands. The magazine is for both genders, and doesn't have any plugs directly aimed at either sex, the colour scheme seems more "manly" because there isn't any "girls colours", which could also lead us to think there is alot of sexism in magazine making.

Colour design.

Colours seem to change on magazines throughout seasons, yellow is a bright happy colour so it could be used on magazines to represent Summer, orange however is a more Autumn-y colour so the colour of the magazine can also show season as well as sex.