Magazine front cover analysis

Cosmopolitan

Around 3,021,720 people subscribe to Cosmopolitan every month. The first issue of Cosmopolitan was published in 1886 the United States as a family magazine and then was later transformed into a literary magazine. In 1965 the magazine then turned into a women’s magazine. When looking back at the olden time Cosmopolitan magazine you can very clearly see what has changed through many years. The masthead has a totally different font. The older magazine is a magazine of poetry, short stories and many more and the fancy font connects well with the genre of the magazine, for example; old English. The masthead of both the magazines is at the top but even the way the font has been warped is different. I think if a magazine now a day was to have a warped masthead it would look unprofessional and messy. Looking at where the articles are on the front cover of this magazine to the left is very different to the original. There is more colour and the fonts are a lot bolder therefore catching your eye more and encouraging you to buy it. The articles on the old magazines have a very small font and aren’t very easy to read whereas the fonts on current magazines are very bright and attention grabbing. 

Kerrang:

The first ever Kerrang magazines were a lot different to the current magazine design. The masthead is totally different. The font is bolder and a block colour of red in the earliest Kerrang magazines. As you can see, the cover on the left is a much thinner font with lines running through different directions. The current magazine masthead is all different colours. I don’t meant the masthead it rainbow coloured, I mean depending on the magazine, the title colour matches the magazine colour so that it doesn’t look out of place. The main images on the front cover are still very similar in the way the musicians are either an action shot or posed. The music of the magazine is still the same genre. The genre is rock. The covers are big rock stars and the bands which are massive at the time. Kerrang have an up to date, fully working website which has the latest and hottest music on there. They do not have an app for phones etc. There is an app for Kerrang radio. It currently has 8 ratings with 4 ½ stars. You can easily identify the target audience of the magazine by looking at the type of bands which are on the front cover. Also the colour scheme which has been used. Different colours are associated with different meanings. For example, pinks and purples are girly colours therefore show that it is a girly magazine whereas reds, blues and blacks are more manly, rock colours. 

Questionnaire

      Tick your answers

1.      Are you male or female?

Male  

Female 

2.      Do you read the college magazine?

   
Yes

   No

3.      What colour scheme would attract you to the magazine?

  Red, Black, White, black  
Purple, Blue, White, Black
Red, Orange, Black, White

4.      How much would you be willing to pay for the magazine?

Nothing

50p

£1

£1.50

£2

5.      How often would you like the magazine to be published?

Weekly

Every Fortnight

Monthly

Every Half Term

6.      What house style would you like the magazine to be?

Formal

 Informal

 Mixture

7.      What features/articles would you like in the magazine?

 Sport

 Film

Music

 Fashion

 Problem Page

College Trips

 Competitions

  Freebies

Quiz

 Technology

8.      What image would you like on the front cover?

Student

Ex Student

Photography

Other

9.      Would you like a jobs page?

Yes

No

10.  Would you like to contribute to the magazine content?

Yes
No

Contents page for magazine

College Magazine Front Cover

Questionnaire Analysis

I created this questionnaire to collect results on what would be the best way to produce this magazine. I wanted various opinions on what colours to use and what articles to include in my magazine. I received back a lot of different answers which helped me to then tally up my results and see which options were top. Here are my results on my questionnaire. 65% of females at the college answered this questionnaire and 35% of males at the college answered this questionnaire.

One of the questions which I asked was what colours would appeal to you on a magazine. The results I received were very appropriate and from the final colours which has been chosen I can see that the magazine will look professional and well presented. The top 3 colours chosen were Blue, black and white and the extra colours where green, red and yellow.

I asked this question because I wanted to see how much people were willing to pay for a magazine from the college. 85% of people were willing to pay 50p or nothing towards the magazine. A few were willing to pay more but the majority of people wanted to pay nothing or pay 50p. This is an acceptable price and is affordable to most people.       

70% of people wanted the magazine to be published monthly or every half term.
50% wanted the magazine to be informal and 40% wanted the magazine to be mixed, both informal and formal. This means there would be serious articles but mostly informal text to suit the target audience.

After tallying up the results for types of articles that would be included in this magazine we came to a final decision. The top 2 highest were music and college trips and the extras were sport, TV and film, fashion and free gifts.

40% of the students at the college wanted a student as the front cover of the magazine. 30% wanted a celebrity and 30% wanted nature. This is a close result and therefore in each issue there will be a different front cover.

100% of students wanted a jobs page. This suggests that most first years and some second years are looking for a job in the local area. This page would be very helpful to a lot of people and therefore must be included in this magazine.