Task 2- Magazines and Audiences

Part one:

Glossary- 15 different types of magazine terminology!

Listed are fifteen things that nearly every magazine uses:

1) Masthead- This is the first thing you notice on a magazine, it is the title at the top of the page telling you the name or brand of the magazine. (e.g OK, Vogue)

2) Dateline- This is the date of when the magazine came out, and when it expires.

3) Barcode- Every magazine has a barcode in a corner at the bottom of the front page, it is for shop use when you buy the magazine.

4) Colour scheme- Every magazine has a different colour scheme which appeals to readers, the colours usually fit in with the text and the images on the magazine. The colours will always have a theme, sometimes they reflect the season. (e.g at Christmas, they may have red green and gold)

5) Puff\Plug- A puff is an extra bit of detail on the magazine front, which advertises a plug (information that is inside the magazine.)

6) Price: Every magazine has the price of it on the front, it is usually in the corner of the page. This is conventional for readers.

7) Cover-line: All of the noticeable texts on the front of a magazine, are known as a cover-line.

8) Main image: This is the big photo which appears on the front of a magazine which takes up most of the page. It is always linked to something inside of the magazine.

9) Pull quote- This is a quote taken from an interview inside of the magazine. 

10) Left third- This is when everything on the front of the magazine is usually on the left of the page, this is because we read from left to right. It is the busiest part of the front cover.

11) Font type- Sans serif: This is the text that most magazines use because it is easy to read and it is big and bold, it's new and fresh. 

12) Font type- Serif: This is a little bit harder to read than Sans serif, it is classic.

13) Number- Numbers lure the audience in. A beauty magazine cover would usually read something like this ''100 beauty tips'' which the audience like to read.

14) Exclusive- A claim from the magazine that says it has a story inside that no other magazine has. 

15) Paste up- This is the page layout pasted into position.

Part two:

My chosen magazine cover-

My 500 word analysis: 

The magazine I have chosen is called ''Women's Health.'' It is a magazine about health for women as displayed in the masthead. The magazine is aimed at a target audience of middle-aged women, who care for their health. The front cover is plastered in dieting tips, how to be sexy, and how to control cravings. This shows that the magazine has concentrated on the 'HEALTH' subject. Women who are on diets or those who are trying to stay healthy would buy this magazine because the cover is full of promises on how to get slim. The puff/plug on the cover reads ''SLIM LEGS! FIRM BUTT!'' this lures the public in because in the twenty first century every lady wants to be slim. The main image is a celebrity named Lea Michele who is always in the public eye so everybody knows her; this will also make the audience want to buy the magazine because they enjoy reading about her. Lea is wearing bright colours like pink and blue; these are the same colours that are used for the text on the cover so it all fits in to a colour scheme. The colours are eye catching so they get the public’s attention.

At the top of the cover there is a cover-line that reads ‘’YOUR FAST TRACK TO A FLAT BELLY’’ this is rhetorical text as it persuades the audience and it gives them another reason to buy the magazine. It appeals to women because they would like to have a flat stomach. This cover-line is promising and very believable; it would make the audience think that this was their answer to getting the belly they have always wanted. The text producers have used different dieting options and a celebrity who is in the public eye to appeal to the audience, they have used devices that they know the audience want to read. By doing all of this they have still focused on the subject of their magazine; ‘’health.’’

The text producer has used pull quotes on the cover; e.g ‘’wear this, not that!’’ By using these it makes the reader want to read more, and to do that they have to buy the magazine. The text producer has also used numbers to attract the audience; e.g ‘’12 new ways to control cravings.’’ This also lures the audience in, because yet again it is promising them a way of keeping skinny.

This magazine is similar to a lot of other magazines. Most magazines use the same devices because all they want to do is lure the audience in. They use rhetorical text to persuade the readers and they include things that they know the readers want to see. This ‘’Women’s Health’’ magazine is a perfect example of what magazines are like these days and how promising they are. This magazine is full of promises and different diets, and that’s all women want to read nowadays. Who wants to read about celebrities, when they can find out how to lose weight?