Research on Magazine Front Covers

For this part of my research, I began by analyzing the cover designs of three magazines from different genres: Spin Off, World Travel, and Vogue. This exercise is essential for me to understand the different design elements used in various types of magazines, such as typography, imagery, layout, and overall aesthetic.

Spin off

Spin off is magazine the art and the craft of making yarn. This magazine also explores other crafts that involves around yarn. like crocheting and knitting. This magazine can be targeted at anyone who is interested in learning about knitting or about yarn.




(The magazine is taken by Pinterest and the annotations are done by me)

The masthead is placed at the top with a large font with two straplines both top and bottom. The dateline is perfectly aligned under the letter “S” seamlessly blend with the layout.

Another main magazine element shown here is the puff. It is in the color blue with the font being white perfectly contrasting colors of the magazine. This instantly grabs the reader’s attention also because the magazine offers a freebie. This is why a puff can benefit so much in magazines like this because it instantly grabs the reader’s attention.

The main cover line is written in three front each with different colors all that contrasts with the rest of the magazine.

World Travel

(The magazine is taken by Pinterest and the annotations are done by me)




World Travel is a luxury travel and lifestyle magazine that is aimed towards anyone looking for a good travel destination and tourists in general.

This magazine has the least number of elements as possible due to keeping that luxury aesthetic. Compared to the last magazine cover, this one only relies on one main cover line and the scenery photograph.

To fit the both World and Travel they have made World appear vertically on the top left side of the magazine. This not only keeps the minimalistic vibe but also makes the word Travel stand out.

Vogue

Vogue, also known as American Vogue, is a monthly magazine that covers news including fashion, beauty, culture and lifestyle. Vogue has a predominantly female readership and it’s best suited for advertises targeting fashion and beauty enthusiasts.


When analyzing the magazine cover, I first see the cover model and masthead at the top in big bold letters. At present day the masthead font is the modified version of the classic "Didot" typeface. There certain variants in some issues but it has mostly stayed consistent.

As for the cover lines they have used variants of sands-serif fonts throughout the cover.

For the cover subject they have used recent celebrities where unlike in the past they used fashion models like Kate Moss. Nowadays people tend to recognize famous singers and actors/ actresses which means this could increase the likely hood of purchasing the magazine.

Learning outcome:
By analyzing and researching these magazine front covers I was able to get a better understanding of topography, photography and representation of a magazine. Now I can visualize how my magazine front cover would look like.
Studying how different magazines use fonts, imagery, and layout to convey their theme and attract readers has helped me develop a clearer vision for my own cover design.

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