Magazine Analysis 1

 

The codes and conventions of magazines are essential for the audience appeal and making a magazine attractive to readers.

Time is an American current affairs and news magazine. On this issue’s front cover, a main image of Earth is shown to be shedding a shell, revealing a seemingly brighter planet. The main cover line of the magazine anchors this image with ‘Youthquake’ a play on the word ‘earthquake’ in a simple, bold and black font beneath the Time masthead. This suggests the main theme of climate issues and the youth making a significant difference to this topic.

The main supporting cover line is ‘How the world will change when a new generation leads’ this text explains the main cover line. Paired with the bright main cover photo, the cover suggests that a new generation could make a significant, positive change to the world and climate. The other supporting cover lines give the readers information as to what some of the articles cover inside, intriguing the readers more.

The composition and layout of the magazine is essential to the appeal as the cover is very simple with a white background and bright red border. This red border relates to the recognisable Time logo as the masthead is usually red on most issues, this keeps the magazine recognisable for audiences who buy Time. The cover lines are all centered on the cover as well as the image underneath. The rule of thirds applies to this issue as the masthead is at the top of the cover whilst the cover lines and text are in the middle with the cover image at the bottom.

The colour scheme of the cover is simple (conventional for magazines) and appropriate as it is black, white and red excluding the main image. This colour scheme doesn’t distract from the main image of Earth. However, the red is used to keep the classic Time brand as the masthead is usually red.

The target audience for this Time magazine is American middle-aged, middle-class, well-educated men and women due to the political and mature nature of the articles included in the magazine. A secondary audience for this magazine could be a younger audience in education with politically educated parents. However, this audience would likely still be well educated or middle-classed.

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