How do magazine front covers use symbolic, technical and written codes to appeal to their different target audiences?

Different magazines use different techniques to appeal to a certain target audience. The main differences are colours, fonts, images and straplines. These differences can be clearly noticed when comparing a magazine aimed at males, such as Top Gear, to a magazine aimed at women, such as Heat.

The colours on the front cover of Top Gear magazine are dark. Also, there are not a lot of colours used. The main colours on the front cover are dark blue, orange and white. The dark colours would appeal to men. The use of only a few colours is simple so would also appeal to men. When you look at the front cover of Heat magazine, the difference is immediately noticeable. The colours are a lot bolder and brighter than the colours that are used in Top Gear magazine. They are also a lot more feminine. Pink and yellow are more feminine than dark blue and orange. The colours are not as dark as those used in Top Gear magazine, and there are more colours used. Top Gear used three main colours but Heat used five. This would appeal more to women because there are more things to catch their eye and more colours create a happier mood.

The fonts that are used on these front covers help to make the magazine appeal to a certain target audience. On the masthead of Top Gear magazine, the font is italic. This makes it seem more masculine because it is edgier than a normal font. This would make the magazine appeal to a male audience. The font used in the masthead of Top Gear magazine is different to the font used on the masthead of Heat magazine. The masthead of Heat magazine is a lot more feminine that the Top Gear masthead because it doesn’t have any sharp edges. This would make it appeal more to women than to men.

There are a lot more images used on the front cover of Heat magazine than on the front cover of Top Gear magazine. Top Gear only uses one image and has no secondary images. The main image takes up a lot of space on the page. Heat magazine uses more than one image for its main article. There are four images that are all connected to the main article. There are also four secondary images on the front cover, with two of them being for the same article. Men would be attracted to a magazine front cover that doesn’t have a lot of main images, such as Top Gear magazine, because it is clear what the magazine will be about from just one image. It is simple and the size of the main image makes it eye catching. Women would be more likely to be attracted to a front cover with more images, such as Heat magazine, because it shows a lot more about the content of the magazine, which they would want to know about before they buy it. Also, because there is more of a variety of articles in Heat, more images show the different types of article that will be in the magazine, whereas a magazine like Top Gear is just about cars.

The straplines on Top Gear magazine are not as noticeable as the straplines on the cover of Heat magazine. Apart from “New Lambo”, the fonts of the straplines are all small and they are all the same colour. There are also not any puns or buzz words used in the straplines. The straplines on the front cover of Heat magazine are a lot more noticeable because of the bigger size. The cover also used different colours for different straplines. Two of the straplines use rhetorical questions to get the reader more involved. The strapline at the top of the page uses a buzz word. The main article is about bad skin, so, in the strapline, the word “skin” has spots drawn on it. All of these make the straplines more noticeable and more interesting. This would appeal more to a female audience because it involves them more. The straplines on the cover of Top Gear magazine would appeal more to a male audience because of the simplicity of it.