All magazines have a selected target audience in which they aim their product at, however in doing this they need to take their target audience into consideration when designing every part of the magazine. All of these elements are called conventions.
LOOK is British magazine that have a demograph of teenage and young adult females with an interest in fashion and celebrity life. I know this as the front cover has many factors that appeal to this target audience.
The masthead (title of the magazine) is the first feature that catches the audience’s eye. LOOK is a catchy title as it is short and snappy. The font and size always remains constant as it becomes recognisable to the viewer and noticeable form a distance. The colour of the text differs but always is the same as the other colour used on cover lines and they stand out above the background images. In addition to this, the tagline “Britain’s bestselling fashion weekly” is effective as BEST is the most used word in advertising so is a good selling statement.
The main cover story is always a large picture of the celebrity featured in the magazine. The shot of them is always a posed picture, instead of a snap shot as they appear more glamorous and desirable to us. In this case, Scarlett is smiling and posing on what you think is a red carpet event as she is glamorised. Her positioning looking over her shoulder gives off the confident image we look up to. LOOK always use A-list celebrities as they sell the magazine. The cover line “SCARLETT Shock Marriage Bombshell” is a statement that is used as a hooking device as it influences people want to buy it. The use of only her first name assumes you know who she is, therefore assuming the target audience know her and idolise her. Using a ‘star’ on the front cover attracts not only the usual audience but fans of the person.
Other cover stories are found surrounding the main story which demonstrates the additional information included in the feature. The Puff that includes a picture of Cheryl Cole and a cover line encourages people to buy it as she is another idolized person. The cover line; the miracle £4 cream that Cheryl loves is a powerful tag line as it appeals to the target audience as the young females that are interested in fashion are also keen on beauty secrets!
Lastly, the two other cover stories are related to fashion, the main purpose of the magazine. The black bold writing stands out against the white strip. The word ‘gorgeous’ is in different font, as the font is a symbolic code for the meaning of the name. The cover line is informal text and is a direct mode of address. The pictures with this are of the celebrities again we see as being fashionable. The items of clothing cover a range of styles, smart, dressy and casual. This widens the target audience as it appeals to a wider range of people and there fashion taste.
‘LOOK’ is a good example of a magazine that has been successful in appealing to its target audience; all of the written and symbolic codes and conventions are what accompanies this demograph.
