Task 3: Magazines & Audiences

Part 1: Glossary of terminology

Masthead- Iconic ( recognisable ) name of the magazine
Price- Price of magazine
Bar code- To scan magazine for price
Issue number/date- To tell readers when its came out and which issue it is
Main image- Directly related to the featured article
Plugs- Give away, enticing the reader to buy e.g. competition
Puff- The graphic design around the plug to draw in reader
Main cover line- Main story line on magazine
Pull quote from- A small direct quote pulled from inside the magazine
Serif font- A traditional font, also can be perceived as girly
Interview- A celebrity has gave an interview inside
Cover lines- Tells the audience a brief sentence about a story inside
Left third- Magazines are in thirds, the left third has most cover lines on it
Code- Interpretations through what we know ( stereotypes )
Conventions- Widely recognised way of doing things

Part 2: 500 word analysis on a magazine

The target audience for this magazine is women aged 18-30; I think this because Beyoncé is the main image and she is an iconic figure for strong, independent women. However I believe that this image portrays her in a different way as Beyoncé is standing in a shy stance, hiding behind her shoulder, which makes her look more venerable and girly. I believe this is done to link in with the cover line 'Beyoncé in the bed room' as she has let out all her secrets and therefore left her venerable so she posed in a similar way. It will also interest the target audience because they are normally interested about sex and that's way a lot of the cover lines are about it. Another point is that Beyoncé is aged 32 and is respected for being a good role model to younger people; she is all about doing things for herself and being independent which a lot of young girls aspire to be like. Also she hit fame when she was 16 so a lot of the target audience would have grown up with her music and her being in the news for being idolized as 'perfect'. Beyoncé in this photo is smiling which connotes that she is happy and attractive, making the target audience feel like they should, as a girl, be that way too.  

I think that the target audience for Cosmopolitan is for women who work in an office, admin or sales that is professional but still has that carefree glamorous side to it. The magazine is £3.50, which shows that the target audience must have a fairly well paid job to afford this every month. The iconic masthead 'Cosmopolitan' means 'familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures'; having this word as the title connotes that this magazine is aimed at someone who sees themselves as well cultured and well traveled like the women in the program 'Sex and the city'. Like the program this magazine is greatly about sex, glamorous life in the big city and shoes; this is because the topics are conventions of what the typical young women is interested in. Because the women see themseleves as 'cosmopolitan' it is a very effective masthead as it will be easy to recognise and therefore will be more popular. 

Also I think that the target audience is for heterosexual women because that is what Beyonce is and therefore they will be able to relate towards her lifestyle more. A code that this magazine is for women is that the front cover is filled with pretty pastel colours, such as pinks and oranges, which are stereotyped to be more feminine. Furthermore on the front cover there is a thematic link between the colours used and what month it is; they do this because the target audience want to know the current trends for the current weather and by looking at the magazine they can link the colors to the season. For example this magazine is for April which is in spring and the magazine has warm, pastel pinks and oranges which indicates to the reader that the weather is going to get warmer and clothes are going to get brighter. Serif font is also used on this cover because it is a tradiontal font that is recongised for being linked to magazine, it is also a style of font which looks 'girly' because it words curl.

Overall I believe alot of codes and conventions are used in this magazine to make it appeal to the target audience of young, working women who desire the glamerous life style as they regulary read about it. For this magazine to be sucessful the publishers had to include many ideologies of what the target audience would like for example: fashion, gosisp and lifestyle.