1. Digital magazines
Veronika Pumputyte

2. Different types of magazines
I have researched four different types of magazines that are suitable for different audiences.
The magazines that I am looking at are: Cosmopolitan, Top Gear, Soaplife, Your healthy living.

3. Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan magazine cover is very bright and colourful. The colour that is used for this magazine is pink as it is the main colour to represent females. It contains different fonts of which there are different colours both yellow and white which stand out on the pink background. This magazine usually presents a famous/well known woman on the cover of it. Sometimes the picture covers the title Cosmopolitan. For example; the main detail of the cover is the woman and all the information is written around her, this communicates with the audience that the subject is important but also because Cosmopolitan is so well known it does not have to show all the letters of the title. The audience of this magazine are young, “wild” women as it includes such articles as “21 mind blowing sex moves you’ve never tried before” therefore Cosmopolitan's target market is 18- to 34-year-old women, but not just anyone can be a Cosmo girl. "It's not an age thing, it's an attitude thing," says Ms Adcock. "It's glamorous and sexy, and it's about success - some people are scared of that, at whatever age.“ Cozens, C. (2000). Women that are used for the front cover are usually young and attractive and is appealing to the reader also it gives them some fashion ideas/tips. The words “sex” and “sexy” are used to describe most of the articles on the front cover. That is because women that are reading the magazines are experiencing different things and also want some “sexy” tips to make themselves attractive. Some of the writing on the cover is big such as the word “sex” to attract attention and the others are small as younger aged women will not struggle reading them.

4. Top Gear
Top Gear magazine has got the new/fast cars on the cover of it. The images that are used on the cover are there to show the design and speed of the car. This magazine usually compares one car to another and is aimed at audience of young men. The audience of Top Gear magazine are young men as they are the ones that might be interested in different types of cars, they like the speed and are also interested in their structure and design. The design of the cover is very neat compared to cosmopolitan as it has got the pictures with information lined up at the bottom of it. This type of layout helps the reader understand the content of the magazine better. The biggest caption on the magazine says “THE STIG vs SLS BLACK sideways in the maddest merc” which is probably the main subject in the magazine. The font on the cover is very simple as men do not necessarily pay attention to that. Most of the cover is filled with pictures of cars to attract attention. This is very different to cosmopolitan as there is no “girly” colours; the colours that are used for writing are simple: white, black and yellow, there is no pink writing or pink cars as it might come across as feminine. There are no people on the cover as this magazine is not so much about personal lifestyle; it is more about the news and information on cars.

5. Soap Life
Soap Life is a magazine that is full of catch ups and future spoilers for different TV soaps. The cover of the magazine is a variety of pictures from soaps with captions that explain what happens. This magazine is aimed at older audience as younger generation have not always got time to watch the soaps as they are working or studying; that is the reason why the font is very simple and big and easy to read. There are pictures of different soaps to show what the magazine includes. The cover of the magazine communicates with the audience by showing different emotions of the characters. Soap Life magazine cover is very different to Cosmopolitan or Top gear as it is not based on a particular subject (such as cars) and it is not about people’s lifestyles so it has not got any tips or personal information on the cover, however the main caption of the cover is written on pink as it says “Stacey’s baby joy” which represents the feminine side.

6. Your healthy living
Your Healthy living is a magazine for older women as they are the ones that look after their health the most. There is a picture of an older woman (Kate Humble) on the front cover; this communicates with the audience as the woman as it shows her wellbeing. There is not much writing on the cover; the font and writing is clear and easy to read. The cover also communicates with the audience as it says “My outdoor lifestyle keeps me healthy”; this means that Kate Humble is talking about her experiences and is also giving tips on how to be healthy. The information on the cover such as “protect your brain health” and “natural anti-aging secrets” are there to describe what the magazine contains and attract attention of people with those type of issues. Your Healthy living magazine has got some of its writing in pink to attract the female readers, however there is not as much colour used as there is on the previous covers; most of the cover contains calm/smooth colours as it is a serious magazine on your health lifestyle. If there was more colour used it might have been harder for the reader to understand the captions.

7. Magazine content research and analysis

8. Cosmopolitan content page
The content of cosmopolitan magazine that I was looking at was on pages 15-16; previous pages were used for make up, clothing and skincare advertising. The reason why there were so many pages used for different product advertising is because women might like to browse through the newest products before they start reading the magazine.
The content pages were not put together as a one page layout; the page 16 was on the other side of 15 and are also different designs.
The magazine itself had a shinny, “bendy” cover that bends but does not easily crease. The pages also felt good quality and were also shinny; this gives the magazine a more expensive/elegant look. The look of the magazine also improves it sales as people might prefer the harder cover as it would not crease as easily.
The content of the magazine is divided into different sections such as: cover stories, features, style, beauty and etc; also, similar contents are on consecutive pages: this makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for.
Cosmopolitan uses the language to communicate with the reader for example “Gwen Stefani on turning heartbreak into happiness (You can too?)”. This type of language make the reader feel involved and relate to the subject.
The price of the magazine is £1 which makes it affordable for the younger target audience. There is an online page ( and a Snapchat programme where you can find the most popular subjects of the magazine. This is necessary for those who might not be interested in all the subjects of Cosmopolitan so they can read the topic that they like online. The online website does not decrease the sales of the magazine as women would still like to read it at a salon or a journey.

9. Top Gear content page
I have been browsing through different types of Top Gear magazines as there was a couple that were called portfolios which only contained images and not much writing, however I have noticed that none of them had a content page. The reason why there was not a content page is because the magazine is based on pictures and there was not many topics, however there were a few articles but without the content it makes the reader want to go through the whole of the magazine instead of skipping to a certain part of it.
The cover and the pages of the magazine were the same as Cosmopolitans; shiny pages with a thicker, shinny front cover.
The magazine can also be used in garages where customers can find out more about the cars and the parts of them.
Magazines like Top Gear can be also used to decide on what car is the most suitable for a customer as there is good and bad points and comparisons to other cars.
As Top Gear is not only a magazine but a TV show, there also is an online website which would be helpful for those who would like to find more information on the cars that are presented in the magazine.
The language that is used in the magazine is casual and easily understandable for those who know a lot about cars; there are no explanations of the car parts so they might want to research it or look it up on the website.

10. Healthy magazine content
While browsing through the magazines I did not come across Your Healthy Living magazine, the most similar to it that I have found was the Healthy magazine. The content is on one of he first pages of the magazine; it’s very basic and neat and also easy to find. The font and the colours are simple which means it is easy to read. The feel of the pages are the same as Cosmopolitan and Top Gear, this is because these magazines can be used by many people in public places such as pharmacies so they have to be good quality. The price of the magazine is £3,29 which makes it affordable for older people and pharmacies. The price of this magazine is higher than Cosmopolitans as there are more experts advice and tips. Same as Cosmopolitan, Healthy magazine has got a double page layout for contents; the reason for that is so there would also be pictures included to add more colour to the page. The language of the content is different to Cosmopolitans; there are titles and short descriptions of them which informs the reader on what the article is about. The content is also divided into different sections which makes it easier for the reader to find what the opic they are interested in.

11. Soap Life magazine content
Soap Life magazine is most different to other magazines that I have looked at previously. The pages and the cover of the magazine feels completely different to other magazines – it gives an impression of it being “cheap” as it is very thin.
The reason why this magazine has not got a hard cover is because it is a magazine that would be bought personally and not displayed in a public place such as salon or pharmacy.
The contents page is also placed on one of he very first pages of the magazine and is dominated by pictures more than writing, however the pictures are linked to the topics.
The stories are not sectioned by the soap – the sections depend on a topic such as: cover stories, top 10 stories, breaking news and etc.
Topics such as top 10 stories are important for those who might not be able to watch the soaps but would rather not miss out on the storyline.
The price of the magazine is £1,85 – this makes it affordable for the readers as it is not too expensive, in my opinion the price of Soap Life is fair as it also includes spoilers which means that readers are going to be informed on what is going to happen before they get to watch the episodes and they would not be able to access this information online.
Soap Life has not got an online page as it is not necessary because unlike the other magazines I have been looking at, this one does not include any personal issues or tips. Also, magazines usually have an online page so they can include more information on the subject, however Soap Life does not want to provide you too much information on the soaps as people would not be as interested in watching them and the TV ratings would drop.

12. References
Cosmopolitan cover - Cosmopolitan. (2013). September Cover Girl Nina Dobrev Talks Boys & BFFs...While Wearing Some Killer Fashion. [online] Available at: cover/ [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016].
Top Gear cover - PDF Magazine. (2016). BBC Top Gear Magazine UK – April [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016].
Soap Life cover - Newsstand.co.uk. (2016). [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016].
Plymouthpersonaltrainer.com. (2016). [online] Available at: magazine-front-cover.jpg [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016].
Cozens, C. (2000). Media: Profile of Cosmopolitan. [online] the Guardian. Available at: [Accessed 22 Sep ].