Masthead: The masthead is the title of the magazine. On this front cover, the masthead covers the whole top portion of the page. It is written in a sans serif font which gives it a sophisticated and feminine feel which will appeal to the target audience.
Spot/Plug: A spot/ plug is a shape with extra information in. In this case the plug is a diagonal box that covers the masthead. Usually important information is contained within these boxes as they attract the attention of the reader first.
Cover Lines: cover lines are short, concise sentences that sum up the content of the magazine. They come in varying shades and sizes depending on the importance of the story within the magazine. For example, the most important story will often be the biggest font and will sometimes be written in a different colour from the rest. The cover lines on this magazine are written in a serif font showing concise and important information.
The Left Third: the left third of the magazine is most important as it is often the only thing that is seen when magazines are stacked on the shelves. Therefore, the producers of magazines put all the information that they think will attract an audience to buy it, on the left portion of the cover.
The Colours: The colour scheme of a magazine is also very important. Not only the colours must be chosen but the shades of the colours are very important. In this magazine light pastel colours have been chosen. This is because the magazine was published as the spring was drawing in and pastel colours are often association with spring. Also they are associated with females are they are very soft and gentle colours.
The Picture: More often than not the cover picture on a magazine is a person. On this cover it is Taylor Swift who is a young idol to her fans. She is looking directly at the reader making it feel more personal and direct to them.
Overall, when you put all of these codes together you can work out exactly what type of people the magazine is aimed at. It is clearly aimed at females. You can tell this from the colours used, as discussed before, and the content. The content is all about appearance, including fashion and make up which are typically what girls are interested in. This also indicates an age. The content relates to ladies that are in their 20's. You can tell this from the above features because most people in that category have money to spend on themselves as they don't have other responsibilities such as children and/or partners. It is also hinted that these girls may be single. You can get this from the fact that the makeup looks being described are 'simple', 'sexy' and 'romantic', which indicate that you are looking for love and attention from the opposite sex. In the bottom right hand corner, the cover line is also talking about men and relationships that didn't quite go to plan, suggesting that the reader is single. Also due to the fact that Taylor Swift is on the front, justifies this theory also as she herself is a 20 year old female who takes care of her appearance and is seen as a fashion icon.
