Front Cover
As noted in the first evaluation question, the conventional nature of the magazine will be
familiar to the reader, immediately appealing to their affective needs. If the reader find
magazines entertaining, they will be more likely to pick up the magazine from the
newsstand.
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In order to persuade readers which aren’t regular purchasers of magazines, the deliberate
conventional placement of the cover lines in the left-hand third will immediately appeal to
their cognitive needs. The target audience will likely be familiar with the four artists/bands
mentioned in this section alone, and should they be fans of the artist, this will once again
entice them into picking up the magazine. A vital element to this is the readability of the
cover lines, and in order to test this I asked a fellow peer to read the cover lines from
roughly 10 feet away, they could read all of them clearly, which is partially down to the
contrast between the inverted text and dark background. From the Hot Seating feedback
mentioned later in this evaluation, after asking “Do the cover lines entice you to read the
magazine?” the feedback was unanimously positive, with a particular comment saying “I
would love to read this magazine, it’s very
enticing”.
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The large size of the main cover line dominates the
page, drawing a focus into the middle of the
composition. As it is unconventional for the main
cover line to obstruct the image in any way, this
will further grab the readers attention. This focus is
important in sustaining the readers focus, as
illustrated in the image to the right, the readers
eye will follow this spiral pattern, hitting the 7 key
areas of the page.
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One of these key areas is the buzz and puff, which
draws enough impact to the page without
distracting away from the other key elements. As
mentioned in a previous evaluation question, due
to the newness of the magazine, it would not be
profitable to give away a free gift, and this could
be perceived as a gimmick. Whereby the chance of
winning something appeals once again to the
audience’s affective needs, as a chance of a prize
makes the success feel like a greater achievement, as well as preventing the magazine
having to offer multiple free gifts.
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The main image is enticing to the reader, appealing to the social relationships need, with
eye contact considered to be an important foundation of any bond, with humans reading
emotions through the facial expression. Pairing this with the pro