Magazine Cover Review

 Lance Trippel

    Magazines have been around for a while, but in recent years with the boom of internet and social media they have changed. According to the article “Chances are you won't bother to read this article. It is just one long block of text, after all, unbroken by alluring pictures, snappy captions, or eye-grabbing infographics. You can't click it. You can't flip it. All you can do is read it.” it states “They are filled with color, oversized headlines, graphics, photos, and pull quotes. The gray text page, once a magazine staple, has been all but banished by a new breed of art directors who have gradually made their way up the masthead.” This shows how magazines have changed so much and become less words and more of a visually appealing art piece with some writing in them. In the GQ magazine cover with Travis Scott the cover was very appealing because of the very phantom like font and the contrast of the blue and the red colors. Many of the men's magazines were very bold and upfront. In the GQ magazine they had on the front cover a bold section talking about Black Lives Matter and racial injustice while on the women magazines there is not much of that and it seems like they avoid talking about those subjects. The rolling stone magazine also had some political references on the cover talking about Black Lives Matter and the cover photo was taken at one of the scenes of the riots. In addition to grabbing attention, the explosion of choices parallels a fragmentation of consumer tastes. 

 This has had another effect on magazines like Rolling Stone, an effect that is often confused with a declining interest in long articles. Many magazines are having to abandon their roots and adapt to the new way of magazines, according to “Chances are you won't bother to read this article. It is just one long block of text, after all, unbroken by alluring pictures, snappy captions, or eye-grabbing infographics. You can't click it. You can't flip it. All you can do is read it.” it states “Back in Rolling Stone's heyday in the '60s and '70s, the magazine had a near monopoly on the music and focus of youth. Today, however, "there is no pervasive music that all the kids are listening to," says Black of Danilo Black. "It's a granular culture. "In a granular culture--filled with punk, post-rock, hip hop, electronic, and country--Rolling Stone traded its rock roots for bubble-gum pop just to keep its mass-market share”.  

To conclude, This shows us how one of the biggest magazines companies has had to change their ways just to stay in the magazine game because it has magazines companies has had to change their ways to stay in the game.