TOAST Cover Analysis

Toast is a regional magazine based in Cornwall, focusing on student lifestyle. I felt as though it would be appropriate to analyse due to the fact that I, myself, will be producing a regional magazine, 

The target audience has been made very clear by the producers of the magazine, as they have incorporated into the front cover is 'your complete student lifestyle guide', being very direct in addressing its audience, and reaching out to these particular people, letting them know that they are the ones of whom should be picking up this magazine and reading it. The target audience are of both genders, male and females, although I personally believe that there might be a slight primary target audience of females, as a female is featured on the cover, which would ordinarily attract other females, unless she was sexualised, which she is not. Laura Mulvey in The Male Gaze states that all women are portrayed in the media for the viewing pleasure of men, which is most definitely not the case in this situation, as the model has not been sexualised in the slightest. Although, something that goes against what I just said is the female having male-like hair, perhaps appealing to a secondary target audience of males. As it is targeted towards students, the age of the audience is obvious. It is directed at people from the ages of 16-21, as this is the age of those in both college/sixth form and university. 

The mid shot profile image on the front of the cover is unusual, as usually the shot would not be in profile, rather face on. This is the producers of the magazine attempting to portray how they are unique and different, the reasoning being that it is targeted towards a crowd of mostly teenagers who do not want to find normality, they each want to be seen as different and their own person due to their non-conformity; this is also why the image is in black and white. Black and white images are seen to be different, soft yet edgy. They are these days related to a label, 'hipster'. This is someone who does not follow the crowd, purposely doing things to go against what the mainstream crowd is doing, much like an 'indie' person. The woman is not a star vehicle, not has her own story, and therefore is unimportant in the eyes of the producer. You can tell that this is true because they layered a yellow circle over her face, which is another uncommon convention incorporated to attract the particular target audience that they have targeted. It is to draw attention away from the subject, as they are trying to get the masthead of the magazine out into the world in order to be recognised and more successful. She is screaming, and to me this has various different connotations which could relate to different people and they way in which they live their lives. One connotation I thought of was that she is wild, and as they must represent their target audience in a way that will attract them, they have portrayed them as wild to relate to their social lives, going out all of the time and not particularly having worries or cares, as they do not have major responsibilities. The other connotation is that she is screaming out of anger, pain, sadness. A lot of teenagers in this particular social group have been linked with depression,  which is common in this age group due to the spiralling of hormones, and they have perhaps been able to reach out to their audience by relating to their personal lives and how they feeling inside. As they might not be coping very well with the pressure of student life, this magazine is reaching out to them, and inside probably has advice on how it is that they would be able to cope with these pressures. Another aspect of which would not be considered to be normal is the outrageous hair cut, it is very edgy and again, unique. 

The hashtag #toastcornwall ensures the students targeted know that the magazine is on twitter, which is a social networking site that is considered to be generally 'cool' and is popular amongst this age group. It also shows how the magazine is up-to-date and familiar with the technological advances of 2013. Another site which uses hashtags and is even more popular amongst the labelled audience is Tumblr, so the magazine easily relates to their interests and what they probably spend most of their time on. The lexis 'FREE' has been incorporated as the producers are aware that people will take anything if it is free, and it is especially good for students as the majority of them are not in a good position financially; they do not have a disposable income and therefore cannot afford the luxuries of magazines. Funding for the magazine comes from the advertisements included on the inside, as local businesses are willing to pay for adverts they know will reach local people, especially businesses such as nightclubs, as they are aware that the target audience of the magazine will be interested in the club; they hold the stereotype of enjoying clubbing and being wild. So the advertorial is being fed directly to the correct audience, for what would be a small amount of money to the businesses, and the magazine is being funded, therefore have the money required to print the magazines and give them out for free. 

In terms of typography, the design team have used a white font, allowing the text to contrast harshly against the black hair of the model. They have used this on the banner at the bottom of the cover, 'free' and '#toastcornwall. They have also been capitalized, as to put emphasis on the text that is perhaps not as  prominent as other text on the cover. Cut out of an orange low-opacity circle is the masthead 'Toast', as is the tag line 'your complete student lifestyle guide'. The masthead is slightly elegant and in italics to portray sophistication. It is not in the top 1/8 of the cover, because it would not be stacked on a shelf, as it is a free magazine and would not be for sale.