1.3 Research: Representation

Magazine front covers always try to present a figure who their audience wish to be like or admire. But not all magazines represent these figures in the same way. For magazines that are strictly mainstream and focus on appealing to a wide and generalist audience the publishers represent the artists as stereotypical characters that their audience can relate to in some way, this is a form of creating understanding for the reader without needing specific truth or emotional link. the same views are applied to the related topics and products that are often featured on their pages.

In reverse the smaller niche magazines try to pinpoint the exact amount of information the niche audience would want to know about their favourite artists. Therefore the readers get to recieve what they want rather than what the publishers want. Many of the magazines are tailored to have the aritsts, products and other mercandise tailored to what the audience like and want. because of this the niche magazines are majorly sucessful, normally, with their audience even though the readership numbers are considerably smaller.