Designers need to have a front cover that will attract their target audience’s attention, the ‘Official Playstation Magazines’ front cover has a relatively simple design theme which is quite unique among other magazine covers in its genre, this will make it stand out on the shelf and hopefully cause the target audience to pick it up. In the background of the magazine, there is one large picture of a detective covering up a dead body with a white cloth; this suggests nature of a killing. The picture is related to the game that is advertised on the front cover- L.
A NOIRE and adds great tension and mystery to the front cover. The picture has a small caption at the bottom of the page which reads ‘L. A NOIRE- PS3’s crime classic uncovered’, this means that inside the magazine, there is going to be an article about the game. Once the picture is explored in more detail, the reader discovers that there is a policeman (with old fashioned uniform on) and a vintage Mercedes in the background, this suggests that the game is set in the past. The picture will influence audiences who enjoy violent detective and mystery games.
Moving on to the title, it is at the top of the page and is in a bold white font, this enables it to stand out from the rest of the page as behind the title is a gloomy, dark sky. The main title is ‘PLAYSTATION’ (with ‘L. A NOIRE- PS3’s crime classic uncovered’ being near the bottom of the page) and underneath that in a slightly smaller font is ‘Official Magazine – UK’; this indicates that the magazine has gone global and that it is written by Playstation and not a third party company.
To the left of the front cover there is a small paragraph that says ‘KILLER EXCLUSIVES Crysis 2, The Last Guardian, Battlefield 3, Dead Island and Prototype 2. This paragraph is designed to persuade people to buy the magazine as it gives the target audience a little ‘teaser’ as to what is inside the magazine. As well as that, the subtitle, ‘KILLER EXCLUSIVES’ is in a bold red font so that it is easily noticed when looking at the magazine.
Also, the subtitle is a pun because the games advertised all involve killing and the subtitle is KILLER EXCLUSIVES. At the very top of the Page (just above the main title) is the Official Playstation Magazines logo. It contains the PS3, PSP and PlayStation 2 symbols and is in black font with a white background, this makes it noticeable to the reader. The purpose of the logo is to inform the audience what game consoles the magazine will be covering. It may draw in customers who are thinking about getting a games console but are not quite sure yet.
In issue 55 of the Official Playstation Magazine (the one before this) the title has striking resemblance to issue 56- There is one Large picture which covers the whole magazine, a small ‘teaser’ at the side of the cover (in issue number 55, there was a small amount of information about the upcoming PSP2) and the classic Official Playstation Magazine title and logo. Overall this front cover is very unique and boasts some outstanding features that not many other titles have. It would definitely stand out among other magazines in its genre as it has an extremely dynamic and curious feel to it.
