Marie Claire

Sometimes, when I find myself with an hour or so of free time, I head to the Lehigh Bookstore, grab a magazine and read it over coffee. I usually choose between Vogue, Cosmo, and Seventeen. This discretion comes from trying out numerous other fashion, beauty, and style magazines and finding these three to be my favorites. I choose between the three depending on who is on each cover and what is featured in the month's issue from reading the blurbs on each cover. Before I shopped, I knew I would be buying one of those magazines, only rarely would the cover of another entice me enough to stand at my local drug store or airport and flip through its contents - and even then I wouldn't buy it.

Today I was determined to be objective and find a cover that really enticed me regardless of the name at the top of the magazine. I stood for a while, looking at the rack and judging the magazines that caught my eye. Okay's colors and fonts made it too hokey, too trashy. Rolling Stone was a little better, but it just seemed too brash and masculine for my taste. Finally, Marie Claire. I knew who was on the cover - Miley Cyrus - but what really struck me were the colors, type, and layout of the cover - it was truly elegant and alluring. The colors on this cover were done very well. The blue in background made me think of the cold winter, which is still very much a part of February. Miley was wearing a yellow chiffon dress signaling spring, which has been peeping through the winter for a day here and there. The red - which highlighting specific articles - helped topics stand out, but didnt overwhelm the cover. The crispness and beauty of the cover made me think that the magazine took their layout seriously, and suprisingly, this made me want to read more.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised at how much a cover can affect one's desire to read a magazine. I guess it is obvious - covers are in many ways the most important part of magazines. The cover is the potential reader's first impression. They are the magazine's chance to grab your attention and say "You have to read me!" However, I was struck by just how much respect I had for Marie Claire because it produced an elegant cover, which stood out to me on the rack of tens of other magazines. The cover begged me to read on - and I did.