The higher end magazine covers such as Vogue and Elle tend to use a serif font within the masthead. This makes the cover seem more expensive as the font appears more fancy and posh due to the cursive edges. The use of serif font is to give people the feeling of tradition and familiarity as it is conventional to see in newspapers and magazines.
The less expensive magazines including Cosmopolitan and Glamour appear to use san serif fonts within their mastheads, from this we can assume the reasoning is to convey a sense of minimalism and simplicity. The font is large and clear to see and fits well on the cover. In addition it can be perceived as an easier font to read and understand which is helpful for the target audience as they mostly have a lower education.
I personally prefer the san serif font as it doesn’t distract the audience from the beautiful and imaginative image. Therefore i will be more likely to use a font similar to san serif because it is bold and intriguing. I feel the composition of an abstract image and san serif will be more eye catching.
Issy Dimauro A-LEVEL MEDIA 