ANALYSIS OF THE DESIGN OF A GLOSSY MAGAZINE WITH THE HERO OF THE ISSUE ON THE COVER

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the cover design of a glossy magazine. It examines the important role of the mass media in the process of forming the views of modern society, which, thanks to the design and spread of certain models of life, has huge impact on the points of view of its audience. This is also inherent in glossy magazines. The peculiarity of the communicative component of the design of this type of publications is analyzed. It is determined that its content covers different layers of human society as a translator of ideas, trends, mass culture phenomena and current events. These tasks are solved not only due to illustrative materials accompanied by meaningful texts, but also by the choice of those persons whose photos designers and editors place on the covers of publications. Actors, writers, artists, politicians, famous fashion designers, etc often become their "heroes". The results of the study indicate that interesting exceptions from this list can be observed recently. For example, the cover of the glossy magazine "Vogue Scandinavia" for August 2021 featured a photo illustration of the eco-leader Greta Thunberg as a symbol of the fight against environmental pollution as a result of human activities. The choice for analysis of this magazine has been made due to the fact that it is in demand on the market of periodicals today, is very popular with readers and has an impact on its audience segment, building stereotypes of its behavior. The article proves that the desire to raise such an important issue as an environmental problem draws our attention to a new trend of glossy magazines. That is, a departure from the former, narrowly specific issues – beauty, fashion, glamour, news from the lives of movie stars and show business stars, sophisticated lifestyle and a turn to those aspects of life without which all this cannot be realized, in particular, to the problems of nature conservation. It has been investigated that the photographic subject of the cover refers to the archetype "girl with a unicorn" known from paintings of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which is a symbol of purity and virtue, the fragility of harmony with nature. This parallel is read by the reader as a certain cultural code with a warning about the importance of maintaining this natural balance.