TOW #13: Visual Text – Cover of CoolBook Magazine

TOW #13: Visual Text – Cover of CoolBook Magazine

                Junior year is the first year I can go to prom, (without an older date, of course) meaning that many magazines have and will be sending me their ads for proms dresses. The first magazine I got this year is CoolBook, a magazine that I have never heard of before. This may be the case because it only includes prom dresses and, seeing as I have never had to shop for one before, I have not had the pleasure of discovering it yet. Its cover, displaying a woman in a dark green-teal dress, is simple with only two main colors on a white page: purple and green. It encapsulates the he simplicity, yet the beauty that their prom dresses have to offer.

                The woman on the front is wearing a simple off-green dress with jewels at the top. Her body is turned away, though her eyes stare directly at the camera. Her mouth is parted, halfway between a smile and a sultry look. Out of everything on the front cover, it is not her dress, her abnormally large earrings, or her smoky eyes that catch my eyes; it is her mouth. Her mouth, ever so slightly turned up shows the happiness this model is feeling in her dress. However, it is not a grin or a laugh, or even a full smile. She is still serious and, as they are suggesting, sexy. The simple position of her lips represents the range of emotions a girl can feel in a prom dress from CoolBook.

                The cover contains two main colors; purple lettering and the green of the model’s dress. It is simple, not too crowded, with darker tones against the bright white behind it. Pantone’s Color Institution has named Greenery, a color inspired by the greens found in nature, as the color of 2017. The magazine entraps audiences by using this popular color and pairing it with a dark, faded purple, another very popular color. Though the two aren’t complementary colors, they pair well on the cover and give a stark contrast, defining sharper lines on the magazine. This sharp line can be seen as popular amongst other societal beauties, such as sharp jaw lines, or thick black glasses. By using the shape of the model’s mouth and two contrasting yet popular colors, CoolBook creates a front cover appealing to any teen.