Case study part 5: Analysing the Editor's Letter in a Magazine.

A small picture of the editor, Lorraine Candy, is shown of the top left hand corner of the page. Lorraine looks like she's in her late 20's, she looks quite fashionable ad presumably up-to-date with the latest trends. Her sunglasses make her look very funky and fashion-obsessed along with her bright red lipstick, making her appear to be voguish, classy and mature. She fits in with the female target audience of women ages 18+, and due to her being within the same age range as her target audience, she perhaps relates to the readers. Lorraine's photo and signature makes it feel as if she is a real person having a casual conversation with the reader.

Within the editors letter, Lorraine discusses health, lifestyle and physical appearance. Lorraine mentions that 'Two years ago [her] friend, the writer Hannah Betts, gave up drinking alcohol' and that that this has 'turned out to be the best solution for her own personal predicament.' Ever since Hannah began her alcohol-free life, Lorraine had noticed an incredible improvement to Hannah's skin conditions; she now has a sort of 'glow' to her skin. Lorraine gives out a message to the reader that, health is a significant factor to a person's physical appearance and that they should be weary of their health, diet and lifestyle.

Learning from Hannah, Lorraine is in the process of  're-[evaluating her] own relationship with alcohol or, more importantly, the way [she] consume[s] sugar in [her] daily diet.' Lorraine understands the correlation of  maintaining a healthy diet and improvement in physical appearance and also wants the reader to be aware and informed of this. Essentially, Lorraine is advising the readers on how to look naturally beautiful which is appealing to the target audience as women are interested in these sort of topics.
The language is formal which gives a sense of authority to Lorraine because she is the editor. However, we still see a connection between the writer and the reader, For instance, when Lorraine says 'Hannah' piece presents an emotional dilemma for us all in this era of so-called 'clean living.' The personal pronoun 'us' makes the reader feel engaged and involved;  Lorraine is having a conversation with the reader as if they were her friend which allows for the reader to feel relaxed and welcome to the magazine.