Look at a magazine cover. What can you tell about the type of magazine it is; what kinds of articles it contains; who is likely to read it? Why?
The visual elements, such as figure, costume, colour, pose, typography. Layout
Linguistic elements – the title, lexicon, use of ‘teasers’
Lifestyle – what kind of lifestyle is ‘on offer’? How is it offered?
Representation – how are people and places constructed and presented through these technical elements?
Mode of address – how is a particular audience being addressed by these elements? How is a potential reader encouraged to see her/himself as the addressee?
Rhetoric – what is the potential reader being persuaded to buy/accept? How?
The picture of Elon Musk wearing the suit with his hands on his jacket and the metallic teal background with the minimal text portrays a very serious tone.
The title and all the text contribute to this high society picture they're portraying, the title being CEO and all the teasers talking about the future and innovation in technology and paths to success.
A very successful and technology centered upper-class lifestyle is whats being shown in this cover. It's being shown as something obtainable to the viewer by having the "secret to success" snippet on the cover.
Elon is portrayed as a very successful admirable important person by being on the cover of magazine like this, even though he actually is a person like that on the forefront of innovation.
The potential reader is being addressed as people who don't get much insight into this lifestyle and whats been going on there. The magazine portrays itself as a gateway into seeing the life this magazine glorifies.
I think this magazine is used to make people want to pursue this "better" life and it offers a way to obtain this life with the "secret to success" teaser.