Textual Analysis of Front Cover

The magazine I chose to analyse is Rugby World. The Masthead is in a large font, a stand out red, which is alluring to the reader as it is a nice bright colour. Main image is appealing to the audience. People aspire to be like him because of his talent, which is a good selling point. Headline is bold and black banner, which connotes that the article could involve something dark or sad. This is the feature article, about Chris Ashton, making it the highest selling point. Also with what he is wearing, it means that Nike (shirt sponsor and brand of boots) have to pay for advertisement. The straplines under the main headline explain more about what is going to be said about the ‘icon’, e.g. “The news that nearly ‘killed’ his dad”. This connotes seriousness to the audience and makes them curious to know more about this person and his background. Under the headline and straplines is a secondary article headline. This consists of a caption, of a certain profiled player and with a bold article name followed up with a small lure of the article. This connotes that, what has happened/the article is about, could be some sort of feud or rivalry with someone in his league or team. Above the masthead is a strip of cover lines that are side by side. About different aspects of the genre. This connotes that the magazine has something for everybody in whatever stage of the game they are in. There is also a stamp-like exclusive, which is speaking to directly to the audience. It is a sort of advertisement, but not to sell the products, to sell the magazine. This is in the top right corner. Bar code is in the bottom left corner out of the way of all the articles where people will barely notice it.

Introduction to Brief

As part of my AS Media Studies coursework, I have to design and make a magazine cover and contents page. The final product will be a fully designed front cover and contents page(s). The first task which I am about to do now is to research a magazine of my choice, analyse how it uses the different fonts, images, etc and complete a textual analysis to post on here later on. Once this is completed I will be devising a questionnaire (which I will be posting on my blog as well so people on here may also answer if they wish). Catch you all later on my next blog.