Textual Analysis

Magazine No.1- Vibe

Denotation

The magazine cover consists of a photograph of a woman looking directly at the camera whilst holding a camera in her left hand. The shot of the photograph is medium long shot which is showing her head, arms and waist. The masthead “Vibe” is placed behind the photograph of the woman and she is surrounded by several beige, white, black and blue cover lines. “Janet Jackson” the name of the woman shown in the photograph is placed on the right hand side of her. There no spaces separating the cover lines from each other. The bar code is placed on the bottom left of the magazine.

Masthead

The “Vibe” masthead is very distinguishing: Beige with no outline, bold and san serif .The font used is the same font used on all the other “Vibe” front covers which makes it recognisable to its reader and this is brand identity. The colour pink used for the masthead shows that this limited edition of Vibe is targeted at, young women. The san serif font connotes that the magazine is up to date, modern and the bold font emphasises the meaning of the word vibe and connotes to the genre of the music, R&B, it also connotes the black culture in music nowadays as most of the artists shown on Vibe are of black or mixed ethnic. 

Character:

The photograph is of American recording artist and actress, ‘Janet Jackson’.

Composition:

She is posed with her waist tilted to the right, her left arm held up high whilst holding a camera that she is looking through. She also has her right hand slightly tucked into the front of her jeans as she smiles in a seductive way. Her body language, clothing and pose are simple but sexy and promiscuous.

Costume:

Her clothing is a white vest top; fish netted tights which are only shown from the waist and a pair of dark denim jeans. She is accessorized with silver bracelets, bangles and a ring.  Her clothing has been chosen as it engages with the targeted audience of the magazine, young females and also young males. Her clothing has an urban twist to it and this relates to the genres of music (R&B and Hip-hop) that the magazine predominately features. 

NVC: The non verbal communication used within her face expression is seductive, her mouth is open showing her teeth and she is looking directly into the camera.

Setting:  An off white background, allows readers to focus and not be distracted, also allows them to keep attention to the text shown.

Cover-lines:

The main cover line “Janet Jackson- Likes to watch”. This relates to how she is shown in the photography, holding a camera as she looks through its lenses. The other cover lines show us that the magazine is a music and entertainment magazine, it relates to music, the genres of R&B/ Hip-hop and entertains with its creative direction of covers, famous cover subjects such as Janet Jackson herself and their music related stories, gossip etc. Other artists are being mentioned include Rihanna, Mario, Erykah Badu, Angel Lola, Run DMC, Bobby Brown, Tupac etc. The cover lines are positioned in all areas of the front cover to grab the reader’s attention. It also shows that the magazine is up to date with the latest gossip “Rihanna- Exposed” and “Jermaine Dupri’s Wild Night”. The font used for the cover lines is san serif which modernises the magazine and also connotes that it is up to date.

Target Audience:

The target audience would be male and female (more female members of the audience than male) aged between 18 and upwards. They are to be expected to have interest in music especially the genres of R&B and Hip-hop and its artists. The target audience is also for those who have interest in knowing the latest gossip in the celebrity world.