Analysis of Magazine Front Covers
This essay is about the semiotic codes of the front covers of two magazines to demonstrate how the media constructs the image and behavioural ideology of their target audiences. I will analyse “Cycling Monthly” (January 2008) and compare it with “Footy Focus” (January 2007). I selected these texts as they are popular mainstream magazines that are available in most newsagents and therefore represent to the reader what constitutes a typical cyclist and a typical football fan. These are also fairly recent issues and therefore show an up to date representation of constructed cyclist and football fans in our media and society.
Magazines are a collection of signs including title of the magazine; the fonts; the layout; the colours; the texture of the paper; the language adopted; the content of the articles. Each of these signs have been selected to create a meaning. The magazine genre is therefore a complex collection of sings that can be decoded and analysed by us as readers. The Cycling magazine is clearly targeted at cycling fans who either aspire to cycle or who regularly cycle as a hobby. The representation of the cyclists is clearly conveyed to the audience through the large colourful image of a fit cyclist who is partially standing as he cycles through the grass; giving the intended audience the idea that cycling is hard work, fun, enjoyable and healthy. The Footy Focus magazine has a large image of William Duff Gordon kicking the ball mid air with his right foot. He is on what looks like a football pitch. The representation here is that he is working hard to develop and improve his skills. His facial expressions tell us that he is, like the cyclist(on the front cover of the other magazine), working very hard. The audience of both magazines will find this representation appealing because they will be familiar with the hard work needed to cycle and play football. Both magazine front covers use an image of a famous person connected with their sport. This is also appealing to the audience. The audience of both magazines will aspire to be like their sporting heroes.
The layout of both magazines is similar except the Cycling magazine has a vertical line full of blurb, whilst the Footy Focus magazine has a horizontal line at the bottom of the page with the blurb. The blurb on both magazines gives the audience plenty of information about what is included inside. The Cycling magazines use red and yellow as dominant colours with slightly different shades of blue to complement them. There is also use of black and white font for some of the text. The colours are vibrant and appeal to the target audience who will appreciate the different styles and colours used. It shows that the magazine as an institution has thought clearly about who their target audience is and given them the idea that using a range of colours and styles reveals the growing popularity and ‘healthy image’ of cycling. The front cover implies to the audience that cycling is here to stay as a sport and you too (i.e. the audience) can look just as healthy and fit as Harry. The age group appears to be 25+. The Footy Focus is also colourful but less vibrant than the Cycling magazine. I think this is because they do not have to rely on selling the image of football as much as the Cycling magazine does with its intended/target audience.