This document contains an analysis of a Mojo magazine cover and contents pages focusing on Paul McCartney. Some key points:
- The cover uses Paul McCartney as the main signifier to appeal to fans of The Beatles. His image dominates the cover against a black background.
- The contents pages are dominated by images of male rock and indie artists, showing the magazine's intended primarily male audience. Colors like red and black are used to draw the eye to important information.
- The article page on Paul McCartney has his face as the main focal point, looking directly at the viewer, with greens used to highlight key words about McCartney and the article. Visual techniques are used
2. • The main indexical sign is Paul
McCartney. These signs will
appeal to the identified audience
because ‘Mojo’ is a magazine
targeted to a wide range
audience so when they see Bob
Marley they know reggae is
associated with this magazine.
The colour of the masthead is
white because the background is
black, white stands out. The
magazine cost £4.50 and we
know this because its written on
the barcode. The representational
issues we can identify are that
this magazine it targeting a wide
range of audiences with the
stereotypes of long hair and
beard for the rock stars and the
dreadlock for the reggae music,
we automatically identify these's
with the genres their in.
• Paul McCartney with a slight grin is
positive mediation showing how he is the
soul surviving ‘talented’ member of the
Beatles. The language of the magazine is
targeting the audience by using simplistic
vocabulary . Mojo magazine is published
by Emap (BAUER). Institutional factors
affect the look of the magazine because its
set up by an organization that lack
individualized attention meaning they
would have the same stories or research in
every magazine they own.
• The front cover is a fully bleed medium
straight shot image of a young Paul
McCartney , which is an all black
background with his face illuminated, in
the previous band member he was in and
the background showing their less
important to this specific article “how I
survived” his eyes are the main vocal point
of the cover, we are drawn to his eyes and
looking down we will notice the FREE CD
straight away and that would make the
reader want to pick this magazine out of
the rest of the magazine.
• We knows what's in the magazine because of the cover line,
main cover line/eyebrow and supplement promo. The
information is arranged in columns to the far left and far
right of the cover. The information has been arranged this
way to attract different type of audiences and to allow ease
of the indigestion of information. The colours that have been
used are Red, white, black, and grey. These colours have
been used to allow a stronger focus. ‘The Beatles' and ‘Paul
McCartney’ worded front are iconic signs because as soon as
we see ‘the beetles' we automatically recognize the legendry
band. The symbolic signs are the pictorial of the Beatles,
bob Marley and Brian Wilson because they represent their
own genres.
• Main cover picture has been edited
to cover most of the mast head,
signifying that regular buyers of
“MOJO” know the conventions of the
magazine, and instantly know what
the main article is about.
• Promotional CD “Let It Be Revisited”.
And Bar-code containing price and
information to aid stock control.
3. • Denotation of the contents page shows its dominated by men, particularly of the
rock’n’roll/indie genre. In a connotative analysis this contents page shows how the magazine
is dominated by men, so it appeal to a widely male based audience; Cleary these images have
been borrowed form a photo library. Colours that mainly stand out on the page are: Red, Black
these colours have been used to show the most important information to instantly digest as we
skim over the page.
• Fonts that have been used to
also support the attention
grabber are: Bold, Regular and
the biggest font is regular.
Images have been used to cause
an impact on the reader, images
such as Bob Marley (second
seen contents), Shit Browne (on
the first seen contents) – these
have been used to show the
audience what the are expecting
to find in the magazine, and to
show what is to come in the
forth coming articles. The
representational issues in the
image wee see are that the first
side of the contents page are
dominated by white males
artist, its further showing its a
rock’n’roll and indie genre
magazine; men in beards, long
hair all dressed in urban outfits.
• We only spot one image of a woman that shows that in this magazine or even in the
music industry they are less significant . The language in this magazine particularly in
the contents page displays a lot of free use of vocabulary e.g. a lot of swearing e.g.
“shithead” the language is probably utilized by the audience it is aimed at...young
university male white students. With the colour aspect...we see a bright array of
coloured pictures, drawing the attention of the reader at first glance in a sense...filling
the reader with subtle excitement of what is to come in the magazine articles about
bands and their business. The second part to the contents shows Bob Marley in black
and white, the use of these “classic colours” show his importance in music history as
well as the coming article about him in the magazine to be read.
• Contents pages using different
representational colors, possible
signifying their importance of one
another.
4. • Denotative
a man staring straight at the reader
Left handed guitarist
Casually messed man, fully bearded, long hair with a bit of
other music technological devices in the back ground.
All black background, main camera focus is with some
green header of page is McCartney with a green apple.
Footer of the page, page number.
Unlike bold big lettered font last word green. And a
drop cap used
• Connotative analysis
A young Paul McCartney, very bearded, looking straight at
the reader as if to draw the glaze of the reader, face is main
vocal point due to poorly lit room, so skin tone and
eyes stand out
Words, over, Paul McCartney, tom Doyle, and green apple
seem to be only in green highlighted these things signifying
their importance.
3 different fronts used to suit each case. Title front and drop
caps are of similar fronts, caption underneath in italics main
article in title a irregular sized Arial front. The image of a
rugged young Paul McCartney shows the reader another
side of Paul McCartney, the image is from a photo library.
As you can see, this page spread
targets the audience by making
Paul’s face the main focal point.
Attracting the audience via a visual
eye connection being established,
darkened background and
surroundings allows everything
else to noticed.