Deconstrution of a magazine cover page

1. Content codes
Denotation Gritty sans serif font for the masthead, sans serif fonts are also used on
the whole cover of the magazine too keep with in its magazine (metal and rock
music) conventional design
Sex/gender and age
used
Young teen females
Used to appeal to
several audiences
- Young teem males
- Young teen girls
who aspire to be
like the celebrity's
- Fans of the
group/music
Magazines extra
content
Freebies that come
with the magazine, the
reason this magazine
does this is because its
away for the
consumers to believe
that this is the best
magazine to buy using
tangible gifts to gain
favouritism to the
magazine as a whole
Denotation font style/ language
Using text written in Japanese as a way to stick with the theme they are using,
having a Japanese rock/metal band on the front cover and also using the font is a
good design on this magazines cover because it can appeal to larger audiences

2. Masthead
Main cover line
Rule of three
Denotation- colour
Technical Deconstruction
This magazine metal hammer uses four
colours on the cover; red, yellow, white and
black this is because it’s a conventional
rule for magazines to use no more than
three to four colours on there covers, we
can see this rule being used on this issue of
metal hammer.
Rule of Thirds and direct mode of
address
The cover image of the subjects uses direct
mode of address, this means the subjects
on the cover image looks directly at the
audience to immerse the consumer into
the media product in this case the
magazine metal hammer.
The masthead head is conventionally always at the top of
the magazine. This magazine also uses super imposition
with the masthead and the cover image, having some of
the main cover image covering the magazines name, this
is because the magazine metal hammer is strong enough
to stand with out needing to see the entire name. the
audience is very pacific and the audience that it targets
would easily see what this magazine was just by seeing
the word metal on the side, this is because the brand is so
iconic and strong with its target audience.
MS/ Medium shot
Medium shot on the subject
The main cover line is white, what this means is this
magazine uses juxtaposition because of the contrast of
colours, I.e. the what name and the dark blacks and reds
cover image.
Lighting
The lighting is high key
Denotation colour- white
Using three words in the same way anchor text
is used to draw in the reader and grip your
attention
Typography
This magazine follows the rules that most
magazines follow using no more than three to
four font types and sizes
Puff
Used on the cover to help sell
it, they’re used to grab the
consumers attention. They are
usually in a different colour
than the cover image
Barcode
On the side of the magazine always
at the bottom

3. Symbolic Deconstruction and
theory's
Star theory
User and gratification theory
Personal identification between the
magazine and the audience – The audience
builds a connection between them self's
and the product Seeing some of them self's
in the magazine and relating to it making
them want to buy it.
Entertainment- The audience seeks
entertainment in any magazine that’s the
point in buying it witch is why is present in
this magazine.
Escapism- The audience will go to the
magazine as a way of escaping everyday
life, this is why the magazine uses U&G
theory to grab the attention of its target
audience I.e. metal music fans to offer
them an escape
Needs-Once the target audience builds a
personal connection with the product I.e.
metal hammer they then feel they don’t
just want to read it but the have too, this is
why U&G is so affective for selling media
because of the way it grabs its audience
and creates a bond so strong it cant be
easily broken, this is all present in this
magazine because of the signs it connotes
like the technical and symbolic codes I've
already gone over.
Richard Dyre’s star theory shows us how the media
uses stars (celebrity's) to sell something, this can be
something like a perfume bottle all the way up to a car.
Star theory is less used in magazines than other media
however it is still often used, for example in this
magazine here the cover image is of baby metal a very
parlour metal band in japan. Using them on there
cover means they can appeal to a large audience with
just one image. This is because although it’s a music
magazine having fans of metal music reading it this
particular copy of metal hammer can also appeal to
fans of just baby metal. Star theory in magazines are
solely used to appeal to more and larger audiences to
sell more copy's of there magazine.

4. Compering two magazine covers from the same magazine-
metal hammer
Compering two different copies of
metal hammer to test if they follow
the same conventions of music
magazines and to see if they are
consistent.
Both magazines use a similar sans serif font in its gritty style
Both magazines also use only sans serif fonts on there covers
The colour scheme that the magazine uses is consistent both
magazines using white, red, yellow and black common colours
used to represent the gothic look also relating to rock and metal
music
Both magazines have freebies of some kind that is included
within the magazine
Over all layout of the puffs, barcodes ect are
fairly consistent on both magazines keeping
with in the same design and theme of metal
music magazines. Even though each
magazine is different due to that issues
theme they still follow the same rules ie
fonts colours layout number of fonts ect
keeping there design professional and
consistent