Textual Analysis

Textual Analysis of a college magazine’s front cover

Denotation: The magazine shows a colour photograph of three young girls posing for the camera in a very simple way. It is a mid shot showing the girls head, arms and the waist. Although they appear to be standing, their legs are not shown in the shot. The background of the photograph covers the whole of the magazine and shows nature; a hedge, and also four windows of what appears to be the college the magazine is from.Just on top of the three girls heads is the Freeze’ masthead and around the background image are the 6 cover lines all in very feminine colours.Masthead: ‘Freeze’ is in a baby pink which then gradients into blue on a picture of a snow flake. The font is also very feminine as it is in italic which connotes that the college could be an all girl’s college.Jus below the masthead is the evidence it being an actual college magazine, ’college magazine’. It is shown in a baby blue colour font. Below that follows a light green strip in white writing showing the date in which the magazine was publicised ‘Spring into summer 2007’ this shows when exactly the magazine was produced and it is also shown in the weather as it was near summer.The first cover line ‘seize the season’ in a darker pink, in san- serif font is placed on the right hand side of the magazine just off the top of the head of the third girl. It is in capital letters attracting the student’s attention. Following that is an explanation of the first cover line. This is smaller then the cover line and is in green but white in the middle of the cover line.The second cover line is again in capital letters, but in a medium dark blue, asking a question to the readers. ‘To Bottle or Not To Bottle?’ This is placed just directly below the first cover line.The third cover line, in light blue reading, ‘No Boys Allowed’. This is another suggestion that the college only consist of mainly female students. Below it says ‘make way for the women’s centre.The fourth cover line reading ‘Fairytales Can Come True’ is placed on the left hand side of the magazine in an aqua colour. Below it says ‘make it happen for you!’ This shows the support the magazine has for their students and also what issues they cover. This phrase could mean finding love.The fifth cover line is in red; again in capital letters reading ‘Hot Buys for the Hot Season’ this is probably why it is red because it links to the theme of summer and ‘hot’ weather. This cover line is more of an advertisement showing what the college has to offer their students.The final cover line shows ‘HIV’ in the same colour as the first cover line. It continues to say ‘the battle women are fighting from Boston to To Benue’ .(notice the spelling mistake of ‘to To’) Boston being in America and Benue being in Africa. This really addresses a very important issue in the 21st century. So it is interesting to see a college magazine taking up an issue as broad as this. It is also placed at the bottom, not to draw so much attention to it. I think it is because it is such a sensitive issue that they decided to put it at the bottom, and also for it to be separated from the rest of the cover lines.All of the cover lines are in capital san-serif fonts. They show how united the college is as a whole because of the support it offers to the students and informs them of new events and even world issues like HIV. Every thing below the cover lines are the same font and the same size. It is also either pink and white or green and white in simple letters.The cover photograph shows three young white girls, this is interesting because most colleges in diverse areas have mixed ethnicities. This connotes that there may not be any multi cultural people in this college because it might be based in a district area. The Girls are wearing vest tops which indicate the summer is just around the corner. They are wearing plain and balanced colours, white red and white. White; connoting purity and innocence. Red; connoting passion as well as others. This shows the college is one of which that doesn’t require the students to wear uniform.The girls are posing very naturally; nothing seems to be unusual about the way in which they are standing together. They also seem very close, shown by their body language. For example, the girl in the red having her arm around the girl on the left in the white. There isn’t much jewellery worn by the girls. They don’t seem to be wearing any earrings, jus necklaces.They are all smiling symbolising that this is a friendly and warm environment. It also shows that they are happy and get on with each other. Obviously, the girls were chosen in friendship groups to be in the photograph so the tension between strangers wouldn’t reflect in the photograph.The photograph was obviously taken out side the college, due to the building we see behind the girls and where they are standing. It appears to be sunny, so the photograph looks more natural. It is not in a studio, where the lighting would be controlled. So, I would say there is high key lighting in this photograph. It is interesting however, that the photographer did not choose to take the photograph where there are any indications of the college’s name. This again shows how the photo was taken very naturally without purposely placing the girls in a certain location to show the whole of the college.Summarising my analysis of the college magazine, I can conclude that this particular college magazine has a target audience of more girls then boys due to the topics the magazine covers and the colours used to illustrate the magazine. The age range for the magazine is also for teenagers to young adults.