Magazine Front Cover Analysis 2

This is a music magazine front cover with the band Maroon 5 on it. They are the main image, and the fact they overlap the masthead shows that the magazine is so well known that the audience do not need to see the full masthead to understand which magazine it is. This breaks conventions as usually you see the entire masthead as the image is put underneath the masthead. It stands out from the rest of the page as it is one of the only red coloured objects on the cover, as well as the rest of the font being sans serif, whilst it is more old fashioned. The red of the masthead matches the red on the main singers’ top, giving the masthead a counter balance so it still matches with the rest of the cover, and which brings the eye down to the headline. This also highlights the importance of the person standing at the front to the audience, as he is the main singer Adam Levine. All the members of the band are looking directly, which connects more to the audience and makes them more likely to buy the magazine.
The hairstyles of the band also create symmetry, making the cover more aesthetically pleasing, with the two long hairstyles in the middle at the sides and the two shorter hairstyles at the back, further highlighting the main singer stood in the middle.
The outfits are all darker colours, with their expressions almost fierce, and with the main singer having tattoos on his arm, it is inferred to the reader that they are more of a rock band.

Due to them taking up most of the page, with only 4 cover stories on the page, it shows that Maroon 5 are the main topic of this issue of the magazine. There are freebies, and the colour scheme is quite simple yet sophisticated with the red and black of the masthead linking in with the main image, and then the black, white and gold of the rest of the text and underlining gives the magazine a more modern style. This makes younger people, especially older teens and young adults, the target audience this magazine is aimed at.
There are no pugs or puffs, which leaves the cover uncluttered, giving more attention to the main image and the headline/masthead.
The Iraq comment has semiotics in the way that it is biased, shown from Bush's friends are described as 'cronies' which infers the image of criminals. This point is backed up by saying they 'swindled billions' making it sound as if they were thieves.

How This Affects My Research?

• I really like the way the band overlap the masthead, and I think I will use this on my magazine.