Analyzing Magazine Covers

Objective: ● Learn how to read visual texts, exploring the relationship between words and images.

● Develop skills to analyse how meaning is constructed in magazine covers. Image and Magazine Covers
Word Bank and Conventions:

● Signifier: ○ Is the thing/object that helps signify and deliver the message. ○ The image could be an
icon ex: the icon of a heart in a hospital could mean the cardiology section. ○ The image could be a logo:
ex: the logo of the apple logo.

● Symbol: ○ A heart symbol represents love. ○ Symbols are physical objects that represent abstract
ideas.

● Icon: ○ Emojis that represent emotions are icons. ○ Some icons are interpreted differently according to
cultural backgrounds. These hand signs and icons are cultural and arbitrary. ○ Ex: the icon of a heart in a
hospital could mean the cardiology section.

● Logo ● Composition and Layout: ○ Where are objects placed in relation to each other. ○ The rule of
thirds ○ Which objects are placed in the foreground and background.

● Colors: ○ Example: ■ Why has the creator of this image chosen a white dress? ● The white dress
symbolizes milk color and adds to the pun.

■ What else can you say about the use of colour? ● The contrasting black and white colour isolates the
subject and emphasizes the importance of milk.

■ What is the effect of the dark space behind Gabrieal Sabatini? 1 ■ As a symbol, what does the milk
moustache stand for?

● Lighting, Depth, Color: ○ Is the lighting warm, crisp, or cool? ○ Is there contrast? ○ Bright images
portray friendliness and warmth. ○ Dark images portray loneliness, evilness, or sadness. ● Negative
Space: ○ What does this empty space represent?

● Rule of Thirds: ○ Help us place objects in the picture. ● Visual Narrative: ○ Is the written message of
the visuals. It ties and anchors everything together. ○ Example Questions: ■ What is signified in each
image?

● The white mustache and the white dress symbolize milk and add to the pun of the text. Also, the
tennis player who is a celebrity and is a symbol of health further emphasizes the idea of the huge
benefits of drinking milk that is portrayed in the advertisement.

● The irony in the text and in the image of King Kong’s hurt foot shows how “small, but tough, Polo” cars
are compared to the symbol of power and raw strength that is King Kong. ■ What signifiers have
constructed these meanings?

● The tennis player, the white dress, and the milk mustache ● KingKong and his hurt foot. ■ What story
is being told in these images? What happened before each image? What will happen after each image?
● The story of the tennis player drinking milk instead of protein or fitness drinks appeals to the audience
as the healthy drink of choice of an A Lister tennis player and celebrity, which entices them to go and
buy milk.

● The second image is a story of King Kong stomping throught the city but gets hurt by stepping onto a
“small, but tough, Polo” which is ironic since he is a symbol of extreme physical strength and power. ■
How do these stories achieve their respective purpose?

● The first image achieves its purpose, which is advertising the milk product and enticing people to go
buy it by not only having an interplay in the pun, visual narrative/ written text, and the image with white
contrasting dress and the milk mustache, but also by having an A lister tennis player and celebrity, who
is a symbol of an active and healthy and positive lifestyle, promoting it over any other fitness drink.

2 ● The second image achieves its purpose, which is advertising and promoting the new Polo car and
selling it to people, by not only alluding to a famous, popular and widely recognized figure, King Kong,
but also by creating irony where a very physically strong and powerful monster is hurt by a, “small, but
tough,” car which is their slogan. In both images the interplay between the visuals and the visual
narrative (written text) helps achieve its purpose.

● Anchoring: ○ Anchoring by visual narratives and captions delivers the meaning of the image.

● Caption: ○ Is a phrase, statement, or question that attracts the audience.

● Illustration/Photograph: ○ The photographs in magazines send a lot of messages. Look at the camera
angle, the sizing (full body or just a head shot). ○ Smiling with teeth showing indicates friendliness and
confidence. ● Ears: ○ The upper left and right corners are known as the ears of the cover.

● Teasers ○ Headlines in the ears are called teasers. They invite the reader to look inside the newspaper
or magazine.

● Headlines: ○ Headlines and captions are statements, questions, or phrases which capture the reader’s
attention and lead the articles. Which lines stand out the most?

Other Magazine Covers Conventions: ● Masthead: ○ Is the name of the magazine ■ Ex: Vogue, Glamour,
Good Housekeeping

● Tagline: ○ Is the slogan.

● The title: ○ Where is the title on the page? ○ What is its connotation? What does it make you think of?
○ Who is the target audience ○ The type of font, the size. color.

● Main image: ○ Is there only one person or a group of people? ○ Where are they in relation to each
other? (layout)

● overlap/logo/tagline ● Color scheme: ○ The cover lines (borders) colors 3 ○ The contrast in colors. ○
The dominant color and what it symbolizes.

● All images or lack of images.

● The language: use of rhetorical questions/ use of superlative statements/use of persuasive techniques.
● Puff is a device that draws attention to and promote certain elements in the magazine. They are often
set against a colorful background.

● Pug: is another name for ears. They are used to entice the reader, display the price, or promote the
magazine. ● Note: Changes to a normal color scheme or headline can create meaning. Ex: added a pink
color to advocate for breast cancer.

● Font: font can have a great effect on the meaning. Big fonts, small fonts, sans serif is formal, while
serif is informal, sometimes the font can give the genre of the magazine. Genre of Magazines

● Teen Magazine ● Gossip ● Lifestyle ● Home and garden ● Sports ● Gaming ● Fashion ● Wome’s ●
Men’s ● Wildlife ● School and College