THE AWAKENING MAGAZINE COVER SEMIOLOGY ANALYSIS

The telegraph magazine uses many specific paradigms in order to create a syntagmatic meaning to its audience

THE MASTHEAD

There are many different paradigms used in the masthead in order to create specific meaning in conjunction with the rest of the magazine cover. It uses a serif font, which is classical and well established, similar to the Telegraph Magazine itself. It is relatively small in comparison to the size of the magazine as well as the main image, although it is by far the biggest text on the page. This could be because the Telegraph is well known and so is easily identifiable from the small masthead and style of font. It is also coloured white which really stands out against the dullish colours of the photo itself. This denotes a sense of sophistication and class about it.

THE FLASH

The flash shows featured articles within the magazine. The articles here are titles: Scrapheap Challenge, Menace in Moscow, Food & Home and Eyes Wide Open. From this it is signified that the Telegraph is a lifestyle magazine as its flash is not about fashion or celebrity gossip as with such magazines such as Glamour. The writing is Sans Serif unlike the masthead. This again combined with the simple masthead signifies simplicity and the class of the magazine. From this it is also clear that the magazines main target audience is for older men and women through the style for articles included and the simplicity of the layout. (the simple style of the articles, the masthead and the white colour used.

THE MAIN ARTICLE

The main feature is called Eyes wide open and is written in larger font than the rest of the titles of articles. This is about the film The Awakening and creates a certain image of the film. This acts as an anchorage is accordance to the picture where the focus is of her eyes.

THE MAIN IMAGE

The main image is of Rebecca Hall and is a close up her face that take up the entire size of the magazine. The whole picture uses dull and neutral colours of beiges, and browns. Her eye is almost central to the photo and is one of the main features that the audience focus on. The name of the article, Eyes wide shut, acts as an anchorage with her eyes and serves to add some meaning to the distant and meaningless look on her face. The photo focusses on her face and the emotion on her face and so it again, when combined with the articles and the typography of the magazine creates a syntagmatic feelings of simplicity and class. All the writing is positioned on top of the text, suggesting that although the magazine is well known and favoured amongst some people, it may be unknown to others and so the title cannot be hidden. The pose of the photo has a classical feel about it, which I similar to the theme of the film as it is set in the 1950s.

THE DATE

Just under the title the date of the issues is written in tiny text. This means readers can identify which issue they have brought and signifies that it is a weekly magazine due to the mention of the specific date it was released and not just the month