Magazine Textual Analysis

This is a front cover of Company magazine latest issue, which is for November 2014. The magazine uses three to four main colours. The colour black is the main colour used for all of the text on the front cover. However there are a few other colours used such as a dull yellow colour used as boxes around the main headings. There is also a pale baby blue colour used are around the main title ‘pretty little liars’. It looks like a teenager’s magazine with lots of different things going on the front cover such as the many images of different styles of coats. The magazine uses a variety of different types of fonts, three in total. Lucy is wearing very basic clothes the shorts are black and the top is nude both neutral colours whereas the coat she is wearing has a variety of different colours. Lucy’s makeup is also neutral with basic black eyeliner and bronze eye shadow.

The colour scheme appeals to a target audience that are older teens. The colours used portray a classy overall look meaning that the magazine is aimed at more of an older generation more so older high school students and college students. This particular article is interviewing Lucy who is an actress in a TV series based in America called Pretty Little Liars. This TV show is also aimed at older high school students and college students as well. All the different colours are all neutral and basic colours as well that all goes together and have a warm appeal to them. The typography is a hand written style which again appeals to the target audience. The masthead “COMPANY” is the brand identity and appears in the same font but in different colours every addition. The font of the masthead is the same font every time because customers recognise the font and associate it with the magazine. By recognising the masthead the customers recognise the brand identity. The main image is a medium shot of Lucy where you can see from the bottom of her thighs upwards. The shot of her is subjective which means that the Lucy is making eye contact with the reader. Lucy is wearing very plain, basic but neutral clothes that go with the basic colour scheme of the magazine. The main headline appears to be “the aw13 coat edit” this is most likely to be the main article in the magazine. Putting photos on the front of the magazine of new season coats with entice the customer to buy the magazine and read about the new fashion for the fall. Normally the magazine will have the person on the front cover, with their name in big bold letters to catch the reader’s attention. However on this front cover Lucy’s name and the TV series she plays a part in, is rather small and also on the right hand side, where as it would normally be on the left hand side. It could make the feature article less important than the left side feature articles. Compared to the other cover lines. However the picture itself of her is enough to draw in the reader because they know that there will be an article about Lucy in the magazine. Overall the magazine is very feminine colours all round, such as the hot pink masthead and the pale pink background as well as the pastel coloured puffs. Everything is targeted towards older teen girls.