Example Textual Analysis: Billboard Music Magazine front cover

Denotation

The front cover of this magazine consists of a woman looking directly at the camera; this indicates that the lady is trying to establish a relationship or connection with the reader. It’s a medium shot, her head down to her hips. Her posture indicates she could have been dancing, her arms are broad and her hands are on her hips. Her body overall is slightly slanted. The background of this front cover is coral however in the middle the colour format becomes a lighter shade, which makes this cover have a more warmth feeling and the photograph covers the whole page and the lady herself takes up most of the picture. Behind the women is the Billboard master head and in front of her lies five separate cover lines in yellow and white. The woman’s name is in a different font which is stylish and bolder. Underneath is a little speech. At the bottom right there’s a little annunciation with the billboard logo on it.

Masthead

The billboard masthead is bold and big. With coloured in letter, this instantly makes it recognisable as a logo. Billboard is a flagship property for the billboard information group. This also consists of the billboard biz. Billboard.com, billboard chart alert etc. Billboard is headquartered in New York and Bureaus in London, Miami and Los Angeles, and has editorial in correspondents in Major cities around the globe. Billboard's masthead is simple. The font is easy to read, the colour used for the masthead is black with the inside of the letters A and D coloured in blue and yellow and it is in Sans Serif.

Character

The lady in this front cover is ‘Beyoncé’ a well-known multi-talented singer.

Composition

Her body structure looks very playful and conveying, her pose and body language are provocative.

Costume

Her clothing is a silky material and the colour of her play suit matches the background of the cover. She’s dressed like a disco diva, with her hair complimenting the look, with a curly afro. Her makeup also blends in with the theme she’s trying to pursue with her lip colour matching the colour of her waist belt.

NVC

Her non-verbal communications is quite playful and energetic, but however seductive in a kind of way. Her body posture suggests that she was photographed while she was dancing. Her facial expression looks like she’s panting, showing her teeth. Her eyes are also directly focused on the camera; this builds a relationship between the audience and the artist.

Lightening

The lightening is bright but it has an indoors setting. The lighting sets a specific tone that compliments the theme of this front cover, it makes the cover looks like a disco.

Setting

The is very little setting but the lightning and colour of the colour gives a disco feeling. And the way she is posed is very suggestive of that as well.

Cover-Lines

There are five cover lines and all are yellow and white, the heading are yellow while the main parts of the cover lines are whit. This may be to draw more attention to the heading because it’s a brief outline of the main articles in the magazine, helping people know what they’ll be buying. The main cover line is about the artist in the image. This main cover line is in another font front the rest of the cover lines. ‘Back to run the world’ this will draw the audience to want to read all about this certain article, and because it’s in capitals it will stand out. The audience could feel cautious about the sort of issue that’s going to be in the magazine about this artist. On the right the cover line mentions ’70 + finalists Rihanna, Eminem, Taylor swift, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and more’ This hooks the audience to want to find out who the other artists are. A because these artists mentioned are all successful and modern that will attract a wider age range of people.

Target Audience

The target audience for Billboard which mainly is aimed at both gender equally around the ages of 17-29 because the layout and the contents of the magazine is mature but the font they use gives it its modern input. The magazine layout isn't overfilled with images and texts and is rather kept simple which one reason why it is aimed at late teens and young adults. Billboard magazine is an American magazine so the audience are likely to be interested in the American culture.