Main task: Front cover textual analysis

As you can see here, the denotation of this front cover is a man standing with his arms crossed with many tattoos. He is looking directly into the camera lens with a medium shot, which is showing his waist, arms, shoulders and head. The title of the magazine is “Vibe” is big bold letters which fade from black to red. Down each side of the page, there are a few quotes and shows other rappers which are presented in the magazine.


His body language or non verbal communication (NVC) shows that he is very “serious” with his arms crossed and the tattoos back this idea up. His clothing is a black tank top with a chain with a cross on it. This rapper is very famous and the magazine is trying to appeal to young or old people who like rap music.


The lighting shows that it is meant to be daytime. Also, the background is very basic as it is just a white wall. The main cover line say “Eminem comes clean” which might reference to him talking about things he has done in the past that were not good for his career. It also says “Literally almost died” which might suggest a story inside the magazine which reveals something that might have potentially killed him. . He is also wearing a cross, which might suggest that he is very religious or it might just be for the sake of the photo.
Taking all things into consideration about the front cover, it is likely that the audience for this front cover would be mainly males from around 16 – 30.


As you can see here, there is a man standing holding open his jumper. He is looking directly into the camera with a medium shot, which shows his arms, shoulders, and head. The title of the magazine is called “complex” with a weird pink texture. Again the singers name is on his jumper in the same weird texture but in green. At the top of the page there are a few other rappers/singers which may be presented in the magazine.

His NVC (non verbal communication) shows that he might be quite laid back or “chilled”. This is because he is giving thumbs up and his facial expression seems to show that his mood is not serious but relaxed. The target audience for this magazine might be young men and women who are into the kin of music this singer produces.

The background for this magazine is very bright and colourful. I’ve said how the title has a weird texture and the background has a “cartoony” look to it. There are also some creatures that are on his shoulders which might show how he thinks and even link back to how relaxed he is. The main cover line is “Kid Cudi – Where the wild things are” which is making a reference to his open mind about life. Again the small creatures that sit on his shoulders represent this statement. On the other side of his jumper it reads “5th anvil style and Design issue”. This suggests that this magazine is for the 5th anniversary and because it says “Design issue” it suggests that this cover was made especially for the 5th anniversary and it might even be a limited edition.
Considering everything that is on the front cover of this magazine, the likely target audience would be people (male and female) from around 14 – 25. They would have to be interested in that genre of music.