Analysis of Magazine Covers - Paper Example

Introduction

Since the beginning of the 20th century, magazines have sufficed to be a ubiquitous feature in the media landscape. The magazines play an essential role in presenting the relevant information to the target audience. Mostly, the magazines use a combination of visual, verbal, and visual-verbal communication means to present information to the target audience or viewers. In the presentation of information in magazines and other media, three metafunctional lenses are essential for presenting information and aiding the reader's understanding of a context. The metafunctional lenses include the ideational, interpersonal, and textual perspectives (McMurtrie, 2015, 99-91). This paper aims at assessing the outlook of a magazine cover by utilizing the three metafunctional aspects, comparing a former and current version of the same magazine, and identifying what has changed metafunctionally over that period.

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Kress Gunther and van Leeuwen (1998) assert that the message on a media such as a magazine is not only expressed through a scientific approach but also through the visual arrangement of texts and images. An important aspect to note while writing or crafting a message on a magazine is to ensure the reader understands the message as per the author's intention. In this case, the author can direct the viewer on the text or image to see first through the visual arrangement. Subsequently, the author can direct the path in which the view reads the contents of a magazine; this can be either from top-to-down, left-to-right or down going up. Therefore, it can be concluded that all texts ascertain an aspect of multimodality which is understood through the modes of text analysis and the ability to comprehend visually expressed meanings.

Analysis of the People Weekly Magazine

The People Weekly is an American magazine which focuses on providing stories of celebrities as well as issues of interest to the people. The authors of the magazine strive to utilize a combination of visual aspect in presenting their information to the public. Notably, the front page of the magazine showcases an instance of the utilization of various metafunctional lenses to ensure the readers understand the message effectively.

Analysis of Former Version of the Magazine

The ideational perspective of the metafunctional framework deals with the assessment as to the manner in which the author has represented the images. The images can be represented to be inaction or static (Leeuwen & Kress, 2006). In Figure 1, the author(s) of the magazine use two images. In the first instance or the image that a reader is likely to view first is of a character whose eyes gaze at the reader. In the second image which is at the top-right corner, a picture with multiple people is placed in a medium-depth contextualization. The visual design for the magazine cover enables the reader to understand the message conveyed by the author by critically analyzing the aspect of visual representation that the author uses.

Secondly, the interpersonal perspective primarily involves the analysis of the modality of the images that the author(s) uses. Figure 1 utilizes high-modality images which are more real. The color of the skin of the images and the hair all look real. The image at the top with six people is a medium-shot while the one at the bottom is a close-up shot. The representation of the images using varying modalities is to ensure that a viewer sees the close-up image first due to its size, color difference, and contact. Although the magazine cover did not have a lot of contents, the authors tried to articulate the visual representation of the message in a manner that would enable the readers to understand the context (Knox, 2007). From the color differentiation, saturation, gaze and social distance which is evident in the two images, it is evident that the author had the intention of making a reader see the image below first before seeing the one at the top.

The analysis of the textual perspective of the magazine cover involves the analysis of the information values, salience, framing, and the reading path. In figure 1, the author(s) place the essential information at the center of the cover page and use the white color to represent the text. This suffices to be the information of value as it carries the message of the cover page. However, the framing technique used is strong since the distinction between the image and text positions are visible through the line borders. The magazine utilizes a compelling visual representation of the texts as well as the images to present the key message of the magazine.

Further, the aspect of salience in figure 1 is evident in the incidence when the author(s) strives to make the key message stand out from the rest of the texts. The key text "The Death of Selena" stands out in the figure as it uses a different font size as well as bright color that will probably catch the eye of the reader first. Additionally, the aspect of the reading path is evident in the cover page whereby the author(s) utilize a mix of strategies to ensure the reader incorporates a specific path while reading the contents of the cover page (Leeuwen &Kress, 2006). In this case, the reading path is guided by the text size as well as the font color. The key message has a bigger font size and a bright white color while the preceding text has a relatively small font and a dull color.

Analysis of Current Version of the Magazine

Similarly, the analysis of the current version of the magazine cover will partake the three metafunctional analysis. In Figure 2, the magazine utilizes two images. The metafunctional frameworks facilitate the assessment of the actions of the image. In this case, the images are static with a gaze. The image at the top right-hand corner is medium-depth contextualizations while the one below and at the center of the cover is an extreme close-up shot. The visual representation of the images represent what priorities of the author(s) and the intentions they have for the reader in understanding the message contained on the figure (Unsworth, 1999). It is evident that a reader will spot the image at the center faster than the image at the top due to the difference in the size of the images.

Secondly, the assessment of the interpersonal perspectives in the image facilitates a better interpretation and comprehension of the message or contents of figure 2. The uses images or photographs of real people which represents the high-modality aspect of the visual composition (Unsworth, 1999). Subsequently, the two images portray an aspect of demand due to the eye contact or gaze at the viewer of the figure. Also, the figure portrays an aspect of power whereby the image at the center is placed in a vertical axis. The author(s) of the magazine alter the viewer's understanding of the primary information in the figure by using images of different sizes and varying social distance. It is evident that in figure two that any viewer will begin by viewing the image at the center before noticing the one at the top.

Regarding the aspect of textual representation, the placement of key information is at the left while the detailed information is provided at the right side. The aspect of placement of the information is to facilitate the viewer's understanding of the critical information versus the detailed facts that the viewers do not know (Leeuwen & Kress, 2006). The text "Sexiest Man Alive!" is more general and given; the details at the right side of figure 2 that "We've got 'em shirtless, mustache, and with their dogs!" facilitates an understanding of the real or key information on the left side. Additionally, the framing, in this case, is weak since no borders are visible even though a reader can notice the distinction between the various contents of figure 2.

The salience in figure 2 is the utilization of a mixture of font size, overlapping of text, and the utilization of different colors in the presentation of the information. In figure 2, the image has a frontal axis which showcases an instance of involvement and power (Leeuwen & Kress, 2006). That is, a viewer can understand that the key message in the magazine will most probably involve the assessment of celebrities regarded as sexy men. Subsequently, the large font size and the appealing color of the text facilitate an understanding of the key information or message of figure 2. Moreover, the visual representation facilitates a reading path that the viewer will most likely follow in figure 2. After reading the text with the largest font in figure 2, the reader will most likely read the text on the circle before reading texts above and the ones to the left side.

Analysis of the Changes or Differences

The assessment of the two versions of the magazine asserts that there are subtle changes that have occurred over the past decade in the manner in which the author(s) of utilizing visual representation. Figure 1 which represents the cover pages of the magazine of the past affirms that the authors used strong framing techniques to the presentation of information as evidenced by the visible frame border-lines. Figure 2 which represents the modern version of the cover page for the magazine asserts that the author(s) use a weak framing technique in which the message of the magazine is visually represented to influence the viewer's understanding(Painter, Martin, & Unsworth, 2013). Also, figure 2 showcases instances of text overlapping which was not common in the past versions due to the use of strong framing techniques.

Arguably, the author(s) of the current version of the magazine cover is more adept in visual representation since they can skillfully include large content in figure 2 as compared to figure 1. Possibly figure 2 contain information which is appropriately represented using varying font sizes, font colors, and text positioning. The author(s) or the designer(s) of figure 2 accurately utilize text overlapping while ensuring that the viewer can see all the information without any constraints. Further, the positioning of the text and the difference in font size and color consequently facilitate a reading path for the viewer(Jewitt& Oyama, 2001). However, figure 1 does not contain a lot of information due to the use of strong framing preventing text overlapping. Moreover, figure 1 does not appropriately implement the aspect of information values by appropriately utilizing the various zones on the cover page (for instance, the right/left side or given/new information values) as evidenced in figure 2, the current version.

Various aspects contribute to the change in the presentation of information or message between figure 1 and 2. Firstly, it is crucial to understand that the representation of a message in the media utilizes various semiotic resources which facilitate the passage of message through visual representation (Jewitt& Oyama, 2001). Subsequently, the semiotic resources are prone to changes as the society changes and demand new ways or new approaches. As such, the changes in the society' needs influence the author(s) to change their approaches in the presentation of information. Therefore, this might be the rationale behind the change in the visual representation of the contents of the cover page of the magazine to adopt a modern style that facilitates the placement of more information. However, the reason which might have influenced the author(s) to keep the style of utilizing two images could be the fact that the design is 'hard-wired' and represents the unique feature or public image of the People Weekly Magazine.

References

Jewitt, C. and Oyama, R., 2001. Visual meaning: A social semiotic approach. Handbook of visual analysis, pp.134-156.

Knox, J., 2007. Visual-verbal commu...