Textual analysis of ‘Bass’ front cover.
The overall layout of Bass magazine is an old fashion sort of style which it is supposed to be mocking. It has the bold basic Masthead at the top in big white letters which contrasts with the red background which fades into yellow at the bottom. These colours have been used to stand out because there bright like the sun, fire or flowers and could have been used to show the audience that the magazine has a bright content inside. Bass also has a white tag line close to the masthead which says ‘The UK’s number one bass guitar magazine’, which straight away shows it will be interesting. In the centre of the magazine there is a black man who has black long shoulder length plaited hair and is wearing a yellow leather smart outfit with a matching hat. He is positioned slightly offside so it brings your attention to it and the shot is a medium so that we can see part of his legs. This is also done so that the image dominates where the text goes and is what the reader will mainly focus on. He has his arms crossed and his fingers open showing he’s got style. The outfit is a 70’s look because it all has a glittery dated style. The male model is also wearing a pair of sunglasses with silver gems and a purple star printed on the middle to see through. He has lots of jewellery and is holding an electric guitar that’s in the shape of a star. The guitar also matches his style of a large amount of glitter and diamantes. The guitar is on a strap that the man has on, allowing the guitar to hang freely around his neck in a fashion. Alongside the man there is a variety of different cover lines to look at. The Main cover line is ‘reviewed BURNS’ nu-sonic Bass’ which is what the model is from. This was perhaps chosen as the main cover line because it is the most interesting and would stand out the most because of the way he’s dressed and portrays himself. Bass uses other cover lines too in different colours, red, black and white. The lines all give a short clip of what is inside.
The puff of this magazine is “win a Warwick rock bass corvette $$” which will make people buy the magazine because they want to find out how to win or take part and could perhaps be the reason some people buy this magazine. The pug of this magazine would be to inform people about bass guitars as that is what this magazine specialises in.
The target audience for this magazine would perhaps be older people, or anyone who takes an interest in to guitars in particular because that’s what the magazine specialises in. Although if the reader was younger they might struggle to understand some of the language used. They also might not be able to afford the price of the magazine as it costs £3.95 which is a lot for a magazine. The magazine is an iconic sign because it only has relations to what it is. The model gives the connotations that this magazine is for older music because of how he looks and the background which is just a colour, no picture, makes the man stand out even more. The language used in bass is informal because the magazine is supposed to portray a styled guitar magazine so there is no need to speak in proper language. Also this magazine is something people would read in their free time so it doesn’t need Standard English.
In the corner of this magazine there is a barcode that is an iconic sign because everyone is aware what the meaning of it is as it is globally recognised. The guitars are iconic signs because they mean what they represent.
The location feeling given from the magazine cover is almost a travel back in time because everything is very ‘old styled’. The male in the picture is somewhere bright and colourful. I would say that the text is the dominant feature as the man is surrounded by lots of cover lines all around him.
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