LIIAR analysis of second magazine cover.

LIIAR analysis of two magazine covers.

The second magazine cover that I am going to analyse using LIIAR, is going to be a magazine called “ DJ “ issued in July 2009.

Language –  The masthead on the magazine is in bold text and is in capital letters, it features a thick black outline around the text and the main font colour is red. By using the thick black border around the red text, it makes the text stand out. There is also a sub title directly in the centre of the cover “ MID-SUMMER MISCHIEF! “ this will make the readers want to buy the magazine because it leaves an unanswered question as to what sort of mischief they actually get up to?. The main image featured on the front of the magazine cover, is of two well known DJs, I only know the name of one of the DJs on the cover, which is the bald man on the left who is called Larry Tee. Who is a New York City based DJ. Due to having two famous DJs on the front cover this will make fans and readers want to buy it because of the two famous role models on the front cover. In my opinion the small subtitles featured on the front cover are not very good because there are several problems with them which I am going to point out. Firstly they are not consistent, there are different coloured fonts ( white and black ) and they feature either red or white backgrounds. It would look better if it was more consistent. Secondly the text is way too small for a magazine cover, if you compare it to the main sub title which is an appropriate font size. The other sub titles are more than half of the size. I also think that they are hard to read, the text needs to be much bolder because readers who dont have very good eye sight might struggle to read it properly. One more thing is that I don’t think they have thought properly were about to position each sub title on the front cover of the magazine, it seems like they have just thrown them on anywhere without any thought. The good point about the sub titles is that there are plenty of them, it tells you what is going to be featured within this particular issue of the magazine, which the readers will find interesting.

Institution/Ideology – the ideology of the magazine front cover is that they want to promote DJs and things that are going on within the DJ world which is related to the name of the magazine being “ DJ “.

Audience – This magazine is aimed at people who either have an interest in DJ. This magazine would also be aimed at people who have a job or hobby as a DJ. The audience is targeted on the front cover by using two well known role models on the cover. This will appeal to the audience and make them want to buy the magazine. By featuring two DJs on the front cover, younger or not so famous DJs will want to be just like them because they will look up to them. However if the magazine featured two strangers on the cover who no  one had never heard of before then nobody would be interested in purchasing the product.

Representation – The magazine is representing the DJ industry. The magazine uses images to represent the people for example Larry Tee who is the main part of the cover looks cool and laid back, representing the person that he actually is, he is giving off a positive manner to the DJ industry. There are several headlines and events listed on the cover, although they do not stand out very well as I mentioned earlier, they are short and simple, it makes the readers believe that these events are the places to be.

Using LIIAR I have been able to see the key conventions of a DJ magazine in place. When looking back at this post I will be able to create ideas for my college magazine front cover from what has been used here.