Research: Analysing semiotics of a chosen magazine

 

The magazine I have chosen to analyse the use of semiotics is the magazine, Men’s Health. I have chosen this magazine because it strikes my personal interests and the magazine takes advantage of semiotics well.

At first glance of the magazine, you notice the Masthead. Men’s Health is well known for using a strong red colour, matched with a bold but simple font. The use of the colour red could represent several different meanings, this could be anger, war, blood and determination or could be sexual, happy, motivated or love. With the use of the bold font, it further supports the idea anger and determination rather than love.

Men’s Health put a lot of focus towards the main image of there magazines. They typically use a mid-shot image, in order in this instance to show off the physical features of the model. If we dive deeper into the image itself, the model is almost always seen topless, revealing muscles and potentially tattoos or a tan. This suggests masculinity which supports the theme of the magazine. We also notice that the models’ facial expressions will most often have a relation to pride or determination. This links to the emotions targeted in the masthead.

Focusing on the background, Men’s Health typically always go for a plain white background. The main aim here is to oppose the main image, causing the main image to stand out more. This is important to men’s health as they are trying to show off the models’ muscles as much as possible to attract the viewers. The use of the white background also means the masthead and coverlines and seen as bolder.

The coverlines tend to be in colours such as black, grey or blue. The colours black and grey oppose the white background, giving them power like the masthead. The colour blue represents a sense of masculinity which matches the theme of the magazine. I also noticed that the coverlines are in the same font as the masthead and are in capitals to add power.

Overall, the magazine Men’s Health presents a powerful image and has an instant target towards men. I found it interesting how they use different opposing colours to make the magazine more attractive to viewers.