Textual Analysis of a college magazine

Textual Analysis of a College Magazine

I have found a college/university magazine called Beloit. Beloit is a magazine for university students.

The masthead of this magazine is “Beloit College” written in bright yellow writing in which yellow symbolises being happy which connotes that Beloit College is a happy place to be. Beloit College is also the masthead which is the same as the college’s name which shows the students that they are proud of their college and want to show of their college and get people to notice their college too. The masthead is written in a serif font style which connotes that the school is quite fancy and traditional. However, the writing is also seen as quite hard and solid which connotes that the college has its ground rules and that it is a college that does not tolerate with any bad behaviour.

The denotation of this “Beloit College” magazine is a photographed picture of a happy group of people with paintings on their face who look like they have just won a basketball match.

            The connotation of the photograph on the front magazine is that the college students are good at sports and they are also very active as well as enthusiastic.  Everyone is seen cheering and smiling in the photograph which again connotes that the college has a very happy and positive environment and college students enjoy having each others accompany. In the main photograph there is an Asian boy. He is standing right in the middle at the front and I think that they deliberately chose to use an Asian student to show and to connote that this college has a variety of students from different ethnicities and race which shows and connotes that this school is multi- cultural. Also, it shows that if they have an Asian student in this school, then it is very likely that they also have a student from any other country or from any other backgrounds.

            The colours seen in the photograph is yellow, white and blue. These three colours are the main colours that you can see most on the front cover of this “Beloit College” magazine. By using the colours yellow, white and blue on the main magazine it gives connotations of the college. Yellow connotes the sun, being happy and bright. White connotes pure and futuristic. Blue connotes being friendly and mysterious. Using these colours connotes that the college as a good college with bright students and you will definitely enjoy going to this college and that is it not just about your education that the teachers care about, but also it is about having fun as you are still an young adult. You can have fun through playing sports and meeting new people at this college.

Near the top right hand side corner, underneath the word “Magazine”, it has the date. By showing the date you can see if it is the latest magazine out by the college or not which is very useful as you will not get confused by if it is the old or latest version of the magazine you are reading.

There are only two cover lines on this magazine front cover. This connotes that the college does not want to over pack the magazine with stories, so they only choose the most exciting and latest news to put as their cover lines.

One of the cover lines is also the main cover line. The main cover line is “Nationally televised basketball triumph sends school spirit soaring” This was written in the colour white. The colour white makes the main cover line stand out and white also connotes hope which shows that the college aims high. The main cover line also links with the magazine‘s main image.

The other cover line is also written in the colour white which again makes it stand out.  The main cover line and cover line is both written in sans serif font. This font style is quite modern and it connotes that the stories and information inside the magazine is up to date, quite recent and also interesting as they don’t just cover news about education, but also from other activities from what the school has been up to.

There is no barcode on this magazine or no price on it either. This shows that you don’t need to pay for this magazine as it is for free. This connotes that the college is friendly and they want the readers and college students to know what’s going on in their college.