Main task: Front cover textual analysis

Denotation: This magazine falls under the genre of dance/club music. The front cover consists of a colour photograph of a young woman looking directly into the camera (or the reader eyes), with what looks like a slight smile on her face. It is a medium close up showing her head, down to her stomach. She seems to be standing in a dark room with high key light beams hanging from the ceiling, with one of the light beams in her hand. The masthead and cover lines are infront of this photograph, but do not completely cover the subject. There are 14/15 coverlines in total, but they are in small text and have short descriptions so that they dont cover the whole front cover. The main subject of all the cover lines is in a slightly pale orange colour, and the barcode, price and date is on the bottom right of the page.

Masthead: The "mixmag" masthead is in the same pale orange colour as the main subject in each coverline. It is hard to identify what font has been used, but it is a sans serif modern font. The masthead fits in well with the magazine, as the word 'mix' is often used in music when a DJ puts together a group of related or non-related tracks. "Mixmag" connotes that this magazine will probably have the latest or best "mix" CD's out at the moment, and that this magazine would interest dance music DJ's and the like.

Character: The cover photograph is of Annie Mac, wearing modern flashy clothes and holding a light rod in her left hand. Annie Mac is a well known electronic dance DJ who has her own show on BBC Radio 1. Bearing this in mind, Annie Mac connotes that this magazine would appeal mostly to young people in there 20's or over, who are interested in electronic dance music.

Costume: Her costume is a jet-black cotton (or maybe silk) dress, and a large gold/black chain around her neck. This costume has been selected carefully to appeal to the target audience, because the majority of people reading this magazine are most likely to be fashion conscious university students.
NVC: Her non-verbal communication is simple but at the same time captivating. She is looking directly at the camera, with her mouth partially open, and she has a mysterious look in her eyes.
Lighting: Although she seems to be in a dark room, the lighting is high key. This is because of the light rods surrounding her randomly across the room.
Setting: There is little setting, apart from a dark room filled with white beaming light rods. GLOW STICKS

Cover lines: The main cover line that relates to the photograph says: "Annie Mac: is she ready for the biggest job in dance music". This is making referance to Annie taking over the 'weekend starter' radio slot from Pete Tong. This seems to be a big topic within the listeners and fellow dance music or Peter Tong fans. Most people think that she may not be ready, as this is a daunting task for someone who rose to fame through radio and not clubs.

Target audience: Taking into consideration all of these points, I believe the likely target audience of this magazine would be people (both male and female) aged 20-40. They would have a good knowledge of fashion and a definite interest in the music genre of electronic dance and techno, as well as a general knowledge of the music industry.