Contents page textual analysis

Denotation – From this contents page we can see Kendrick Lamar with a golden crown.

Connotation - The magazine contents page portrays a simple layout and only the colour black, with the exception of a red “66”. The layout is split into seven categories which are; Departments, Ear to the Street, Life…Style, Power Moves, Source Sports, Fashion, and Record Report. Slang such as Ear to the Street and Life…Style suggests an informal relationship between the magazine and readers as they will be familiar with what the categories are about. However, readers will know The Source is more about music when they see how much content categories like Fashion and Source Sport include. There are also no editor names or editor’s letter which suggests the magazine is purely music and straight to the point. There is also a consistent layout of font and colour. The Source has also made it easy for the readers to pick out an artist as the artist names are not in bold unlike the additional information. This is also consistent as the artist names are always after the additional information. This gives the reader a heads up as to who will be mentioned in the story. A heading in bold and sans serif font at the top of the page that states “MASTER PLAN” is presented to the audience. This also creates an enigma as to what the master plan is and it probably has something to do with Kendrick Lamar. This intrigues the audience to look into the story more and read on to find out. On the right of that is the issue number in the same font but smaller. This allows the reader to simply keep track of the magazines they buy. We can see Kendrick wearing black jeans, a gold ring, a chain and a black jumper which says “Very Rare” . This is done to show that he is a street orientated artist, this will appeal to readers more because they might have the same sense of fashion as him. There are 19 stories on the contents page. The amount varies due to categories. For example, Ear to the Street is more about music than Fashion would be. The stories are also musical terms such as “Microphone Check” and “Surround Sound”. This slang creates an informal relationship to the point that the audience are familiar with what the magazine has to offer. It also gives the magazine a more relaxed style.