Denotation There is an image of star/celeb Ryan Reynolds he is wearing a shirt, a loose tie and there is a direct mode of address, his pose is him rolling down his sleeves, he has tattoos. The mast head is a capital G and a capital Q one is black one is white they are both sans serif and its bold, it goes behind the image. The mast head is transparent and the letters go through each other. The house style is red and black it’s the same typography as the masthead, but some of it is bold and different sizes. Some of the anchorage text includes “Ryan Reynolds Brings the swagger” “Sex & Thugs & Rock & Roll” “Where can a guy get a decent cocktail?” The image The image is star/celeb Ryan Reynolds, which in itself brings the star factor to the magazine; this connotes the gossip star genre of the magazine, the image is a direct mode of address it makes the reader feel like they are personally involved, he has tattoos and his pose suggests that he just pulled his sleeves down to show you, this with the personal address makes you feel like he did it for you, , his clothes are ruffled &and his skin is showing this connotes a sex appeal to him and this is appropriate to the article, “swagger” he has purposely been placed like that to give him swagger and a sense of style. Masthead The mast head is connoting what you say is what you get its plain, simple and isn’t fancy this is shown with the lack of serifs, although it is simple it follows the rule of thirds with the masthead in the top left corner being seen by people in stores, although it is simple it has a sense of style and individualism with the Q being transparent and overlapping the G.GQ itself is a very individual title not many other magazines have that bringing a brand identity. The mast head slots behind the image because the image is much more important than the title, it also connotes that it stands on its own. The House style
The house style has the same typography this follows the connotation of the masthead that it’s simple and doesn’t need any fancy stuff, while it still maintains a style. The difference in size and bold makes it have a variation to it, there is use of symbols in the cover,* and < and + are used throughout the cover this is different to most magazines and thus it breaks convention ever so slightly, the lack of drop caps connotes that all inside the magazine is important, it is all capitalized that supports this connotation. The text The text itself has a prominent theme of style, sex and stardom Style because there is a lot of references’ to “swagger”, “makeover” and “men’s style” this connotes a genre to the magazine which would be style it also reveals the kind of reader who would read this magazine, they would want to me stylish and look the best and have the mainstream fashion Sex because of the image as well as well as the text, there is a strong connotation that the people they are promoting are sexy, the male reader of this magazine would probably envy the stars and would want to be like them and be as sexy as them. Stardom because there is a lot of name dropping in the cover “Scarlet Johansson” and “Ryan Reynolds” as well as mainstream shows such as the sopranos and jersey shore, the reader would probably idolise these people and like with the other two themes they would want to be like them, to have that edge that they also have.