Semiotics or semiology, is the study of signs and meanings. It originally comes from the greek word 'semeion' which means sign. A sign is any physical object with a meaning. It comes in useful in particular areas such as media studies when it comes to the analysis of print and film.
There are three areas of study when it comes to semiotics.
These are :
- The sign - the picture, object, sound.
- The system into which signs are organised.
- The culture within which these signs operate.
This magazine cover here has the use of Semiotics as everything shown on this cover has some sort of sign and meaning. The main picture on this 'Vibe' magazine shows rapper Eminem, so straight away this shows that this magazine is about rap music so it will interest people who like rap music.
The face that Eminem is wearing a crucifix shows a more religious element and to show belief as this could be a symbol as something to do with Eminem as a person and showing off who this person is on the magazine cover. Eminem is also wearing a plain black vest top but this could be to emphasise his bare arms which show his tattoos. Tattoos like his are usually associated with other rap artists as it is a style that most of them go for. So once again, readers know that straight away it is a rap music magazine.
The colours are kept fairly simple by having white as the background. This would be to show off Eminem's image more. Then there is the use of the colour black to contrast with the white background as the fonts are mainly black but also so have another simpler colour too. However, the red masthead and the red font for the main story gives the magazine more colour and makes it sharper and makes the masthead and the main story stand out more from the rest of the magazine so this attracts the reader and also gives it more of a rap magazine style. 
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