Generic Conventions, Language and Narrative Codes
Masthead:
"US Equestrian", in all caps and written with a serif type font, the masthead directly states what the magazine will cover. Its proper definition? Related to riding horses. The unambiguous nature of this name facilitates the distribution and popularization of the magazine, as it is easily associated with equestrianism, unlike other magazines such as Sidelines, which could be interpreted as the name of a basketball or soccer magazine. The straightforward masthead aids with its memorization, a crucial part in a magazine becoming more mainstream. The color of the masthead brings contrast to the cover, making both the image and the text pop.
Tagline, Issue, and Date:
Presented in a more modern, sans serif font, the tagline, "Official Magazine of the United States Equestrian Federation". This tagline assures the reader that the information that they will get from the magazine is legitimate and veridical, and confirms its subgenre as an equestrian magazine. This issue is called "Horse of the Year 2018", it states what it will be about and the context in which this issue was created.
Featured Articles:
These article titles serve the function of catching the attention of the audience so that they continue reading. There are two featured articles in this edition, firstly, "Horse of the year award", in all caps; and secondly, "Annual Meeting, Strategic Plan Success". Both articles' titles light up the curiosity of the audience. The featured articles manage to appeal to the target audience by mentioning things of great popularity within the equestrian world, for instance, important competitions and events.
Cover lines:
In both the cover lines and the featured article in this US Equestrian cover, the font used serves the purpose of balancing the details of the masthead with a more clean typeface. Two cover lines are present in this issue "USEF Equestrian of the Year McLain Ward", and " International Horse of the Year HH Azur". The cover lines give more information about the article found further in the magazine, intriguing the audience, and compelling the audience to want to know more.
How does the Cover Image portray Symbolic and Narrative Codes?:
The cover image shows a middle-aged man happily riding a horse, with this information we can induce that the main narrative of this issue will be focused on an equestrian competition that he participated in, and won. The body language and facial expressions of the man characterize him as charismatic; his looking down at the horse represents the control he has over the animal, along with his feeling of satisfaction over his achievement. From the picture we can assume that he took off his hat/helmet as a sign of respect and humbleness, making him more likable to the audience. Linking the cover image to Character Theory, developed by Vladimir Propp, we can identify the man in the image as being portrayed as "The Hero" of this narrative. Furthermore, the use of red, white, and blue in the image invoke a feeling of patriotism in the audience, thus feeling represented, and as an effect more likely to purchase this issue.
Production Context
Publishing Company:
The US Equestrian Magazine is an official publication of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), which is the national governing body for the majority of equestrian sports. The federation administers several competitions, including but not limited to dressage, hunter, jumper, vaulting, and endurance riding. It also carries out breed shows for more than ten breeds in the US.
Popularity:
This magazine is very popular inside the American equestrian community, it's reliable and has an abundance of information on events, tips to improve your technique in different sports, veterinary care, etc. It also has exclusive information as it belongs to the USEF.
Role of Technologies
A way technology has affected the industry:
Some magazines have been affected very positively by the rise of technology in the modern world. As some companies impoverished as the internet became more popular, some thrived as they created websites for their magazines. Multi-channel publishing came to be, meaning they were able to deliver content to their target audience in several different ways, through digital and physical publishing.
Website:
The US Equestrian Magazine website makes all issues, since 2017, available online to its members (free subscription), this increases the pool of potential readers/subscribers, as many people nowadays prefer digital content over the physical paper. By making the articles accessible to all who possess internet access and an email address the US Equestrian Magazine evolves with technology and avoids being left in the past, a phenomenon that is becoming common within the journalism world.
Audience and Representations
Target audience:
The audience that this magazine is targeted at are people who belong to the higher socioeconomic class, as these are the people who tend to own and compete in sports that involve horses. The magazine doesn't target a specific gender however, the great majority of its readers are women; this trend is very common in the subgenre of equestrian magazines.
Images and target audience:
The images of competition of any sort prevail inside the magazine, they show countless pictures of tournaments, races, dressage, and trophies. This competitive inclination attracts equestrian sportsmen whose hobby or career is based on contesting. On the other hand, the images also show exclusive events and reunions that wealthy people reading the magazine might want to attend, thus giving them an insight into what the events might be like would likely increase their desire to go.
Table of Contents
Articles:
Some articles are given protagonism in the table of contents, featured articles, as they are thought to engage the reader and incline them to continue reading other articles. In this issue of the US Equestrian the featured articles are as follows: "USEF Annual Meeting: Inspiration and celebration" and "Seen and Heard: Award winners & words of wisdom". Like US Equestrian, the magazines in this genre often contain different articles including, sport commentaries, character profiles, and informative pieces.
House Style, Layout, Font, and Colors
Color:
The colors used in the magazine cover complement each other, the cool temperature of the background makes the red and brown appear more saturated, while the dark tones make the white text and details on the cover seem more intense. The color palette suggests seriousness and conservatism. The combination of blue, red and white enlights a sense of patriotism in the audience, as they are mostly American, making them feel heard and represented, this loops back to the sportsmanship and competitiveness nature of this specific issue.
Font:
On the issue's front cover the fonts stay consistent with the magazine's genre, having a serif family font masthead and the rest being fonts from the sans serif family, establishing a balance between prestige and modernity. As for the inside of the magazine, it uses sans serif font; having the serif text segments answer the purpose of highlighting mentioned sections, thus directing at audience's attention where it's needed so that one may keep the reader engaged.
Layout:
The layout of the cover of this issue was designed to make the audience read and look at it in a distinct order. The upper body of the man in the image is edited to be in front of the magazine's masthead to emphasize the man's importance in the narrative, and at the same time, it makes the title "pop" less, giving protagonism to the rest of the cover. After looking at the image and reading the masthead the reader is probably going to read the featured articles and subsequently read the rest of the cover lines. Finally, the reader will aim to pay attention to the tagline, which, as mentioned before, is written in the smallest font size on this issue's cover.
House Style:
Inside the magazine, the house style is clearly shown through the use of fonts, color, images, and graphics. For example, the issue uses diagonal, light blue lines to serve as an accent to the mostly neutral color of the paragraphs. The US Equestrian Magazine also sets its house style by placing its logo at the top left corner of every even-numbered page, making the issue easily recognizable and making the reader consider the magazine a trustworthy source of information.
Mise en Scene
Photography and Composition:
The aperture which the image was taken with is extremely influential on the issue cover, it blurs the background, making the audience focus only on the man and his horse. The cover image is rather symmetrical, the face of the man is perfectly positioned in the middle of the page, the horse, on the other hand, is slightly off-center to the right, but stays within the seconds vertical third of the page. The man's and horse's bodies meet at the center of the image, displaying the importance of the relationship between the horse and its rider.
Editing:
As aforementioned, the purpose of editing the head of the man riding the horse is to draw attention to the image, not only by shadowing other elements of the cover but by attempting to create an illusion of a 3D image that sits on top of the magazine, this catches the attention of the audience and keeps them engaged.
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