Magazines - The Big Issue

The Big Issue (Magazine)
Media language
Representation
Social, cultural and political contexts

What media language can we analyse for magazines?
- Typography
- Images
- Buzzwords
- Headlines
- Masthead

Design and Layout:
- Rule of thirds
- Structured/unstructured
- Positive/negative space

Typography:
- Serif/sans serif
- Size
- Colour

Verbal Codes:
- Choice of words
- Emphasis of words
- Slogans/taglines
- Emotive language
- Buzzwords

Non-Verbal Codes:
- Images
- Costumes/props
- Positioning
- Make up
- Juxtapositions
- Camera angles

Colours:
- Colour theory



- The pumpkin is Boris Johnson
- The ghosts are Jeremy Corbyn, Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg
- The ghosts are haunting the pumpkin
- Trick or Treaty = pun, suggests Brexit
- Most readers are probably remain as suggested by "Let The Big Issue ease your Brexit blues"
- Typical horror style font
- Colour: orange = fire, flames, disaster
- Pumpkin looks worried
- Midnight deadline - time is running out



- Gold/glittering, paint strokes - eye-catching, glamour, fame, wealth
- Lin-Manuel Miranda, direct address with camera and readers
- Positive representation of man from minority ethnicity
- Heights of Hamilton to His Dark Materials
- Colour: indigo = mystery, night, glamour

The Big Issue is a niche magazine.
The magazine is part of a larger organisation and movement to help homeless people, it is not owned by a commercial company.
The magazine allows the homeless to work selling the magazine and receive half the cover price for every magazine sold.

The magazine is dealing with the issue of Brexit in a comical and irreverent way.
It is showing Brexit to be something which has divided the United Kingdom very strongly.
It is poking fun at this fact and portraying it to be something absurd which fits into a fictional comedy world better than it does in reality.
It is using intertextuality very strongly with its references to Alan Partridge and Malcolm Tucker.

Frequency - How often issues are published
Appeal - Who they are targeting
Revenue - How much money they make

TI Media
CEO - Marcus Rich
Magazine Titles:
- 25 Beautiful Homes
- Amateur Photographer
- Practical Boat Owner
TI Media's 40+ brands reach 14.1 million UK adults monthly across print and digital.

The Big Issue was launched in 1991 by Gordon Roddick and A. John Bird in response to the growing number of homeless people.
- 'Vendor-centric'
- 'Inclusive'
- 'Non-judgmental'