Deconstruction of "Starlog" December Issue #233

Sulaiman Sarwar 13MH

Deconstruction of “Starlog” December Issue #233

This magazine front cover is slightly different to the others. In the centre, a circular cutout showing Worf on the inside page has been used. The inset attracts the reader’s attention, as it is different to other magazine front covers. Worf is also the only character not looking directly at the camera. All the actors are in character, and the magazine tries to attract a wider sci-fi audience by using characters from two cult programmes, “Star-Trek” and “The X Files”. This is also known as borrowed credibility as the characters are famous and the audience will have fans of these actors, and this increases the chances of them purchasing the magazine.

Only two font types have been used on the front cover, one type for the title, and one for all the other text. Bold formatting has been used on some of the text, mainly to attract attention and capital lettering is used on text which the designer wants the audience to read.

The feature article advertised on the front cover takes up the majority of space, as this is the most important selling feature of the magazine, so it requires as much space necessary, but there are also snippets of what else is featured inside, such as “Chris Carters MILLENIUM” and “Tim Burtons MARS ATTACKS”. Again, the magazine is trying to capture an audience that is not only interested in “Star-Trek” but other science fiction texts as well.

Deconstruction of “Star-Trek Deep Space Nine” Volume 13

The main feature of this front cover is the photo of Worf, as ...

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Deconstruction of “Star-Trek Deep Space Nine” Volume 13

The main feature of this front cover is the photo of Worf, as it takes the greatest area of the cover. Just by looking at the photograph the reader knows that the magazine is aimed at Star-Trek fans, as they would only be able to recognise whom he character is. The actor is in character, which suggests that the magazine is only going to contain information on Star-Trek related gossip, and not on the actor’s real life.

The magazine uses captions and extravagant text to create attention. “Fourth Season Excitement!” is in capital lettering and the punctuation creates anticipation due to the exclamation mark. Also, “The official magazine” has been inserted because it shows that this magazine will contain the latest information and the word “official” makes the reader think that this magazine is a reliable and truthful source.

Once again, the designer has used a different font for the title which gives it a unique and eye-catching look. The typeface of the title looks futuristic due to the shade and lighting, which reflects the theme of science-fiction. There are only two main articles advertised on the cover to entice the reader, which suggests that the magazine doesn’t have to use catchy slogans or it being swamped with snippets of articles inside to be able to sell.

Deconstruction of “Starlog” October Issue #231

This magazine front cover is probably the most unique cover out of them all. Instead of focusing on one series of “Star-Trek” by showing one group of characters, they have shown all four crews out of all the series. The make-up of each crew is quite similar as well as each member is unique. Each crew has several members from different human races and alien races, as well as male and female people. The “Star-Trek” producers have tried to use as much variety in the crew to create appeal to different types of audiences.

The layout of the cover is different as compared to the others. The main selling point are the crew photos. No large bold captions have been used either, only three lines of text have been inserted below the title to give the reader some more information on the articles featured inside. Also underneath the title, the publisher has inserted, “20 YEARS EXPLORING SCIENCE-FICTION”. This shows that the magazine has a long reputation and this may encourage the reader to purchase it due to its reliability over the years.

Once again, the magazine incorporates several styles of font to create attention and to create professionalism. The typical “Star-Trek” font has been used on the title, connoting futurism and science. The Starlog title has its own font which separates itself from the magazine and also this font is used all the time for the title as existing fans will be able to recognise it.