journal of digital research & publishing - The Sydney eScholarship ...

1 P M J O U R N A L O F D I G I T A L R ESEARCH & P UBLISHING
whilst NME’s website is targeted towards a broader category of music lover’s and the
site’s use of many multi media tools is evident of this. Both sites are extremely different
in layout, structure and their use of visual and audio tools are evidence of the magazine’s
use ‘of the visual genre of the web site to explore contemporary visuality’ (Francis 2005,
p.28). Thus it is Cranny­Francis’s theory that ‘deals with the ways that visuals operate
to produce meaning – or potential meanings – in multimedia’ (2005, p.27) that will be
applied to Cosmopolitan and NME, to study the logistics of the relationship with their
viewers through the analysis of visual semiotics.
Cosmopolitan uses striking visuals to gain viewer’s attention and emphasise that the
website is an extension of the Cosmo brand. The strong, bold font that is used on the
magazine cover is used on the website in large, white letters, made to stand out by being
positioned on a hot pink background. So whilst the bold font is representative of the Cosmo
brand, immediately signifying the connection to the magazine, and luring magazine
reader’s in, the predominantly hot pink background serves a symbiotic function as well. By
having this background colour dominate the website, Cosmopolitan is embodying the bold
and bright females that there brand is about. The colour pink is there to symbolise women
and the bright, hot tone of the colour not only invites viewers in, but also represents young,
upbeat and inspiring females. So whilst the magazine’s type font was used throughout the
website to acknowledge the brand and get reader’s attention, the hot pink background is
aimed at a wider audience, with the intention of attracting more ‘fun, fearless females’
(Hearst Communication 2010, home page, para.4) that had not necessarily been familiar
with or read Cosmopolitan magazine. Cranny­Francis (2005) argues that visuals carry
‘meanings that could only have been laboriously explained verbally’ (p.27). Thus the
combination of Cosmo font and the hot pink background goes beyond the decorative to
contain ‘layers of meanings about gendering’ (Cranny­Francis 2005, p.27) and who the
publishers want the Cosmo reader to be.
Like Cosmopolitan, NME uses the same font for its title that is used on the cover of
the print magazine, emphasising consistency of branding. Unlike Cosmopolitan however,
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music playing in the background, giving an auditory sign of what this website is about. On
the top right hand corner is the symbol of sound waves that are moving up and down, not
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