Billboard Magazine Deconstruction

Front Cover Lady Gaga is seen as a quirky, eccentric pop artist; on this cover her sophisticated black clothing is contrasted with a statement vibrant purple wig. The choice of clothing displays a serious side to her, perhaps representing that she is serious about her music. On the other hand, her wig represents perhaps her personality and that she’s not like other celebrities that you see on magazine front covers.

The cover lines on this particular magazine are a very light grey which is a similar colour to the background which isn’t very effective as it blends into the background and doesn’t captivate the audience’s attention. When I do my magazine I will make sure my cover lines are bold and bright colours which can easily stand out when you first look at the magazine.

Lady Gaga is covering the masthead of the magazine ‘Billboard’ which reveals to the reader that it’s a well known magazine. Also it’s easily recognizable by the blue a and yellow d which feature every issue.

Lady Gaga is using a direct mode of address on this front cover as she is looking directly at the audience, connecting with them and drawing them into the magazine.

Front Cover (cont.) The house style for this magazine is quite bland and not many colours have been used which draws the eye immediately to Lady Gaga’s purple wig and the block colours in the ‘a’ and ‘d’ in the masthead. I think that the colours are too bland for the magazine and doesn’t attract my attention much as you can’t see any of the cover lines clearly as it all blends into one. However, the magazine is Billboard which is a very popular magazine, so perhaps people will still purchase the magazine.

Lady Gaga is exposing some of her chest as she is pulling her clothing to the side of her body which is provocative and attracts the male’s which also attracts women to purchase the magazine as they want to appeal to men like Lady Gaga does being on the front cover.

The large amount of jewellery on her right hand makes this area of the front cover stand out and therefore catches people attention to her pulling her clothing to the side revealing her chest. Also having one hand covered in jewellery and one other with no jewellery on couldreveal a different side to Lady Gaga.

Contents page The contents page includes a masthead as it has the branding of the magazine title ‘Billboard’ on the top corner. This links the front cover to the contents page and makes it clear to the reader what magazine they are reading.

The main image is placed on the right hand side of the page so that when the reader turns the page from the front cover that is one of the first things that they see. The mise-en-scene of this woman shows that she is trying to be portrayed as glamorous which may relate to the genre of music she is related to.

On each of the pictures featured on the contents page they are anchored which reveals where these pictures are featured within the magazine which is promoting the page.

The colours used on the contents page are grey, black, blue and yellow. All the colours run through from the front cover which reveals the particular house style of the magazine and again, shows a clear link to the magazine.

The contents title is in a bold style this takes up a small top section of the page and is in simple back but works well as some of the people in the pictures are wearing black so it blends in well. It’s also in capitals and the font used looks like its been stencilled which is effective.

Contents PageThe same font used for the title ‘Contents’ is used for the heading ‘No1’. This font is used in specific significant places to draw the audience’s attention in.

The chart section is presented in a small left section of the contents page. The chart displays the no.1 of albums, songs and the weeks music. Having the charts on the contents page displays that Billboard is a music magazine that focus’ a lot on the music rather than the celebrities.

Each image shows a particular musician but none of the pictures show them performing. This perhaps suggests that the featured articles are about well know musicians who don’t need a picture of them performing as people will be able to recognise just their face. The main singer is wearing black clothes agai-nst a white background so shestands out more.

The layout of the contents page is clear. It’s been split up into many sections e.g. ‘upfront’, ‘music’ etc. This is effective as it allows the reader to navigate through the magazine easily. It’s also very organised which reveals that it’s a professional company that has created this magazine. This is very suitable for the target audience of young adults as they won’t want to be wasting time trying to find a particular page.

Double Page SpreadThe main headline is found on the left which is where the main text for the article also is. The font links well with what the words are actually saying for the main title of the DPS. ‘Fiercely’ is put in a very bold font which stands out and ‘creative’ is put in a font that isn’t a typical font and is creative. Both of these words stand out a lot as they juxtapose the girly, dark pink background.

The main image on the DPS is on the right hand page. So that when the reader turns the page over that is the first thing that they will see which may make them want to read the article they are featured on. It also automatically allows the reader to know who the DPS is about. Her makeup, hair etc. are all statement which stands out to the reader which in relation to the title it links as the title says ‘fierce’. Her statement hair and makeup reveal her forcefulness.

There are two columns of writing for this article. They are both on the left page as a lot of writing may intimidate some readers and not attract them to read the article. That’s why the main image is put on the right instead.

In the top right hand corner there is a caption for the article saying ‘Woman of the year’ this tells the reader that the article is going to be about a woman who is most likely famous.