Billboard is an American based magazine it started being published on November 1894 it's known for being one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It's owned by Prometheus global media which also publish Adweek, who advertised the Super Bowl 2015, and the Hollywood reporter. Additionally, Billboard is produced every week.
Front Cover Analysis
I have chosen this magazine as something to base my own magazine on as I find it inspiring and visually pleasing.
This cover highlights the fact that Billboard's covers are carefully thought out and clean with its precise colour schemes and layout. All of the cover lines are set to stand out as they are all in capitals, the colours are black with a white background which are two contrasting colours to make them stand out even more. They have made the masthead one of the biggest things on the cover, so they advertise themselves along with the artist, but also their masthead is one of the world's most unique designs as it is on every magazine and it stays the same. Also, no matter what the colour scheme is the editor makes it all work because as you can see the d at the end of Billboard is filled in with lime green and just above the mast head there is a selling line/ banner which is also lime green and this ties it together. Rihanna's hair is red and it looks like she lying on a bed of roses and in the masthead they have used red for the second b in Billboard. Also, red connotes lust/love. They use two different fonts on this cover, some in italics which gives the magazine cover a clean look but also it is a quote that she has said which makes it stand out more, in my opinion. Rihanna is using direct mode of address and this makes the reader feel more connected to her therefore, make the reader want to read it. The overall look of this magazine is clean cut and smooth, this is the same as the masthead so the two don't clash and look cluttered, which is more appealing to the readers eye as it will look like they won't have much to read, for those who don't like reading but like reading information about their favourite celebrities.
Here are some more examples of Billboard's front covers!
As you can see from the models I have found it shows the masthead has stayed the same and the layout has pretty much stayed the same.
Contents Page Analysis
As I was researching the Billboard Layouts for their Contents Pages, I came across some of these annotated images on www.google.co.uk. I think these will really help me decompose the contents of the pages and allow me to understand what goes into producing an effective contents page for a music magazine. It will help me explore the topics that are used, how many stories and interviews are used, paparazzi images are used and competitions and things that are included in the Contents pages. Here are some more examples of Billboard's contents pages.
Double Page Spread Analysis
Producing my Music Magazine will require a lot of research in different areas, a lot of planning and a lot of trial and error when it comes to my draft work before the final product.
The first element I am tackling is 'flat planning' which requires sketches of possible layouts and themes for the magazine and what looks best; keeping in mind the rule of thirds, magazine conventions and contents pages.
The first element I am tackling is 'flat planning' which requires sketches of possible layouts and themes for the magazine and what looks best; keeping in mind the rule of thirds, magazine conventions and contents pages.
The headline says 'the gospel according to Nicki Minaj'. ' The gospel according to' is written in black and gold , whereas her name is written in pink which is also in bold, this gives more of a modern look to the magazine. Nicki Minaj's name is the biggest text on the page which leads her to stand out. So when the reader reads her name the reader will automatically think the article is about her. Her name is written in pink which connotes femininity and beauty. This may have been done to reflect her personality and style.
The background is very simple which is light pink ironically Nicki Minaj is known for her favourite colour, pink therefore this is why I think it has been made pink. her fans will recognise it and appeal to it. This adds femininity and a beauty image we see from the font.
The main image on the double page spread is of a celebrity called Nicki Minaj. She is directly facing the camera, with her body facing towards it too. A medium shot has been taken of her showing her hips are forward.
Her facial expression shows that she is serious which implies that she is serious in what she does as her career. She is using direct mode of address which shows she has a menacing look to her readers but also implies that she is looking into the camera because she wants to seem closer to her readers.
The lighting on the page is high key lighting. The are no dark colours apart from black, which leads to indicate that she likes bright colours and pink most importantly because her lips are pink and her name is in pink. This means the mood given off this double page spread is very happy and could bring enthusiasm towards the readers.
Nicki is wearing what looks like a zebra printed cat suit as it looks very tight around her arms and her waist. This could bring across the appreciation of animals which will appear to younger readers, stereotypically teenagers. She is also wearing a ring and a necklace of different colours, this may reflect what her personality and character is like to the reader.
The target audience I think would be Nicki's fans, mostly teenagers and early twenties, mostly female readers. However, other readers may enjoy these pages. The page has been constructed in a way that will inform her fans on the latest news on her.
Here are some examples of double page spreads published by Billboard.
As you can see Billboard tend to stick to their basic layout of a double page spread.
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