Magazine Analysis

As we look at this magazine the first thing that catches our eye is the pink hair that Lady Gaga has. The colour pink has always represented femininity talking to the target audience as this magazine could be for a female audience, her face expression shows that she looks confident and knows what she is doing. The male gaze has been represented here by Gaga using her hand to reveal her skin which is going to grab men's attention. She is also wearing a cloak sort of thing which has male connotation's and she is subverting it. She uses direct eye contact to create a relationship with the audience. The bright colours in the headline in itself can attract the female audience (the yellow and blue) the cover uses consistent colours of pink again to attract the female audience and to make it look girly or feminine. We can see the Lady Gaga is on top of the title and subtitles which shows that the magazine is well known enough so its not a big deal if some of the letters are covered up. This also shows that she is more important than the content and shows that she is in power. ‘how she writes pop hits’ and ‘why she doesn’t wear pants’ are subtitles which the audience may be intrigued and want to read or find out more. The cover also has features on money, and this serious side of music and the business or music. The magazine is also aware of the industry so anyone who is interested can take a look to meaning you don’t have to be a huge Lady Gaga fan to buy or read this magazine. Which means that the magazine is varying the content which allows a bigger audience. We also know that she isn’t just an artist but she is an entertainer and performer and having pink hair could be one of her fashion statements.

There are three main colours to this magazine which are black pink and white. Katy Perry’s outfit matches this as the colours on her clothing are similar and link with the headline and text colours.

The way Katy is positioned is very provocative. The light reflects off her thighs which is really sexualised and can grab male attention very quickly. This also refers to the male gaze as her eye contact with the audience defines that she is really confident. The fact the she is wearing little clothing also adds to this, the audience can see that the back of her legs and her back is completely revealed which again can grab attention. This makes her a sex symbol as she seems really comfortable in wearing little clothing.In the top right hand corner

the pink symbol suggests that in this issue women are in power and are going to be discussed. Katy looks really confident and the fact that she is a female emphasizes that she is ready to overcome any tasks or obstacles.

The fact that Katy is covering the heading of the magazine shows that the magazine is really well known and that they don’t need the full heading to sell it.

Here we can see that the heading is covered by Amy’s hair, this shows that the magazine is well known and doesn’t need to advertise the name because everyone is aware of the magazine. The front cover has aspects of politics in it, which states that it could be for a more mature audience than the other magazines. Direct eye contact meaning she is creating a relationship with the audience. The menu on the side of lots of different bands which means that if you’re not a fan of Amy, you can read about all the other bands that have been listed. The colours are linked in many different way, red white and blue are all the colours of the American flag, which links with the fact that the magazine is talking about politics.

This contents page belongs to Billboard magazine and we can see that it has a basic columned structure. This could be so every bit of information is organised for the reader, and so it doesn’t looks appealing because everything is in sections rather than dull looking paragraphs. The sub headings are in bold font and are in a different colour to stand out to the reader and give an idea of what that particular section is going to be talking about. The colour choices are light young colours that are bright and eye catching, like bluey/turquoise and white. The page also has images of particular artists to give the reader a taste of what's going to be in the magazine and which artists have done well in the recent charts. All the pages are clearly numbered so audience can find the articles they are looking for and to read about topics they want to read about. Small amounts of information about the articles advertise the content and make the audience want to read more.

This is a contents page from rolling stone, the logo of rolling stone is in the top right hand corner to carry on the consistency of the magazine. The colour scheme is a basic mix or red, black and white. The sub headings again are highlighted in red to emphasise the particular topics that are going to be mentioned and spoken about. The main topic is the artist in the middle which is Lily Allen, there is only one photograph which is heron stage with a microphone revealing a provocative side to herself. The word on the right hand side of the bottom of the photo titled ‘The Virgins’ contradicts what that picture is all about. Is it purposely put there to make the audience think or to confuse them? Or is it there to make the audience feel as if the words are targeted at Lily even though she doesn’t seem to look like a virgin because she comes across as confident and outspoken.