Analysis of cover page, contents page and double page spread

             

• Bruno is covering the headline of the magazine, this shows that the magazine is well known enough to have part of it covered and the readers to still know what magazine it is. I think that this is effective as it gives more space for the image. If this was not possible, the picture of Bruno would have to be a lot smaller and would have not covered the width that it has in the actual magazine cover. 
• The font style is quite minimalistic, there are not lots of different fonts. This helps the reader not get confused when reading the magazine, because having a lot of different fonts will make the magazine look messy. 
• There is no writing in the middle, as it would draw away attention to the photo. The writing is only on the far left or the far right of the page, other than the mast head. This is because if there was writing over the main image, it would draw attention away from the image. 
• The magazine has used the words BRUNO MARS as a kicker so that those words stand out more as they are the name of the person on the front of the cover. This is to draw the reader into wanting to buy this magazine. People who like Bruno Mars may not see the picture, but if they notice that his name is written quite big on the front, next to him, they may notice it. 
• The colour palette of the magazine cover is interesting as they have used a darker turquoise colour as the background of the magazine and used white and yellow on the colour of the writing. This is not a conventional thing to have on a magazine, especially with the strike of a lighter colour going down the back. I quite like the use of colour because with Bruno wearing a red shirt, the red on the dark turquoise really contrast each other. 
• This magazine features a few subheads, to tell the reader what is in the magazine. They are smaller than most of the writing on the page as they are not as important as the rest of the dialogue. This is so that the reader does not only think that the magazine has Bruno within it, they need to advertise who else is in the magazine or the readers who do not like Bruno Mars but like some of the other artists within the magazine will not know about them. 
• As this is a minimalistic pop music magazine cover, there is a lot of negative space, where there is no writing and no image to cover it. This is effective as is helps show the different colour of the background, plus the strike of colour through it. 

• I like the contrast from the main image and the pink writing. What I think will be better is if Ellie was wearing something that matches the pink colour of the masthead and pink box. For example, if she had the same colour shoes on. This would make the main image have a connection with the colour of the writing as now, there is no connection as she is just black. This would also make the image stand out just a little bit more. 
• I like the spacing between the letters in Ellie's name. It makes the title stand out more, this is effective because if the audience does not recognise Ellie from the image or doesn't know her at all, it helps the audience find out who she is as they have put it as the headline. 
• As there isn't a lot of writing, there is a lot of negative space. This is because this magazine is a minimalist magazine, there is not much writing, only writing to say who it is in the magazine. I think that this is effective because it makes the image stand out a lot more as there is nothing covering the image, except the name of the girl on the cover. 
• I like that the barcode is sideways, and not packed into the corner. It is a different style of barcode as normally it is centred with the writing and aligned so that it fixes in an invisible box. It  does not have writing sticking out of it, but in this magazine it does. I think that this is a good touch as it gives it a bit of uniqueness. Although it is only a barcode, I have never seen a barcode be presented like that, I like it. 
• All of the font that is below the masthead is the same font. I like this as there is normally a lot of different fonts for the subheadings and the writing below that, plus the masthead. This means that there could be 4 different fonts on a single contents page. I like Attitude's approach as it simplifies it and doesn't make it too confusing for the reader. Also, even though they do not have different fonts, they have worked it really well as they have clearly shown which pieces of writing are separate and what is a header and what is not, I really like this approach. 
• I like that Ellie is covering the masthead a little as the reader will still be able to tell what the name of the magazine, even though Ellie is covering a little section of it. I like this approach as for a magazine to cover part of their title, you can tell that they are confident that their audience will still know what the name of the magazine is. I also think this gives the maker of the magazine a little more room to add a bigger, better quality picture straight down the middle of the cover page. I like this idea as I was to use a high quality picture so that it is covering a little bit of the masthead. 

• I like the simplicity of the styling within this cover. The colour yellow is not normally used on a magazine as it clashes with a lot of other colours. Bearing this in mind, I think that the use of yellow on this cover works. The shade of the girls skin and colour of her hair matches even better with the colour scheme. 
• This cover is missing a barcode, this may mean that it is on the back of the magazine as every magazine needs a barcode to be sold. This may also mean that it is a monthly ordered magazine, that individuals have to order off the internet to receive at their house. 
• I like how close the woman's face, it makes sure that she is the CVI of the cover. This also gives the audience, the detail that is needed in the photo to get the full effect. I think that without having the image close up, it would not be as effective as it would not fit the entire page and as there is not much writing there would be too much blank space. 
• I like the minimal writing at the bottom of the cover as it does not take attention away from model. This could have happened as other than the masthead, there is no other writing, so the audience may only look at the writing at the bottom of the page because if they've seen the masthead before as they've purchased the magazine  before, they may focus on the writing at the bottom.
• There is no sexual element in this cover. The mouth is only a little open, her shirt is buttoned up right to the top and she does not have a seductive pose, it is very clean. 
• I like the style of the masthead, it  is in a really strange writing. Normally, mastheads are kept quite clear and bold. They are not normally in a writing which is not blocky and plain, this is to stop the audience from not being able to read the masthead. This magazine has decided to have a swirly writing, but use a font that is easy to read. 

• Having the image on a separate page, opposite the writing shows us that the image is very important, or else it would not be so big. Having the image on the left and the writing on the recto makes us look at the image first, then start reading the article. Having the image so big helps attract the readers attention, when flicking through the magazine as the title of the article at the top of the right hand page is not very clear, the readers might notice the image on the left hand page.
• The headline of this article is not very clear or big. On the right hand, the thing you look at first is the big letter L that covers the entire page. This makes the article harder to read as the L is covering the writing. I don't like this as I feel it has no relevance to the article at all.   
• Also, this article has an Orphan within it. On the bottom right corner of the article is the start of a new paragraph, at the bottom of a column. I think that this looks weird if it is not near the top as it starts a paragraph  at the bottom of a column.
• I like the colour scheme of this double page spread as it is very simplistic, having black and white as a colour scheme is very effective as they contrast perfectly. Even though I do not see the point in the L, I like the fact that it has a very small amount of colour. Although, I think that the title of the article could have been in red instead of the L.
• As well, with the title, I like that the first word is in small letters and the second word is capitals, it gives the title a bit of individuality, even though it can be seen as a bit plain compared to other titles. The only problem is that it does not stand out, I think that if the GAGA part of the title was a little bigger, it would make the title for effective.
• I do like the pose that Lady Gaga is pulling, the slight open mouth gives us a hint of seduction without looking too sexual. This fits in with the style of the double page spread. 

• I like the use of dark backgrounds in this double page spread. In a typical double page spread, the writing and image is made very clear and bold by the use of a white background. This double page spread blends the images and dialogue by using the exact same colour pallete for both. This is effective as it shows that they are linked, my only problem is the colours are a little dark for me. I think that there should at least be one bright colour in the pallete as it would bring the double page spread to life a little
• I like that the title is all across the top, I think this is very effective as it makes the title stand out a lot. If I was flicking through the magazine, I would probably stop at this page as the title is so bold I would want to know what it says. 
• I like how the writing is down the middle of both of the pages, I like the fact that they haven't gone for the most conventional way of setting out a double page spread which is to have one big image on one page and the writing as well as the title on the other page. I like this set out as I think that it shows that it is a double page spread instead of a poster on one side and a different article on the other side. This makes the two pages link together
• The man on the right has no eye contact with the audience, I quite like this as in normal magazine images, the artist is looking directly at the camera in order to draw attention to the image. In this image, the man on the right is not looking at the camera. 
• I like that there are different colours of writing on the title, you don't see that very often as titles are always normally one colour. I think that this gives the title a little bit of uniqueness.  
• I like that the writing splits for effect on the background where the hand is painted on the wall. I think that this is effective because it draws attention to the background instead of just the images. 

• There is little writing on this page. I think that this means there's not much information on Soulja Boy on the page. I don't think that this would be enough room on the page to get as much information as I would like to have on a double page spread. At least half a page would need to be used to get a satisfactory amount of information about a person on the page.  
• I like the picture, I like how he is staring at the writing, it draws a lot of attention to the writing as I think having a big caption draws attention away from the smaller writing below it. This makes the image the CVI and I like this as I think that this is most important as it is the biggest part of the double page spread.
• The big caption contrasts the small writing, they are completely different. The big caption full of colour looks handwritten in comparison to the writing in columns which looks very professional as the font is plain and so is the font colour. I think this is effective as it makes it stand out within the right hand page because of the different. 
• There is a  lot of white space, I don't like this as I think that it is unnecessary and that the space could be used in a much more effective way. This space could be filled with more writing, which would make the page more effective as it would give the reader more to read, which is what the double page spread is for.  
• There is no sexual element on this double page spread picture. Soulja boy's expression is a smile, which is not seen to be as sexy as a plain face or a seductive face. I think that this is effective as the kiss marks on his neck, I think, is seductive enough and I don't think it needs any more as it is not soulja boy's style.  

                               

This contents page was taken from the magazine VIBE. 

• The V was taken from the cover page logo of VIBE and put onto the contents page, this is mimicked by the girls legs. I think that this is very clever and makes the contents page very unique as only VIBE will copy one of their letter onto their contents page. 
• The way that the actually words CONTENTS is written is interesting as I have never seen any magazine write it like this, this gives this contents page individuality as it is used in all their contents page. This gives them something that they can use in all their magazines, which is individual to them. 
• The font used for the titles is different to the writing underneath, this is weird because not a lot of magazines do this. It makes the reader definitely know the different between the title and the writing underneath. Also, the use of bold and different fonts is interesting, it gives this contents page an edge. 
• The image used in this contents page is quite suggestive, it almost looks like it should be on the cover page as it is taken with the same style. 
• I love the colour palette of this contents page, I think that having a black background at the top and a white at the bottom is really interesting. It also means that the font colour has to change, which shows a contract and wob. The woman's leotard matches the the background, but not exactly, so it does not clash at all. 

                    

• I like that the date is at the top of the magazine. I don't normally see this in the magazines that I buy. I don't think that it is necessary but I think that it is a nice touch to the magazine. It if effective as it makes every contents page unique to each week. This may be that the magazine has only news for that week and it might be saying that its specific to that week. 
• Using a lot of images gives the reader something to attract their attention to, also if the reader see's a familiar band, they know straight away what page to look at, I think that this is a nice touch because it helps the reader find out quicker the page that their favourite artist is on, instead of searching through all of the writing, they only have to look at the pictures. 
• I like the way the page numbers are in different fonts to the writing next to it, as it makes the writing a lot bolder and draws the eye of the reader to it 
• I like the regular pages, I think this is a nice touch to the magazine as it gives a sense of repetition within each magazine, although it repeats from magazine to magazine. It is quite unique to the magazine itself. It gives the magazine something that is just theirs as I haven't seen many other magazines have this "Regular" section on the contents page. 
• I like the that the title of the magazine "Drummer" is written on the contents page, I think that this is effective as the audience already know what the magazine is called but it is effective as it looks like a headline and reminds the reader what the magazine is called. I think that this is effective as well because it gives it a uniqueness as I have not seen this before in a magazine. 

• Vogue is written on the contents page at the top of the page, it almost acts like a masthead for the contents page. I think this is effect as the audience obviously already know what magazine it is because they have purchased it but  it still says it at the top of the page again.
• I like that there are different sections of the magazine E.g "Beauty". I like this touch because it helps the audience find what topic they want to find easier, as they can look at the section that they think the article that they would like would be in.
• I like the font of the titles of each page, this makes the titles split apart from the writing explaining what is on the page, this is important as the reader needs to know that these are titles and not part of the writing or else there would be no point in splitting up the two. 
• The top picture in not in line with the writing, I like this aspect as I feel it challenges the conventions of a typical magazine by not using the same border for the image and the writing. 
• I don't like the use of four columns, I think that this gives the contents a unique look but I don't particularly like it. I don't think the contents page needed four columns as I feel they would benefit better with having only three columns as this would make the contents page a little less messy. 
• This magazine doesn't have specific date, only month and year that was released. I think this is an important feature as monthly magazines do not need the specific date within the month that it has been released as it will be sold for the entire month and may not be released on the first day of the month. 
• I think that the colour pallet has been thought of a lot as the red stands out amongst all the black and white, which is important as these are significant features of the magazine and the reader needs to be brought attention into them. This is the same with the blue in the picture, it helps it stand out as the background is white and there is a high quality picture on top of it.