deconstruction of magazine

1. Lady Gaga is seem as a quirky and
eccentric pop artist; on this cover
sophisticated clothing is contrasted
with an ‘outrageous’ purple wig. The
choice clothing is provocative and also
shows a serious side to her, maybe
representing that she is serious about
music, on the other hand the wig
represents her unique style and
attitude.
The cover lines on this magazine are a
similar colour to the background so
they do not stand out and are not eye
catching.
Even though the masthead is covered by Lady
Gaga’s head, the magazine is still recognisable
because the blue within the ‘a’, the red within the
‘b’and the yellow within the ‘d’ are the same on
every issue of Billboard.
On this cover, there have not
been many colours used; the
only colours which draw the eye
are Lady Gaga’s purple hair.
Lady Gaga is exposing some of her chest
by pulling her clothing to the side; this is
provocative and attracts the male crowd
to the magazine
The large amount of jewellery on
this hand makes this area of the
cover eye catching and therefore
draws the eye to the fact that she
is pulling her clothing away from
her chest.

2. Unlike many pop magazines this cover does not
have a huge amount of cover lines; I think that
this looks good because the page looks
sophisticated and clear whereas many pop
magazine covers look busy and the cover lines
often take the attention away from the main
image.
Although the genre of this magazine is not pop,
I have decided to deconstruct it because it has
Lily Allen on it and in my opinion her music is
pop. I have also chosen to deconstruct this
cover because ‘Q’ seems to feature many
different genres, including pop, however it may
not fit to the stereo typical pop look and when I
come to create my magazine I want to look
more mature and be for a slightly older
audience than a lot of pop magazines therefore
I think that the simple and ‘classic’ look of ‘Q’
has some of the qualities I hope my magazine
will have.
The eye is immediately draw to this masthead for many reasons: firstly it is on the left side of
the page so on a stand it will always be seen, secondly it is bright red and stands out from the
rest of the cover, thirdly it has a single white ‘Q’ in it instead of a long masthead
On this cover Lily Allen is not wearing any
clothes on her upper body but has her back
facing towards the audience. This is
provocative and attracts the male gaze and
yet it is still sophisticated because all that
the audience can see is her back; attracting
the male gaze encourages women to buy the
magazine because they want to appeal to
men like Lily Allen does on this cover.
On this cover animals have been used to reflect
Lilly’s personality and attitude; they are dark in
colour which connotes mystery and danger but
also the phrase ‘sexy beast’ has been used to
show that these animals are not only dangerous
but are also seen as graceful and the use of these
big cats makes Lily seem even more provocative.

3. The word ‘contents’ is written in the
same way in every issue of Vibe
magazine, this makes it recognisable,
however this is not essential because
a magazine show be recognisable
from the masthead and the style of
the cover as the front cover is what
people see on the stand and
therefore the job of the front cover is
to draw people in, whereas the job of
the contents page is to give details of
what articles will be in the magazine.
The main image in the page seems to
have been taken in order to fit
around the text. Her position is
provocative; therefore attracting the
male gaze and inspiring female
readers to want her figure. The
clothing she is wearing shows a lot of
flesh which also attracts the male
gaze and the heels are both ‘sexy
and sophisticated’. I think that she
has been made to look glamorous so
that women will want to be like her
and read about her.
If a magazine is not in a plastic wallet then people who are interested in buying the
magazine may look to the contents page to see in more detail what will be included
in the magazine, therefore it is essential that the pages listed are appealing and
popular with the target audience.
Despite the fact that this is a contents
page, it does not have much writing; I
think that this may be because they in
have not listed all the articles. Instead
they have picked out the main topics
covered in the magazine and have
written small amount of detail about
them.
The colour scheme for this contents page (from a vibe magazine) is mainly black, grey and white; these colours connote
sophistication and also mystery, using these colours may encourage women to want these qualities and makes the magazine
more ‘stylish’. The colours used for the contents page do not need to be brightly coloured and eye catching; this one has
chosen a more sophisticated colour pallet which appeals to a slightly older audience than most pop music magazines.

4. The ‘Q’ logo has been placed in the top left hand corner of the page, this is in some
ways un-needed however it may remind people which magazine they are reading or if
this page is separated from the magazine then a reader would know which magazine it
came from, therefore if this page was being read by somebody who had not read ‘Q’
magazine before then they may become interested in buying it in the future.
The date has been written in quite a
large font at the top of this contents
page, this is useful because it makes it
clear when the magazine was made and
therefore readers will always know
whether In the bottom right hand corner there is the information is up to date.
a bright red arrow; this fits with the
colour scheme, however because the
back ground is his skin the arrow still
stands out. This arrow seems to have
been placed here to tell the reader to
turn the page and continue reading,
however if the magazine has already
been purchased then this is not needed
because the reader will naturally
continue reading; if they are previewing
the magazine this may imply that there is
interesting info on the next page.
The fonts on this page are simple and are
all quite similar, this helps to make the
page clear and easy to understand
however I feel that this simplicity does
not make key articles stand out; for my
magazine
The artist on this contents page from ‘Q’
magazine seems to have been styled to look
as though he has no been styled, he looks
untidy and casual because he has not
shaved and his hair has not been styled. His
eye contact helps to make the reader feel
that they have a connection to him and
therefore they may want to read on or go
straight to the article about him.
The majority of this page (from ‘Q’ magazine) is taken up by the main image, there is a small column of text down the left had side
which, although it is the key information on the page, only fills about a third of the page. The layout is clear and simple; this style
makes it easy to navigate not only the contents page but also throughout the rest of the magazine because in order for the reader to
be able to find the correct page it must be clear which article is on which page.

5. Although this is not a pop magazine, I
have decided to analyse it because this
page seems to be related to pop and it
looks like a page from a pop magazine.
The main aspect which is used in many
pop magazines is the bright colours,
mainly pink in this issue, which are eye
catching and connote fun and beauty. I
aim to use pink in my magazine however
I feel that a more minimalistic colour
should be used for the background and
brighter colours should be used for
writing or shapes in order to draw
attention to the information.
The black boxes stand out from the pink background without making the page look too
busy, therefore I think that this was a suitable choice of colour, also the use of pink and
white writing stands out from the black boxes and still fits in with the colour scheme.
This makes the magazine seem organized but also shows that it is for a target audience
of about 12 – 18. The choice of font is simple which makes it clear and easy to read, but
they have still made important information stand out by the use of colour and font size.
The use of shapes on this page is
particularly eye catching and ‘fun’; in
many pop magazines, in my opinion,
too many shapes are used on one
page so they all clash and none of
them stand out; they just make the
page look busy and unorganized.
However on this page only a small
amount have been used and they all fit
with the colour scheme so that words
such as ‘CLUB NME’ and the number 1
stand out from the white background.
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On this page the main image is not of the main person featured in the magazine; it is of the
‘group’ who are number one on this magazines list of “The hottest tunes”, the use of this
image will draw the attention immediately to this group and will therefore encourage the
reader to read the rest of the list and possibly buy/listen to one of the songs.

6. Although the writing on this double
page spread is not equally spread
over the two pages, I think that the
pages look well organised and
balanced. The first page has the
majority of the writing on it and the
second only has one column,
however there has been an key
quote put in bold on the right hand
page it helps to create balance.
The use of black text ensures that these pages are clear and understandable and
also allows for bright colours to be used around it in order to make these parts
stand out from the white background and black text. I think that the simple colour
palette will appeal to most female readers and although blue and red are not
coordinated, they do not clash with one another on these pages because they have
only been used in small amounts. The blue writing in the introduction to the text
makes her name stand out and therefore, it is one of the first parts that people will
look at.
The layout of the page is quite
original; I have not seen many
magazines laid out in this way
– with images across the top
third and text across the
bottom two thirds. This makes
the magazine stand out; if a
person is previewing the
magazine they are likely to
turn to the centre pages in
order to see if the content
appeals to them therefore it is
still important that the double
page spread is interesting and
eye catching.
Even though this double page
spread does not have a title, I think
that it does not need one because
the blue writing in the ‘introduction’
shows that the article will be about
Solange Knowles and therefore a
title is not needed; the reader has
been given all the information they
need to know. Also the blue writing
draws the eye, so a title is not
needed to do this. The fact that she
is Beyoncee’s sister may encourage
people to read this article.
I think that using these pictures of her in different positions across the top is a very original
and eye catching idea, even though the figures are in black and white they still draw the eye.
They show the R&B artist in different ‘moods’ and therefore the reader may feel that they
have an understanding of her life and can make a connection with her, this is also supported
by the strong eye contact she is giving, although the picture is a ‘long shot’ her eyes have
dark makeup on so the audience may still notice them and feel a connection.
The red dress she is wearing is short and
may therefore attract the male gaze, it is
also quite feminine and the bright red
connotes passion, love, danger and heat,
attracting the male gaze through the dress
will encourage women to buy clothes from
this magazine (if they sell them) or may
encourage them to want to be like this
woman.

7. Because of the small text it is
not clear what the rhetorical
question is about however the
use of a rhetorical question
“Will he, Won’t he?” creates
suspense and excitement, this
makes people want to read
the magazine to find out more
information about this choice
which will be made. Also,
using rhetorical questions
allows the reader to believe
that they are involved in his
life; they may feel as though
the decision is not only
important to Will.I.Am but
also themselves as well.
The clothing which this group is wearing is quite old fashioned, but it seems to have a young
twist to it. This could be because the group or the magazine or anybody related to the group may
want to bring this sort of clothing back into fashion. Another explanation for the clothing choice
could be that the Black Eyed Peas are a unique and ‘cool’ and and they want to express this
through the clothes they wear. The clothing is the main colour within this double page spread
because the writing is black and the background it white. Also because the picture covers a lot of
the two pages, there is not much room for other colour because this would draw the attention
away from the clothing which they are obviously trying to promote.
Will.I.Am is the only
member of the band who
stands out, this is because
the other members have
been faded, using computer
technology, so that they do
not take the readers
attention away from
Will.I.Am, this has been
done because this article is
mostly about Will.I.Am; it is
possible that the only
reason the group are posing
with him is so that they are
more easy to recognise
when they are together
than Will.I.Am is when he
poses as a solo artist.
The same colours from the
clothing have been used for
the key phrase “Will he,
Won’t”, this helps to make the
magazine look well planned
and connects all the different
aspects. These colours, gold
and silver, connote richness
and popularity.
The different positions of the
members of the group shows each
of their personalities, this makes the
reader feel a connection with them,
but the sunglasses stop us from
having eye contact with Will.I.Am.
The phrase “Will he, won’t he” seems to be not
only a rhetorical question, but also a play on
words - his name is WILL.i.am – they have used
the beginning of his name to create a phrase
which relates to him in more than one way.
The arrows at the beginning of the text encourage the reader to start reading, this
is the only thing which really draws attention to the text. It does not contain much
colour; the only small change in colour is used for a quote; for this the background
becomes black and the writing becomes white, this does draw the eye but only
after the reader has looked at the picture and the rhetorical question.

8. There are many striking things about this double page spread; the first thing which
draws the eye is the quote which seems to be made out of newspaper cuttings, this
may suggest that she has been in the news so much that she feels that they lie about
her and therefore she has written her opinion in the style of a news paper heading so
that she may finally get her true opinion ‘in the news’. By putting Lily Allen's opinion in
very large text, the reader immediately feels the need to read this and this may lead to
them agreeing with her and feeling sorry for her or, on the other hand, they may agree
with “people” and think that she is an attention seeker, if they feel sorry for her or like
her then they may feel that they know her/about her life because in some ways they
know how she feels because in this article she expresses herself.
This article is not from a pop
magazine, however I have decided
to deconstruct it because Lily Allen
is a Pop singer and yet this article
look very different to how I imagine
my/ most pop magazine double
page spreads would look like. The
main reason that this article does
not seem to be ‘pop’ is because of
the colour scheme; the blacks and
reds connote danger, seriousness
and mystery, these are not themes
which most pop magazines wish to
show.
Lily Stands out in this article because she covers the majority of a page and is wearing red
which is only used for a couple of words on this double page spread, red would usually
connote passion, danger and heat however on these pages I think that is mainly connotes
danger and aggression; her facial expression and clothing support the idea that she is not
feeling very happy, she may be finding her life stressful because of the newspaper (which
links back to the quote made of cuttings) and therefore she may be feeling angry or
aggressive. These are all shown through the Gothic style, clothes, coloured writing.
Another reason why this magazine does
not seem to be pop because of Lily
Allen’s dark hair and make-up; this style
makes her seem Gothic and therefore
she does not appeal to my target
audience when she is styled in this way,
however on the cover of ‘Q’ (one of my
other deconstructions) she does not
look very Gothic even though there is a
lot of black; I think that this is because
she is in a ‘sweet’/’innocent’ position
and her facial expression supports this
and therefore she does not look like she
has a sad/bad attitude unlike on this
double page spread.
There is not a large amount of text
on this page (it is possible that it
continues onto further pages); the is
obvious because it is the opposite
colour to the white background,
however it is not eye catching
because it is all one small font and
the only words which stand out are
her name which are written in red,
the quote and the clothes take the
attention away from the writing so
reading the full article is actually
one of the last things the reader
does.