This document analyzes various design elements of a magazine cover and pages, including: - The use of overlapping text and photos on the cover to emphasize importance. - Font choices and designs that appeal to different target audiences - a "crayon" font makes the artist seem relatable while other plain fonts suggest an older audience. - Placement and lighting of photos that position the artist as successful or facing optimism. - Color schemes and graphic elements that stand out against plain backgrounds to draw the eye, such as using red sparingly. - Stylistic photo locations and poses that convey implied meanings about the subjects' status or image.

1. Deconstructions
In this presentation, I will deconstruct individual aspects of a front
cover, a contents page, and a double page spread.

2. The masthead is the title area
at the top of the page. The
writing overlaps the title, as
does the photo of Ed Sheeran.
This shows the importance of
the artist and also the
importance of the article by
bringing them forwards and
making them stand out.
’THE STORIES OF THE
YEAR” is there to let a
potential buyer know that
this magazine contains all the
important and best articles
and gives them a reason to
buy this particular magazine
over any competitors. It also
says that it has the most
‘ESSENTIAL’ alums that are
a ‘must-hear.’ This implies
that you’d be missing out by
not owning this magazine.
Key-lighting is used so that one
light is shining directly onto Ed’s
face. This makes his expression
(of confusion) stand out as his
face becomes incredibly
prominent. With other types of
lighting, you might not get the
shadow behind him. This has
been done to bring him forward,
as with placing him in front of
the masthead. Having darkness
behind him and having him look
forward has optimistic
connotations of him looking
towards the light, looking
towards the future, and having
darkness behind him has subtle
connotations of moving forward
to bigger and brighter things.

3. The majority of font on this page
is straight, plain, and
professional. This suggests and
older target audience as they are
more drawn to professionalism.
The title font that reads ‘Ed
Sheeran is written in a font that
looks almost like lipstick or
crayon. Lipstick would have
feminine connotations, appealing
to a T.A of women. A crayon sort
of font is somewhat out of place
on a more professional magazine
but could create contrast. It
would fit in with the look that Ed
Sheeran has. He’s described as an
‘everyday tale’ and is made to
look down to Earth and normal
with a confused, ’out of it’ look on
his face, dressing him in plain
clothes, and giving him an
acoustic guitar (as opposed to an
electric guitar) as a prop. He’s
supposed to come across as out of
place in the professional world as
he’s just an ordinary man. This
makes him more relatable, and
by extension more likeable, to an
audience.
The lack of subimages shows an older target
audience. Magazines who want younger
readers tend to have a lot of pictures
advertising posters and attempting to grab
potential buyers eyes with an array of popular
celebrities. The page remains saturated and
doesn’t look empty, which is a fear when cutting
down on subimages. It has been saturated with
articles and content – which wouldn’t
necessarily appeal to a younger audience.
Magazines with younger recipients sometimes
tend to skimp on text in favor of images and the
text that they do write tends to be short and
snappy.
The most prominent color on this page
is red. Red is a strong color, as are the
other primary colors, and therefore will
stand out. Ed has been dressed in black
and the background is off-white with
dark shadows to allow this red to pop
even more than it usually would. It
attracts the eye almost instantly. Red
has connotations with passion and
romance, but also danger and
warnings. If we go with the idea that
Ed’s name is supposed to appear as
having been written in lipstick as
opposed to crayon, then this fiery red
would further this. It would extend the
idea that he is a heartthrob who has
ladies constantly after him.

4. Taking photos outside means that you cannot
control the lighting or the weather but you
can get more interesting shots this way. In
this photo, the band are standing on what
appears to be a hill with a nearby town fading
into the fog into the background. Having these
artists at an elevated position with homes,
trees, and other things small and beneath
them shows that they are ‘on top of the world’
and ‘at the height of the their game’ by quite
literally placing them above other people and
putting them at a height. This shows them as
quite successful, or, at the very minimum,
rising to success.
Having a photo of a man in a suit
suggests a level of professionalism. The
setting for this photo is also quite
professional as it is around great, white
columns - potentially marble. This is
associated with somewhat fancy
architecture. Professionalism, as
mentioned before, appeals to older people,
more mature people.

5. Crosswords and such suggest an
older target audience as younger
people, like myself, aren’t as inclined
towards them as the older
generation seems to be.
The color scheme is quite dull and grey on
this page with splashes of red. This means
that the red does stand out even more
against such a plain background but it
contributes even further to the
professionalism. Magazines with
incredibly young target audiences often
need their magazine to be saturated in
color in order to maintain audience
interest and attention. With an older
audience, this is not necessary.

6. Davey Havok has a very specific
look that’s played up in this
double page spread. He wears a
short sleeved shirt to show off his
tattoo sleeves, he wears the
inverted cross, he has expanders
in his ears, and his hair is quite
messy. The look could be called
punk. His look, his facial
expression, and his relaxed stance
seem quite laid back, which
match with the idea of having a
lazy, casual Friday.
Important words within the
title and the strapline have
been colored purple, which is,
arguably, the color that stands
out the most on this page. Yet, it
has been used very sparingly.
Using a bright color sparingly
atop a somewhat saturated
background calls an immense
amount of attention to these
words. The phrases in question
range from ‘a casual Friday,’
which stands out as it is
relatable and fun, to ‘death of a
rock star,’ which is quite
dramatic and neither fun nor
relatable. This difference
creates a sense of contrast.

7. The background is quite plain
except for the border of lights.
This looks quite like the lights
surrounding a dressing room
mirror, which remind us that
even if this man appears quite
laid back and calm – he’s still a
star and he’s still famous. The
rest of the grey background
has been used as it doesn’t
stand out on it’s own at all.
This makes the rest of the
content on the page stand out.
The photo of him as well as the
article, which is broke up by
questions in white boxes
therefore making what’s
written within the white stand
out the most, and the article
title. The title and the picture
are color atop a colorless
background.