Anais Nzeza – AS Media - 3 Double Page Spreads

The first thing that I see immediately is a close-up picture of Rihanna (a famous young female R&B artist) in the background as it is the biggest thing that uses both pages. It is like she is peeking from behind a curtain. The way I look at her makes me think she is also red with the reflection of her hair. Red can signify different things such as love, life or death. Her facial expression shows how relaxed she is. To me, she either looks innocent or demanding – innocent by the way she stares calmly at the reader, or maybe demanding by the way her mouth is slightly open, the way she stares with only one eye and also the way we see her as if she had no clothes on but a tattoo; it could give a sexual image to male readers or simply a normal image to a wide range of female readers who see her as an icon.

The second thing that catches my eye is the title. They have made it noticeable by writing the text inn bold black capital letters. This is to show that it is the most important text on the page. They have also used a yellow

background for the title because yellow is a strong colour that also stands out in the eyes of the reader. The title ‘WHAT’S MY NAME’ refers back the artist’s song but doesn’t give a clear full meaning on the title and therefore,

it tempts the reader to read the full story in order to understand. The title also includes another (male) R&B icon called ‘Drake’. They have made his name smaller as the focus is more on Rihanna. They have written the

names in blue so that they can include male readers too.

The next thing I see is a side page of Rihanna’s hairstyles that she changed over the past year. They have written ‘Hair today, gone tomorrow’ because of her fashion sense routine that attract a huge population of female readers as Rihanna herself is a young adult and a fashion icon – it helps to give four different hairstyle pictures so that the female audience have an idea of which new hairstyles could fit them. They have made this title the same as the ‘WHAT’S MY NAME’ title so that it can stand out onto the page too.

This little yellow box includes another icon so that the readers don’t get too bored with the text and therefore attracts the eye of the reader and encourages them to read more; especially as there isn’t a lot of text written. The title ‘Along similar lines’ is straightforward which the female readers may understand and this is another reason why it tempts to continue to read.

The background is simply white so that all the features on top of it can stand out. Most of the writings on the left page seem to be written in serif style.

Anais Nzeza – AS Media - 3 Double Page Spreads

The background shows the artist striking different poses which takes up the top half of the page horizontally replacing the title. I think they have done this because they intend to bring their audience around so that they can find out who she is instead of simply writing her name – another way to tempt the reader to read.

They also show the artist herself in big taking up half of the page on the right page. This is the first thing I see as she id the most colourful one that stands out than the background colour and the text. This is so we can focus mostly on her. She shows a good sense of fashion to female readers. She looks very innocent when she poses with her arms back on her hips and also by her face – it is like she communicates with her eyes to the audience.

This quotation mark does seem to be important because it is written in a bolder, different font; also bigger font size than the story.

The text of the story is written into four sections – three sections on the left page and one section on the right as that space also includes the artist. The artist fits well into that space because if there were only texts, their intended audience wouldn’t be bothered to make the effort to read.

The title has a stronger grey than the background colour but there is the colour blue written in the name of the artist, ‘SOLANGE KNOWLES’ to show she is the unique important one. This blue is also used on the logo of the magazine on the top left corner. On the first line of the title, it says, ‘FORGET HER SISTER’ – they want the audience to find out who this person could be. I have realised that they write catchy things in magazines to make it sound like gossiping because that is what a lot of people like.

Anais Nzeza – AS Media - 3 Double Page Spreads

The left page only has a side

close up picture of a famous

male R&B artist Soulja Boy. He is

chosen to be the main story of

this magazine because of the

population of girls around the

world who are one of his biggest

fans. The title on the right page

‘LiFE OF A SHOOTING STAR!’ and

the repetition of the word

‘SWAG’ written on his face

describes his personality and

success – even the drawings on

his neck.

They seem to have made the main colours black and red because they are two strong colours put together that contrasts well with a plain background.

These two colours fit well with both genders. The drawings on his neck show his interests which gives us enough information about him already

without him even talking.

The way they write ‘LiFE OF A SHOOTING STAR!’ is very effective; it is very catchy for the intended audience and makes it sound a bit informal too. They have used speech marks and exclamation marks to show that someone is talking with pride. This title takes up the whole top half of the right page so it can stand out on a white background and defines also on how this artist is like. The other half is the story part separated in two sections like how a magazine should look like – there are a bit of red writing and mostly black writing.

The way the artist gives the image of being a tough gangster by the fake tattoos is a way of inspiring mostly male and maybe some female audiences to try and get a tattoo done because it is ‘cool’. There can also be an inspiration of haircuts for male readers as they see what trend is up to date and also the drawings on his neck may inspire and boost male readers to do something in their lives.

The magazine logo seems to be written backwards

When I first looked at the picture, it reminded me of how people pose in prison when they get their photos done with a small twist of him smiling instead of being serious. The other clue that made me think like this was the way the word ‘SHOOTING’ in the title was written in red – this made me think of blood. The title has graffiti writing like on the artist and the letter ‘i’ in ‘LiFE’ is the only letter written in small case. The ‘i’ could signify the artist talking about himself. This overall, shows me that it is not a serious theme as the handwritings are written in teenage style.