I have drawn a grid to show the rule of thirds. This rule has been used to position Lady Gaga in the centre of the page. Her face and chest are included in the central square; these are both body parts which are suggestive (revealing chest and seductive facial expression) so they have planned this so that the eye is drawn to this area.

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. My main cover image will need to show the ‘personality’ of the artist I choose, an interesting artist will attract more readers so I must make the artist I choose appeal to my target audience so that many people want to read my magazine.

The cover lines on this magazine are a similar colour to the background so they do not stand out and are not eye catching. When I come to designing my magazine I will need to ensure that the colours I choose complement one another but also stand out and are ‘easy’ to read/see.

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 and the block colours within the ‘a’ and the ‘d’. Lady Gaga’s clothing, the cover lines and the masthead do not stand out from the grey background because they are similar in colour, for this reason the magazine does not stand out much from others and the audience is not encouraged to read the writing, therefore they are not persuaded to buy it. However because ‘Billboard’ magazine is very popular and well known I think that many people would still buy this magazine.

Lady Gaga is exposing some of her chest by pulling her clothing to the side; this is provocative and attracts the male gaze which, in turn, encourages women to buy the magazine because they want to appeal to men like Lady Gaga does on this cover.

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. Also, it is possible that having a lot of jewellery on one hand and having the other hand mostly hidden may show that she has to different ‘sides’ to her; one quirky/crazy and one more serious/seductive.

This ‘pull-out gift guide’ acts as a lure/hook; it encourages the audience to buy the magazine so that they can read this section. Unlike a lot of the coverlines, I like where this advert is placed because it is in ‘white space’ and because it has a red boarder it stands out. Also the use of a picture (of the gifts it has on offer) helps to attract viewers because they may see an item which they wish to buy and therefore they may buy the magazine in order to get the item. There are many lures on this cover – Download Taylors new song for free, one magic move to sexy abs.

The word love, (which is mentioned 3 times on the cover) links to the heart shape which Taylor’s hands are in. This suggests that love will be a theme throughout the magazine.

The mode of address is very simple. They have used short phrases to clearly show what will be in the magazine. Words such as Love, Glam and jewellery appeal to the target audience (teenage girls) because they are topics which a lot of girls are interested in reading about.

I have drawn a grid on this image, to show the rule of thirds. This rule has been used to position Taylor in the centre of the page; her hands are in the bottom, middle square and her eyes are in the top, middle square. This draws the viewer’s attention to the eye contact she has and the ‘heart’ position of her hands. However the cover lines have not been organised in the same way; they overlap over many different sections which makes the magazine look busy and they also overlap the image a lot, therefore the eye is draw away from Taylor and on to the cover lines.

This cover line acts are a lure/hook. The main piece of information is written in large, red text. This draws the eye of the audience and encourages people to buy the magazine so that they can read about ‘The most intriguing people of 2008’.

This cover image is quite eye catching and strong because of the eye contact which makes the audience feel like they have a connection with her. Taylor swift has her hands in a heart shape; this could be to show her fans that she loves and appreciates them or it could show her love for music. Her make up and hair look very natural which could show that she is quite laid back, however when I take photos for my main cover image I will make sure that everything is positioned perfectly, for example her necklace which is slightly to the right. I am hoping to use a brightly coloured lipstick and possibly eye make up as well ad this will make my magazine stand out more than this one does.

The colour scheme for this magazine is white, red and black. These colours are eye catching and compliment each other, however I think that a magazine with a different range of contrasting colours, which connote fun and are more ‘girly’, would appeal more to the target audience (which seems to be girls aged 10-15). The colour red connotes passion and danger and therefore this colour scheme would be more suitable for a magazine aimed at girls in their late teens or early 20’s. Also, in order to make her hair and skin stand out, I think that a brighter colour should have been used for the background, e.g. purple, pink or blue, however if this had been done then the colours black, red and white would not have been suitable for this magazine.

Cosmo girl is a ‘branch magazine’ from Cosmopolitan. The definition of ‘cosmopolitan’ is ‘familiar with many countries’ or ‘sophisticated’; they may have used this name to show that the magazine is stylish, modern and popular worldwide. The word ‘girl’ shows that it is aimed at girls, instead of women, as it contains material which is more suitable for girls and some of the content from ‘Cosmopolitan’ is not appropriate for girls, therefore it is important for the magazines to be distinguishable.

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.

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.

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 (the white also stands out from the red, and lastly it is the same in every issue so it is well known and recognisable.

On this cover I have drawn a grid to show the rule of thirds. I think that across the top of the magazine the rule of thirds has been used; in the first square there is the masthead, in the second is Lily Allen nude upper body and in the third they have placed most of the cover lines. This is an unconventional place to put a block of cover lines because they are usually down the left hand side so that they can be seen when the magazine is in a stand, however I think that on this cover placing the cover lines here looks good and appeals to the audience because it fits with the rule of thirds and the different sized fonts draw the attention to the key words.

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. When somebody in the main cover image has their back towards the audience I would worry that they may not gain strong eye contact with the audience and therefore the audience would not be drawn to the magazine and they may not feel and connection with her; on this cover I feel that her eyes do not stand out enough to grab peoples attention, so if I was to use the pose that Lily Allen is in then I would highlight the eyes with bright make-up and I would ensure that the models hair was away from their eyes so that they are not hidden.

The word ‘WICKED’ on this cover has ambiguous meanings; it could mean ‘cool’ or ‘evil’ or it could have a sexual meaning, this tells the readers that in this magazine there will be some information about her life and they can use it to be more like her. It has been repeated twice and is in bright red capitals which is eye catching and connotes passion and danger.

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.

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, however many magazines still choose to have bright colours because they connote fun and excitement.

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. This will encourage people to buy the magazine because they will want to read about the things on the contents page and when looking through the magazine to find these, other articles may catch their eye.

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.

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 font is small and is a similar colour to the background so it does not stand out or grab peoples attention; the use of a ‘fancy’/’swirly’ font , for the headings, appeals to females and does stand out from the background and the rest of the text, however because it is black (the same colour as the rest of the text and similar the background colour) it is not eye catching, therefore this magazine is suitable for an older/ more mature audience.

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 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 I aim to stick to a simple colour scheme but I also wish to use a bright colour and some different font styles and sizes to make the best articles/advertisements stand out so that people will want to read 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. One way that they have achieved a simplistic look for this page is the use of simple colours – white, black and red. These have been used in an organized way so that all the page numbers are written in red and all the detailing is written in black; the red stands out from the rest of the writing and therefore the reader is encouraged to read the page numbers first. If many different colours had been used then the page may have been busy therefore making it difficult to read/understand.

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 the information is up to date. In the bottom right hand corner there is

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.

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. In my magazine I will use some shapes in order to draw attention to the information included however, I want my magazine to stand out and be suitable for a target audience between the range of mid-teens and early 20’s, therefore I will ensure it does not look too busy or colourful. Even though bright colours are eye catching, I think that if a magazine uses to many colours then it can have to opposite affect to what was wanted and people will be put off, so keeping to a simple colour palette is vital.

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. It also shows readers, who have not heard of the group, what they look like and gives them an idea of the style of the group.

At the bottom of this page there is a ‘lure/hook’ which is a voucher for “£2 OFF”, this draws people in who wish to go to the event advertised and will also encourage other reader to go and therefore spend money on drink, etc whilst they are there; this will provide more money for the magazine. They have made this ‘lure’ stand out by using a contrasting colour (yellow) for the corner of the voucher and the main writing on it.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.