Pop Music Magazine Analysis

Signs and Signifiers

(Front Cover)

How do you know this is a “Pop” Music Magazine from the Cover?

One of the ways that we know this is a “Pop” Music Magazine is because on the front cover there is a massively famous

pop star “Katy Perry.” Because of Katy’s fame and success it makes the magazine cover

itself instantly recognizable to its target audience because a lot of them will probably be fans of the star on the front.The magazine will attract more attention with bigger stars on the front, and to encourage even more people to buy the magazine

the star on the front will look glamorous and desirable.

The Iconic “Billboard” Logo

The “Billboard” logo with the middle of the letters coloured in is iconic and obviously represents the magazine. Readers of the magazine who would

take the preferred reading would see this sign and think of a good thing…

However, people who maybe like different music or don’t read the magazine or don’t agree with what it presents to its readers will see this icon as a bad

symbol.Because this logo is automatically associated with the Billboard

music magazines and the company that produces them the masthead itself will be marketing.

The Symbolic Colour Scheme.

The pink colour scheme on the background, within the flowers

on Katy’s dress and incorporated into her make up,

makes the whole magazine (and with it Katy herself) seem very feminine and glamorous. This helps to make her look desirable and as Katy looks

desirable in the photo on the magazine the magazine also looks rather desirable itself, meaning that it will attract

more readers.The fact that Katy looks highly glamorous makes the magazine attractive to both male and female readers, because women will

want to be like her and men want to have her or a woman like her. This would be the preferred reading because her fans will see her as

glamorous whereas the oppositional reading could be that she is “fake”

Symbolically large writing for “Katy Perry”

The use of large and different lettering for “Katy Perry” is symbolically showing how

important she is as a person and Pop artist and to this issue of the

magazine. The large writing reflects her large amount of

popularity and fame within the Pop Music industry. The preferred reading of this would be that she is highly important, however the oppositional reading would show

her as overly famous and pompous because of it.

The lettering and typography is also very feminine and compliments the rest of the magazine because of it ‘Sans Serif’ font face.

The Indexical Flowers

The flowers that are draped all over Katy in the picture are very much

mystical and beautiful in the way that she almost looks like a goddess. The

preferred reading for this would make her again more desirable and make her fans buy the magazine however those who are not fans of hers would most probably think she looks childish and

un professional.

The fact that the flowers are nature could also show some purity within the photo and the position that Katy is in makes her seem

beautiful yet reserved.

The Professional LayoutThe layout of the cover of the

magazine is highly professional and the stories that are

advertised on the cover are all neatly laid out and very uniform. This presents the magazine in a good way and makes its buyers think that they are getting value for their money. With the yellow font colour for the cover lines

makes them stand out and makes the whole magazine more

colourful as a whole.It is important for any magazine to make sure that their cover design looks professional otherwise they risk the whole thing looking tacky

and readers not being interested. Those who take the preferred reading will see the magazine as professional however those apposed

to this may see it as tacky or unprofessional because of its bright colours.

The Bright LightingBecause the lighting within the photograph on

the cover of this magazine is very bright and there is not many areas of darkness, this

portrays the magazine in a very positive way and causes the whole thing to look a lot more

feminine and “pretty.” This indexical sign shows how light Katy Perry’s music is and that she is a “fun” pop star. Because Katy Perry is a “bubble-gum” pop artist the magazine has the

risk of oppositional readers seeing her as childish whereas her fans will just see her as

fun and cheerful and happy because they will be taking the preferred reading.

Because the pop artist is a “bubble-gum” pop artist the lightness and ‘prettiness’ of the cover as a whole will appeal to her fans who may

be of a younger age.

In Conclusion…

This magazine shows its featured celebrity in a positive light through the use of symbolic, indexical and iconic

signs. The use of typography, layout and colour scheme show the magazine as a professional yet exciting music magazine that its target audience would want to read.

The preferred reading for this magazine as a whole would be a professional, yet colourful and exciting one where Katy Perry looks highly desirable and beautiful and the magazine heightens her fame and success.

The oppositional reading for this magazine would be that it looks too sweet to the point where it is childish and unattractive to the target audience who are just entering adulthood therefore want to be reading something more established

Pop Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Signs and Signifiers

(Front Cover)

How do you know this is a “Pop” Music Magazine from the Cover?

This music magazine is instantly recognizable to the buyer because of the big star

“Bruno Mars” on the front cover, having celebrities like this on the front cover of the magazine mean that it has become an iconic magazine

for interviewing and featuring big celebrities. This

appeals to fans because their idol will be on the front

cover of the magazine.

Bruno’s Body Language

“Bruno Mars” is a big established pop star who is known world-wide for his

confidence an flare and this is most definitely shown through his body language and facial

expression in this cover photo, he is seen as confident and carefree. The oppositional

reading would be that Bruno is cocky and careless and that he is completely over come with

his fame.

The Colour SchemeThe blue colour scheme on the

cover of the magazine is instantly associated with a man so it

compliments Bruno on the front. The blue background is an symbol

for males, and this will often attract women readers to see

which celebrity male is featured, however the oppositional reading could see that it is actually quite

sexist because blue can be associated to females as well.

Large writing for “BRUNO MARS”

Bruno Mars is a big star and the size of his names writing symbolically reflects that

and shows that he is more important that the other cover stories and also that he is

featured in the magazine.An indexical sign would be the fact that Bruno is the top layer of the whole magazine because is makes him seem even more important, this would be the preferred reading whereas the oppositional reading would be that he is only interested in himself and no one else around him.

The Iconic Red ShirtRed is an Iconic colour for representing love and lust,

so that fact that Bruno Mars’ shirt is a dark red makes him look attractive and ‘sexy’ too the female readers and this would be another attractive

feature for his fans.His confidence is also portrayed indexically through him wearing this as red is a colour often associated with confidence and flare.

In Conclusion…

This magazine has a professional and smart looking front cover and the colour scheme typography and font compliment each

other to make the magazine highly appealing to the target audience and the potential buyers and readers.

The preferred of this magazine will be that Bruno Mars is a highly successful pop star and on this cover he looks confident and professional with a sense of flare and attractiveness which would highly appeal to any female reader especially his fans.

The oppositional reading of the magazine front cover would be that Bruno looks cocky and snobby with giving off a bad impression to younger audience because they will try to copy him.