Analysis of "Billboard" Magazine

This is Billboard Magazine, it is a collection of various different music styles, which includes the genres of electronic/pop & dance music.

The core colour scheme of the main image is a combination of black & white, which has influences of hot colours such as reds, oranges and yellows. This makes the overall image significantly eye-catching as do the people on the cover ("No Doubt"), who follow the same theme of the magazine, introducing the colours to the way they are dressed and by the way their make-up is done also. This is also done so it coincides with the main story of the magazine. Their name is placed in block capitals, just below their faces in the bottom right-hand corner, across the medium close-up of them. It is presented in white, to contrast the black which they are wearing to assist the text in standing out more. Their clothing acts as a background for the text to sit on. The minor section of text, which is situated below their title, again follows the format of colour as is it exposed in a light orange colour to make the writing extensively stand out more.

The title of the magazine is located at the top of the page, beneath the sub-title/banner & the features inside the magazine. The text is significantly larger than that of any other text featured, to make it stand out from any other adevertisement elements on the page. The text is partially behind the picture of group, so it does not over-lap their faces, ruining the photograph and covering them up. Some of the letters of the title are highlighted with hot colours to emphasize the theme and also to make it more prominent towards the audience. The white background helps the title stand out more as the letters are written in black, using the contrast of the colours to heighten the boldness of the title.

The cover consists of only 1 PUG, adevertising (present to the time of the magazine's release) 300 upcoming tours & 125 upcoming albums. It is postioned halfway up the left side of the page, with a black background from one of the members' jumper. The PUG features a yellow outer ring, with the words within the circle displayed in white & orange block capitals to accentuate the presence of the PUG. It also pursues the colour scheme of the magazine's cover. The contrast between its colour scheme and the background in which it is positioned, allows it to become more visable to readers, helping them in conveying a message more evidently towards the audience.

The cover includes a banner situated at the top of the page, adevertising the version of the magazine it is conveying. It is made more apparent to the reader by the letters being shown in block capitals. The colour of the words are a rich yellow to follow the theme of colour (which is summer & hot colours). The background of the banner is white, which acts as the background for the entire magazine cover, so the words blend more into the page. The banner also plays out to be a sub-title too, again as I said prior, displaying the version of the magazine.

Beneath the sub-title/banner at the top of the page, there is a block of bullet points which features the stories that are included within the magazine. The text is written in orange, whilest the bullet points are coloured in yellow, following the pattern of colour for the cover. It is above the main image so that the stories do not block or distract the audience from the people on the cover. The title for this section of the cover "Inside" written in block capitals larger than the text of the bullet points to draw the audiences attention to the bullet points. It is coloured in black and follows the colour scheme.

The bar-code, date & price tag are postioned in the bottom left hand, here it is still perceptible for the reader yet does not cover up or draw the attention away from other fundamentals of the page. Among this, their website is included so it helps advertise it more and so more people will visit their website. The reason they put it here is so when a customer looks for the price of the magazine, they will stumble across the website in hope that they will see it & visit it.