Class Task

As part of our coursework lesson we made comparison's between two music magazine covers and how the layout and photography has a different effect on the reader.

• The layout of this 2010 Vanity Fair 'Style Issue' has cover star Lady Gaga off centred on the right side of the cover.
• She has a triangle shaped position, giving her three main lines from her body.
• It is taken from a low angle giving her pose a superiority to the reader. It makes her look admirable, because you have to look up to her - which connects to her style of music (which talks about empowerment and being the best you can be).
• She has a large fan following, which is shown through her photograph and the coverline to the left of her right arm which says "the WORLD'S NO.1 POP STAR".
• The cover lines have a column look about them which features straight lines going down the left and right third of the cover. They are composed around the outside of the focal points, which really makes her stand out. They are also the only cover lines that appear over her photograph.
• The extravagant outfit she wears gives connotations of being regal or having a powerful hierarchy status from the mise-en-scene of the image.
• The simple grey black background is plain, which contrasts to her detailed and intricate outfit. 
• This clear use of left third has used the two cover lines on the left to stand out against Lady Gaga. It stands her out as a solo artist which represents her individuality within the music industry.

Over all the cover looks glossy and expensive and with money being something associated with Lady Gaga it gives off a contemporary and modern appeal to those interested in pop music but might be from middle/upper class. It doesn't look teen related, very much for an adult audience and gives the effect of being classy and full of images from how big the cover star is. 

• The Source doesn't clearly display who the main cover star is. It shows a head shot/close up of an artist pointing a gun to himself with the main cover line say 'Suicide is not an option'. This is mysterious as to what it means. 
• The red and white colour scheme works well to stand out against the picture, the vest co-ordinates with the font colour. The choice of red and white relates to the fact it's US based. The connotations of vests tell us it's hip-hop based and the genre is for a specific audience.
• The cover looks aggressive with tattoos on the cover star, red to connotate danger or anger and the violence associated with the gun telling us it's not aimed at females. And rap is more for a male target audience.
• The layout is  simple and spaced out like Vanity Fair's but in a different design. It has more of a working class look because of the stigma attached to rap and hip-hop 
• The use of left and right third look very conventional with font's all co-ordinating. It shows it's a long running magazine that has it's own following.
• The use of the same size used for fonts except for the main cover line on the left third shows which cover line is most important and relates to the main image.

Overall the cover looks quite cheap compared to Vanity Fair. This is because hip-hop is associated with the streets and starting in places that aren't glamorous  The main cover star looks well off despite how simply he's dressed. I think this magazine isn't as appealing to those who like other music genre because of how it's used font and design to attract it's target demographic. Vanity Fair you could pick up for the first time and casually read it despite knowing nothing about the history or anything it features, whereas this cover looks like it's aimed at those who know a lot about who's in it, what the magazine's about and are regular readers.