Case Study

This cover is from the popular magazine Rolling Stones which focuses on politics and popular cultures publishes every two weeks, The Magazine was founded in 1967 in San Francisco by Jann Wenner, The magazine is known mostly for its musical coverage.

Image: this is a medium long shot this can be spotted as medium long shot are normally from head to knee level, in this shot we see the beautiful Barbados singer Rihanna posing for her Medium Long Shot, the purpose of this shot can be to give a better view of the assets the singer is trying to use to attract more audience which in this case is mostly male.

We’ve always known Rihanna to be a bad girl with her album “Good Girl Gone Bad” and her extravagant performance which have been known to show lots of skin, she could have easily wore something which covered up more or a medium shot which would have ended at her waist without showing her backside but the angle at which the image was shot and the clothes that were worn were all the a purpose to live up to the standards of the “Bad Girl” we all know her for.

Language: There are various Language Techniques used in the magazine cover to attract audience, as this is the first page audience gets a glance of so it’s important that the page contains just the best bits.

As starting from the Title or Master head at the top of the page we can see the name of the magazine “Rolling Stones” with the Master head being behind central image is to give the reader the impression that Rihanna’s going to be the main topic of the edition and with the magazine being very well known it is not a problem for it to the covered by Rihanna’s Curly red hair as it it still recognizable.

We also have the Left Third which is the writings placed at the left side, these contain a quick summary of the other stories the magazine will be talking about in the contents page, we see that the names of the artists or persona in bold and bigger font and further detail beneath it, the reason why the names of the artists are in bigger font is so the readers have a clear idea of the main people the magazine will be covering which in this case are going to be Britney Spears, Ricky Garvais, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Patterson and last but not least the main topic of discussion which is Rihanna herself by making it on the front cover, the detail beneath its just to give reader a vague idea of what part of the person’s life it will be focusing on.

At the Right side of the Cover Page we have more Text, which has clever link to the image “Rihanna Strikes Back” and then under it there’s further detail on how she is a bad girl and attracted to the dark side, starting the main title which was Rihanna Strikes Back I see a connotation to it as we see Rihanna showing us the back side of her slim and astonishing figure which could relate to the grammatical meaning of the words or also the angle at which the picture was being taken which very much reflects “Her Attraction to the Dark Side”

Genre: We can easily tell that this issue was an Rn’B /Pop with big pop icon’s names such as Rihanna and Britney Spears appearing, The main image of the artist (Rihanna) makes it clear that the week’s issue is targeted to the male audience as it tries to appeal to them with the provocative “Bad Girl” Rihanna.

Image: In this contents page we have a black and white picture of the six times winning Grammy Adele which takes as much as a page and a half of the double spread, taking the reader’s immediate attention.

With a blank background and her radiant hair accompanied by her famous eyeliner flick we all know about, the reader gets the feeling of her being bare and stripped back, suggesting she’s bound to be revealing to us in the article to come.

The mysterious and blank glance given by her beautiful blue eyes and face expression gives reader further enticement to read the article and know what is on Adele’s mind, the grey and black colours used throughout the article contribute with the themes of simplicity and mystery.

Convention of Page Layouts:  the picture Taken of Adele is very big and takes most of the two page spread to get the reader’s immediate attention and let them know who the article is going to be featuring.

Language:  The article is based around “The triumph of Adele” and getting to know the successful singer, and how she made it to the top of charts and billboards; “The voice, the passion and the making of ‘21’: Inside the biggest pop-music story of our time”, The interview is opened with a direct quote from Adel which reads “I wanna do something mean!” this immediately gets the reader engages and inquisitive as to why she would come to such remarks.”

After this, the first paragraph is riddled with curses and humorous phrases that with no doubt belong to Adele, giving the reader and insight into “no hold back” Adele.

The style of it all is informal with cursing, and by the use of quotations throughout the article, the writer is giving the reader the impression of being there with them during the interview. The greatness of the Pop icon is enforced as we are informed she was “still recovering from the night before (she) still managed to nail it in one go”. When talking about recording a new hit song he day after a major music award ceremony.

At the bottom left hand of the page, “Rolling Stones”   have their brand name written down beside the page number , but also their website printed alongside it, enforcing their platforms are available o other medias and reminding them of the source of all information.

Genre:  We could tell that this is a pop related article as we have one of he most successful pop icons posing for a picture.

Image: In this cover page we have a close up picture of the JAY Z, we can see the relationship between the picture of the artist being very big and taking up most of the page with the head itself, we could relate this o the various text on the page related to Jay Z which are and big and bold font.

Convention of Page Layouts:  All the Text is placed at the Left Third of the page so the reader can know everything that’s written on the cover page and also a oeak of Jay-Z’s direct look to the audience which attracts more readers in picking the magazine from shelves and read the article.

Language:  We can see that most of the writings are placed on the Left Third soo the readers get to see everything at first glance without missing anything, being a Rap themed issue the reader is immediately attracted by big names in the industry such as “50 Cent, Snoop Dog, Fat Joe, J prince ,the Neptunes, Lil’ Flip and last but not least one of the greatest rappers of all-time whos doing it bi right now Jay Z, the name Jay Z is highlighted in Red and bigger font from the name of the other rappers as it is to emphasis the point that he’s the greatest right now and he will be the main topic of the issue.

Genre: We can see thanks to the text that the article is mainly a rap one this is easily spotted due to the big names in the rap game mentioned and the king of all Jay Z in the cover picture.

Image: In this contents page we have a medium shot of rapper Kanye west dressed in a quite casual look, something very different from the extravagant clothing we normally see him in at concerts and other venues, we see him being held back by a female hand holding what looks like petals of a red flower, we see Kanye giving a direct inquisitive look to the reader.

Convention of Page Layouts: at the left we see a medium shot of rapper Kanye west taking most of the page next to text regarding content of the magazine, I believe the reason Kanye West is taking major part of the contents page is to give audience an initial and visual idea that the main topic of the magazine is going to revolve all around the rapper.

Language: the structure of the text is simple and clear this is as the reader reading the page will be looking at a particular page in the magazine and know where and what the content is going to contain so it needs to be fast and easy to deliver.