The masthead is feminine and girly, so it is appealing for the target audience, as well as reflecting the loudness of the pop music genre. The swirl of the ‘S’ also reflects the boho theme house style of this particular issue.

The house style of this issue is based around the bright blues and greens, as well as being a relaxed boho kind of style. The colours, text and images all reflect this. The colours are all very sickly-sweet which represents the target audience of young teenage girls.

The text of ‘follow your dreams;’ is particularly appealing to the young teenage target audience. As well as fitting in with the house style, it is inspirational to a young impressionable audience, and is promoting the right message to them.

The fact that the pug is white makes the blue text (BOYS) pop even more, and this provides the audience with the idea that they need boys to fancy them. This implies that the magazine is aimed at young girls who would love a boyfriend. The target audience is

young teenage girls, and it is well known that that audience is likely to put up posters in their room. Therefore this magazine will appeal to them a lot, and the big number ‘9’ is likely to attract the audience. The images also would appeal to them as they (at the time of publishing)

The banner on this magazine is extremely bright and eye catching, and draws the eye up to the top of the page. The ‘100% true’ tag also draws the audience’s eye – before they even read what the article is about, it promotes that it is an eye opening and interesting story.

The BBC icon is more for the parents of the audience. If they see that tag they are more likely to buy the magazine if they know it is associated with the BBC, which the parents of the target audience will most likely approve of.

The image of the ‘hot lads on holiday’, is also appealing to the teenage target audience, and balances out the top half of the magazine, which obviously is the main focus, but it draws the eye downwards so it is more equal, rather than looking top heavy and lopsided. The image has also been cut out to emphasised their bodies.

The main image of Selena Gomez is of her looking quite young, which is also appealing to the target audience as she looks more their age, therefore they will be more inspired by her. It also fits into the house style as she is wearing a boho themed outfit, which the theme of the magazine is based around.

The barcode and price of the magazine (£3.99) is placed on this part of the magazine as it blends into the background and isn’t too noticeable. As it is quite an expensive magazine in comparison to others aimed at the same audience, it implies that they do not want the audience to see it before they purchase it.

The image on the left third of the magazine, under the masthead (of One Direction) is a press shot. This gives the magazine a more memorable appearance, and makes it more familiar which would be appealing to the target audience.

were current celebrities. This means that they are more likely to pick up this magazine, as it tends to their want of posters.

The number ‘89’, is a pretty big size, and placed in an eye catching place on the page. This would appeal to the audience, as they can see that there are plenty of easy ways to look like their idols.

The main image on the page is a mid shot, and it focuses a lot on her outfit. This could attract the young target audience, who typically would just be getting more interested in fashion.

The masthead for this particular issue of Billboard magazine is placed in an unconventional place – it is on the left third, which balances out the magazine – the cover star (J-Lo) is placed more to the right third of the magazine.

The way the image is cropped, the cover star is actually bigger than the masthead, which could symbolize that she is bigger than the institution themselves. Also, the fact that she is perched on a high stool could represent that she is at the height of her career.

The house style of this particular issue of Billboard is very sleek, and eye catching, which would definitely appeal to the taste of the target audience, which is young adults. Also the fact that J-Lo is older than the main target audience (he is forty six) could inspire them, and they will relate to her as a role model.

The main colour scheme in this particular issue is clearly red and grey. The red connotes the passion of the artist, as well as the passion of her fans, who (as well as Billboard’s usual target audience), this issue is especially aimed at. The colour scheme makes the front cover appear as very professional as well as fun and bright. The red of the masthead, as well as the cover stars lipstick, leotard and shoes provide balance across the whole page, and draws the eye to all sections, rather than if it was just the masthead that was red. The fact that the rest of the magazine is in very neutral colours also makes the red pop even more.

The fact that all the cover lines on the magazine are white could represent the purity of the artist’s career – it has been extremely successful. Another reason the editors may have chosen to use a white font is because it contrasts nicely with the red, as well as the neutral colour scheme.

The ‘woah, J.Lo!’ piece of text could be seen as a catch phrase for this particular issue. The fact that it rhymes also means that it sticks in the readers heads, and makes them remember the issue. Also, this is the only piece of large text on the front cover (apart from the masthead). This means that the reader/audience is likely to see this piece of text and want to read more, as it is intriguing.

Usually down the left third of a magazine is the cover lines. This particular issue of Billboard breaks all typical conventions of any magazine, not just a music magazine, but for this very reason it sticks in the audience’s mind and would make them remember this issue, as it is completely different to what they would usually see in a shop or delivered through their door.

The magazine is also missing what usually would be quite a noticeable feature on a front cover – the barcode and price. This may be be because it had outer packaging, however it definitely adds to the house style of this issue – being sleek and simple. It also means that nothing is distracting the reader from the main feature of the magazine – the cover star.

The left third of the magazine would also usually feature a few sub images. The fact that this issue of Billboard doesn’t have any other images is clearly so that nothing distracts the reader from J-Lo.

The shot type of this magazine is a long shot. This is also unconventional, as usually it would be a mid shot or close up. The fact that it is a long shot ensures that the whole of the cover star is on the front cover. The artist is clearly in a comfortable position, which implies that she is comfortable in her career, and posing for a photoshoot is a 6th sense for her and extremely natural.

In this particular issue of Rolling Stone, the masthead is obscured by the cover star, Lorde. This implies that she is in fact bigger and more successful than the magazine, which is a huge deal as it is a world renown magazine. The masthead is in a retro font, which works well with the red house style of the magazine, and pulls together the overall theme. It will stick out in the target audiences (young adults) mind, as it is bright and memorable.

After annotating a few chart music magazines, I have realised that there are usually no other sub images on the front cover on the magazine. This is because the editors do not want to take attention away from the main cover star, as assumingly they would have a double page spread in the magazine, therefore they would not want to defer the attention away from her.

The cover image is a mid shot of Lorde, which is a typical image for any magazine. This type of shot shows off her outfit, which fits in with the rock house style of the magazine. Also, Lorde’s fans and the target audience of this magazine wear the style of clothes that Lorde is wearing, so they are more likely to purchase this magazine when their favourite artist looks relatable and familiar.

Most of the cover lines are written in a black italic font. Not only does this fit in with the colour scheme and house style of the magazine, but it makes it look classy and sophisticated, which gives the idea that Lorde would like to give off that impression as well. This is also shown by the pose that Lorde is doing – she is pouting and with her hands in her pockets, she looks very sophisticated, however she also looks relatable, and familiar to her target audience.

The pug on this issue of Rolling Stone magazine, is square and angular, rather than being circle. This also adds to the house style of the magazine – a circular pug looks almost thrust onto the page, where as the square one looks more thought out, and as if it has more of a purpose. It also balances out the page with the splash of black, as there is no other writing on the right hand third of the page. This ensures that the readers eye is drawn all over the page, rather than just to the main image or the cover lines.

The barcode being placed on the bottom right hand corner ensures that it is not on a busy part of the page. It means that the readers know the price of the magazine straight away, which implies that it is not very expensive – if it was, it would blend more into the background rather than being easy to spot.

Also, as the masthead is behind the artist, this implies that Rolling Stone are very well known and do not need to show the whole name to the audience for them to know which magazine it is. If Lorde were behind the masthead it would imply that the magazine was less well known, and needed their audience to know who they are without having to look for a certain name.

The word ‘LORDE’ is written in a red italic font, which matches the classy house style of this particular issue of Rolling Stone. The red picks out the masthead of the issue as well as the red cover line, and the pug. The fact that all these particular words are in red imply that they are the most important articles in the magazine, and the eye is drawn to them before the audience see the other black cover lines. This keeps to the simple yet stylish house style as well as keeping to the monochromatic colour scheme.

In all Q magazine front covers, the masthead takes up a sizeable chunk of the left third of the page. The colour and font is always the same, which makes the magazine instantly recognisable. In this particular issue, the artist, Cheryl Cole, is behind the mast head. This is because the shot type of her is a close up, so even when the masthead takes up a lot of room, it doesn’t obscure her face or cover up any vital parts of the image. However if the artist was in front of the masthead, the letter would be obscured and it wouldn’t be instantly recognisable as ‘Q’. Another reason the editors may have decided to place the masthead in front of the artist is because they feel that the artist would give them more of a boost by being behind them – by being in front, it would be implied that Cheryl is superior, whereas being behind gives the idea of equality.

In all issues of Q magazine, the banner is exactly the same. This promotes the magazine to the readers but as well as this, when it is (for example) stacked in a shop and the consumer may only be able to see the banner, they will instantly know it is Q magazine from the familiar banner.

Q also has a familiar house style running throughout all their magazines. As their masthead is always red, so is their colour scheme – it sticks to the red, black, grey and white theme. This again makes I instantly recognisable. As well as this, the red being splashed about the page other than just on the masthead means that the page is more balanced out and draws the eye to all thirds of the page.

On the left third of the page, all the cover lines are highlighted in red and white. The reason for this so that it is easier for the audience to read, as it has been overlaid on an image which has quite a complicated background. As well as this, it also fits in with the colour scheme of the house style, and the modern and sleek look.

On a magazine, pugs are usually a brighter colour, so that they stand out and so that the audience can see them clearly. However this issue of Q is breaking typical conventions – it is a light grey. This means that it fits in with the colour scheme, and still draws the eye but in a much more subtle way.

The image has been manipulated with lots of water droplets, which makes the magazine really stand out as it is not a typical theme to run with for a music magazine. It represents Cheryl’s album which she was promoting, and sells the artist well.

The font ‘Cheryl Cole’ is written in a Sans Serif capital letter font, which makes her name stand out, and the eye is drawn to it very quickly. The reason it is written in white is so that it balances out with the ‘ROCKS’ font, meaning there isn’t an overload of red on the page. It also seems that the most important pieces of information are written in red. This highlights to the audience what the most exciting and new stories are that will be in the magazine, and the cover lines and other pieces of information in white font remind the reader that there are even more articles in the magazine for them to read and be inspired by.