Double Page Spread Deconstruction

Main Image: the main image is of Nicki Minaj who is best known for her rap/pop career which appeals to youth. She is known for her outrageous and wacky sense of style and can be quite crazy in person. This is portrayed by her unusual facial expression and the style of her costume. This can further relate to the unpredictability of the pop music industry. Her costume may be appealing to around 12-18 year olds as it stands out and is very bold. Youth may be stereotype as “bold” and “out there.” There are many bursts of colour against the black and white costume from the jewellery and the colour of her lipstick. This may represent the pop music industry as colourful and bright. The pattern of her costume can be rather uncomfortable to the eye, appealing to the younger audience as it is a bold and vibrant statement in which they may aspire to. This is a completely different way of appealing to a different audience, compared to the other magazine I deconstructed. To appeal to an older target audience, sophistication would be the theme of the spread. However, it is understood that this is a very youthful shoot as it looks more childish and tacky in the use of colours, which would be appealing to a predominantly younger audience. Her jewellery is over the top and standoffish, showing another clear link to the target audience as it again, may look tacky and childish. Her body posture and stance is unusual and not laid back and normal, showing difference, which encourages difference to teenagers. This shows that this artist does not blend in and encourages a younger audience to stand out as this is n important message media want to perceive to youth. Her facial expression is weird and could come across as confident and could show a cocky attitude. This is because instead of smiling like other pop singers, she is looking directly into the lens which signifies confidence and pouting which could also show vanity and a high level of self esteem and confidence. The image may appeal to a mix cultured audience as Nicki Minaj is dark skinned, however, she is well known within a white audience.

Target Audience: At a guess, the target audience would be around 12-19+ year olds. Firstly, I looked at the main image and colour scheme to determine the target audience, but then I began to read the

article, and the language used could be more appealing to an older audience, and in some views could be seen as not appropriate for a younger audience e.g. 10+ as there are £sexual” links into the article. So due to the language of the article, the target audience may be moved up to 17+ as there is a lot of text and some not appropriate for younger readers. However, the colours are vibrant and bold, relating to youth as they may see this as appealing. Where as, an older audience may look for something more laid back and for something with a hint of sophistication. Lastly, Nicki Minaj is seen as a role model to many teenage girls which could be the target audience as that is who the magazine is trying to appeal to by using a female teenage role model. Also the colour scheme looks girly as they have used the stereotypical “girly” colour pink to attract female attention.

Fonts: there are a selection of fonts which creates variety and busyness on the page. This may be seen as appealing to a younger audience as there is more to look at and is exciting to the reader’s eye. The types of font used are quite feminine as they are posh and swirly and also look like female neat hand writing. The size of the text is in accordance to the importance. For example, as the article is likely to be about Nicki Minaj, the name “Nicki Minaj” is the biggest font of text. It is also bold. This highlights the importance and draws in the reader’s attention, so they know what they are going to read about. This runs alongside the picture for a clear understanding of the topic of the article. The big, bold, statement text evens out the swirly neat text above, as if the big bold text was small and swirly, it would be too much and could be complicating to the readers. The colour of the font matches the colour scheme of pink, black and white. This may also be more appealing to a female audience and shows continuity throughout as pink text is dotted around the spread. The subheading are bold and black, showing structure and to make it easier for the reader to read, whilst breaking the text down.

Colour Scheme: the colour scheme is pink, black and white. The white is only very minimal and is used to even the colour out, so the two other colours aren’t too much. This is used in her outfit, jewellery and some text. Pink is the background colour also used as font colour and makeup (lipstick) Black is the main colour which is used for the article text. This is also use in her make up, costume and border. The black text follows all conventions as magazines as black is normally used as text colour because it is easy for the reader to read off. The colour scheme is very feminine and is now made clear who the target audience which is females. The colour throughout, represents pop music as it is bright and bold, which make a statement, linking into the celebrity used, who is commonly associated within the pop music industry.

Other Notes: I like the layout of this double page spread. In most double page spreads, the main image is big and normally seen near the middle of the page. This may be because of the followed forms and conventions of music magazines. To make my media product stand out, I want to challenge the forms and conventions by having more than one image of my model and to situate them round the side of my page. I also like the text warp near the models arm as it shows design skill, which could boost my grade. Lastly, I like the drop cap as again it shows finesse and skill and also gives the article a nice start and follows a good structure.