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ROLLING STO

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MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

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FRONT COVERThe front cover of this edition of Rolling Stone has a cream/ white background which contrasts with the hair colour of the singer as key signifier.The key signifier is looking directly at the audience, this direct address to the audience attracts the reader to the magazine. Also the picture has been layered over the top of the mast head, this makes it look like the key signifier is in 3D with his head sticking out of the page.There are three main colours that have been used on the front cover of this magazine – white for some of the text in the puffs which links to the colour of the key signifiers shirt, black for other text which links to the key signifiers hair and red text which links to the masthead of the magazine. This choice of using colours that link with the key signifier help to draw the target audience in.

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CONTENTS PAGEThe three main colours which were used on the front cover of the magazine have been carried through onto the contents page, this starts to build the house style for the magazine, of red, black and white.In this example the colour white has been used for the background, this helps the text and images stand out on the page more because the colours contrast.The red has been used for the background colour for the title of the page and also for the page number in the contents list. The red has been used because it is a colour which stands out and therefore is attractive to the audience and easy for them to see.Black has been used for the main text on the contents page, this is standard for many publications however, because of the face that it is easy to read when placed on a white background. The publishers need to ensure that the magazine is easy to read as this is what could be between someone buying the magazine and not buying the magazine.

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DOUBLE PAGE SPREADFor this double page spread the colour choices have changed. They are now black and white with a grey scaled image of the band in which the article is about.The background colour for this article is a grey colour, which seems unusual for a band of this type which would normally be represented in brighter colours. Colours say a lot about the people they are representing, these are people which would be associated with bright lights a colours, where as the magazine has chosen to show them in a dark light. This shows a reverse of stereotype because they are associated with bright lights and colourful clothing.The picture of the band takes up most of the double page spread and the text is only a short paragraph this suggests to me that the picture is the most important part of the article. The use of the other language in subtitle for the article which translates to “the return of the survivors” is an interesting choice, it becomes intriguing to the audience because they may not speak that language and therefore wonder what it says. This could either attract the audience into reading the article or push them away. It might push them away because they may think that if they have got to translate the article so that they can read it, it is not worth them reading it.