I began the deconstruction of a magazine.

Main Heading.

The main heading; ‘Lily Allen takes on the world’, is situated next to (almost about to cover) the main image. This effect allows readers to associate this title to the main illustration if they are unaware of who the main image is. This then clearly helps readers to understand more about the magazine’s articles and therefore provides a clear reason of purchasing the item. It also stands out clear due its bold, ‘chunky’ effect that is almost distorted in an interesting way to make it seem more interesting and visually appealing and therefore able to attract the eyes of the public to the main feature. Appearance and effects are key into attracting readers as people do ‘judge a book by its cover’. The ‘white on black’ technique makes the heading unique and distinct from the surrounding sub-headings, the ‘less important’ sub headings in terms of detail and features and also distinguishes the topic of the main feature. The black and white effect also keeps the heading plain as the interesting squared shape has its own effect, the use of more colour would either distract this effect or take away the ‘bold’ impression that the black and white present.

Sub Headings.

Although this front cover lacks in many sub-headings, the two shown on the left both share the same effects. The first effect is the size, the two headings are diminutive in terms of font size, this gives viewers the clear effect that they do not play a part in ‘the main feature’ which is Lily Allen. The use of font size used is to connote to readers the other topics featured in the magazine, however not being the main article, it gives readers more interest and more of an insight into what else is featured throughout. Although the size does not suggest the importance of the subject, it is to inform and attract audiences into buying the magazine with a promise that there is more to read about if the public do not take interest in the main feature, (Lily Allen).

The use of colour is similar to the main heading, it has a contrast of colours to effectively allow the writing to stand out. Again, the sub-headings are not the major element of the cover however, the contrasting colours used in the main heading could have been used to improve awareness, the colours used in these sub-headings could also suggest a form of importance however, with the use of a different colour (yellow), we are now able to realise that the headings differ in topic to the main heading as does its colour, or even a form of less significance.

Each heading has also been surrounded by a circle, suggesting it’s some form of importance to viewers as it makes them stand out slightly, rather than just having the words floating around, unable to read, the editor/designer of this cover wants the audience to notice these headings at some point through scanning over the front cover.

Main Image.

The main image of the cover is ‘Lily Allen’, this is clear to viewers due to the main heading and also by recognition (if audiences do recognise her face). The size of the image also determines the main articles’ topic as it is probably the main visible aspect of the magazine that takes the attention of the public in a shop for example. The effect of the image is also a unique selling point as it is an A-listed celebrity/singer and this will therefore attract fans. The presentation of the image takes up almost the majority of the space beneath the magazine title and also follows the rule of thirds as her eyes match the line approximately a third of the way up the page, this gives the image it’s ‘main’ look.

The effect of the celebrity is that she is looking directly into the camera, therefore there is an immediate connection between viewers of the front page and herself (or the article featuring her). The use of clothing of Lily also suggests that the magazine is aimed at students/young adults as the chequered pattern on her shirt is a common style for the age range of around 16-24.

The target audience, in my opinion would be for the age range ‘16-24’ or to be more specific; ‘students’. This is clear due to (as mentioned before) the use of clothing in the main image. The colour of the clothing also ties in well with the colour scheme which is red and black (with minute use of added yellows). This use of colour connotes the theme of ‘indie’ and ‘student’ music. The use of feature bands also applies to this target audience, “The Prodigy…Franz Ferdinand ect.”, however, there is a feature of ‘David Bowie’ who was featured during the 60’s, this article argues my opinion as Bowie would be aimed at more of an older audience due to his era of work.