Signs and Signifiers

Signs and Signifiers of Music Magazines

The iconic sign of this magazine is Katy Perry, because the magazine cover is all about her. This is because she is the only person/image to feature on the cover and therefore she represents the magazine. This is also known because the image of her overlaps that of the masthead of the magazine. The way she acts, looks and poses gives the impression to the readers and buyers that not only is she quite confident, happy beautiful and not modest as she is covered in flowers which also can represent happiness and have not many bad connation's towards them. She helps represent the magazine in quite a sensual way because of the way she is posing such as her body language and facial expression as she is looking straight into the readers/buyers eyes. 

The masthead of the magazine is iconic as it is a well known brand and therefore they can afford to have the main image blocking the masthead as the readers/buyers know exactly what magazine it is. The masthead is also symbolic as it the font is in black which can represent darkness and dullness but it has pops of colour inside some of the letters which could represent that the magazine is not dull instead there is exciting elements in the magazine. Also the background is a pale pink colour which makes the main image of Katy Perry stand out. The colour also has connotation's towards passion and love which reflects the image of Katy Perry.

One of the cover lines read ‘can Taylor Swift’s Q4 album debut with over a million sold?’ This questions makes it seem like Katy Perry has no problem in being able to sell over a million copies for her album but it makes it seem that Taylor Swift is having more of a struggle to sell hers as she is not as popular as Katy Perry. This makes Katy Perry seem more iconic as she appears to be more famous than another other famous pop star.

Another cover line reads ‘Beyond Farmville Making Money From Facebook Social Games’ This will attract readers/buyers because a lot of the readers would be connected to social media for e.g. Facebook, and for them to be able to make money from it would encourage people to buy the magazine and read the article.

The iconic sign of this magazine is Ariana Grande, because the magazine cover is all about her. This is because she is the only person/image to feature on the cover and therefore she represents the magazine. The way she acts, looks and poses gives the impression to the readers and buyers that not only is she quite confident, happy beautiful and not modest it also shows her off in alternative fashion, which shows that she can still look perfect even in the most weird costumes. She helps represent the magazine in quite a sensual way because of the way she is posing such as her body language and facial expression as she is looking straight into the readers/buyers eyes. 

The masthead of the magazine is iconic as it is a well known brand and therefore they can afford to have the main image as being in the centre rather than the masthead as the readers/buyers know exactly what magazine it is. The masthead is also symbolic as it the font is in black which reflects what Ariana Grande is wearing, this makes it seem like she represents Billboard. Also the background is a pale colour which makes the main image of Ariana Grande stand out.

One of the cover lines read ‘The Science Behind A Summer Hit’ This makes it seem like Ariana Grande has mastered the science of being able to make a summer hit as her summer single went to number one in the charts. This makes it seem that she is superior to the other pop stars as she is granted to get a hit song and all the other famous singers are beneath her as they have yet to master the science behind a summer hit.

The main cover line reads ‘Ariana Grande’s Double Life’ This attracts the audience as fans of Ariana Grande will want to know what she is like outside of the limelight. This gives the impression that she is trustworthy and truthful, which also increases her fan base but also makes readers/buyers actually purchase the magazine so they can see the celebrity when they are most vulnerable.

I believe one of the main sign of the contents page is the top charts list. It takes up a fair section of the page which suggests that the magazine has a lot to do with the top chart singles. This signifies that the magazine is up to date and current with its chosen demographic and that different types of music are featured in this magazine which tells you that people who listen to different genres of music can all read the same magazine. This is also seen by the images of different genres shown underneath the contents masthead.

The background is of the contents page is plain white, this enables every bit of detail on the contents page to stand out and to easily be seen. This makes the readers know exactly what to be excepting when they read the magazine. It also enhances the images as the majority of the images are colour and automatically attract the buyers eyes. However the main image is in black and white which is a contrast to the rest of the images on the contents page, even though it is not in colour it stands out from the rest of them because it is bigger than all of them. This signifies that this artist is more important or more well known then the rest of them featured on the contents page.

Also the magazine is split into three sections: Upfront, Features and Home Front. This makes the magazine have a broader demographic as it can target more groups. This also allows the readers to go straight to the sections that they prefer so they don't get bored of reading things that don't interest them.

The biggest sign that stands out is the masthead ‘WE LOVE THIS...’ it is almost signifying to the reader that we love this magazine so you are going to have to love it too. It almost seems to be including all audiences by saying this even though it is aimed at the pop genre demographic.

Also the house style is white and pink. Having the white as the background really makes the pink and yellow stand out. This colour indicates that this magazine is aimed at females between the ages of 14 – 25.

One of the iconic signs is the main image of The Saturdays, this also stands out because it is larger than the rest of the images on the page and it is in the centre of the contents page. This makes it seem like they are the centre of this magazine and the main story is going to be about them. Also the poses they are doing are quite sensual this signifies that this magazine is not just entirely aimed at females, although they might be trying to be role models to younger girls in a different way.

Another interesting section on this contents page is the contents section because it is titled ‘INSIDE THIS MONTH’ this signifies that the magazine is up to date with everything that has happened in that month and makes the readers want to catch with everything that they have missed during this time.

On of the most obvious signs is the iconic sign that the main image is of Nicki Minaj, which is shot at a medium close-up. This sign is clearly seen by the fact that she is wearing a ring that says icon on it. This signifies that she knows she is an icon and she is not afraid to say it or show it off. This is also seen by the way is holding her self because she is hold her ring up to her face as if she is saying “look at it, I am an icon.” she is also featured in the centre of the magazine double page spread, this indicates that she is important.

There is also a symbolic sign which is the main title ‘The Gospel According To Nicki Minaj’ this may symbolise that Nicki Minaj is like God or Jesus because it is almost say that you should listen to her words and follow her like people do for God or Jesus. This could also symbolise that she is rewriting the bible and this is the new version about her, showing how she is iconic again.

In addition the background of the double page spread is a pale colour and the words Nicki Minaj is in a bright pink colour and in a bold sans serif font , this really makes her name pop of the page which makes her seem very important in the music industry.

The main sign of this magazine double page spread is the iconic sign which is the main image of Ariana Grande. This is iconic because she is a famous singer, dancer, model and actress. The way she is posed is rather sensual this indicate that she is mature and provocative but she is modest about it because she is not looking straight into the readers eyes. Also she is wearing white which is symbolic to being pure and innocent which is not what her body position is indicating.

On the other hand the main image takes up a lot of room up on the double page spread, this may mean that she is very important and quite big in the music industry, which we know is true. This also shown by them having images of other female artists in the article, however them are vastly smaller than the main image of Ariana Grande this indicates that she is the centre of this article and is higher/above (in a popular pop singer way) thwen the rest of these artists.

The background is a plain white, which gives this magazine a rather simplistic view, in spite of this the main image is in colour which makes it stand out, however it does still reflect the magazines classiness as she is wearing white.