Front Cover Analysis Four

This issue of Rolling Stone magazine uses a colour scheme of grey, black, white and red. Not only do these colours work well together but the theme is also present on the image of Jay-Z, his suit being grey, black and white also. These colours represent an urban yet sophisticated feel; however the red adds a vibrant fiery mix, instantly signifying what the main feature with Jay-Z is going to be like.
            A mid shot is used of Jay-Z looking directly into the camera at the reader, with a strong serious look on his face. This creates a sense of bold masculinity, showing his power that he has and higher status over the reader. He is wearing a suit with certain accessories to represent his wealth and personality, such as his ring, diamond cufflinks, tie pin and chain. Each of these accessories come together personifying his respected status in the music industry and also his power within it too.
            Rolling Stone magazine typically has a mixed target audience of both men and women with a large target age group. However, although some covers display women artists in revealing poses, targeting mainly males, this cover is targeted at both sexes. We can tell this by the plain, sophisticated colour scheme as well as the image of the artist, targeting people who are simply interested in the music.

            The text used on this front cover is almost constant throughout apart from a few smaller headings, but most importantly the larger text used for ‘Jay-Z’, instantly drawing the reader’s attention to both his name and the title. Although the text obstructs the image of the artist it never touches his skin, signifying that he is still the main focus and the text can’t draw attention away from him. The title, ‘Rolling Stone’, has been slightly covered by Jay-Z’s head, suggesting that we should know exactly what the title is already as is it a well-known, respected magazine and it doesn’t matter if it is partially covered.

            I like the style of this cover, yet I think that I will use more predominant colours, such as a larger use of red. However I am inspired by the way that they have covered the title slightly with the artist’s head, and I may use a similar technique to this within my front cover. I also like the differentiation of the headings being a different colour to the sub-headings, as although the sub-heading text is larger, we are still drawn to the brighter colour, red, first.