Front Page Analysis – Rolling Stone MagazineLily Stannard

*Rolling Stone Magazine

*Genre – devoted to music, liberal politics and popular culture.

*Reader – younger, focussing on young television or film actors and pop music.

*Distribution – sold in Russia, United States, South Africa.

*Colour scheme

*Red, black white and blue is the colour scheme, which should normally represent innocence, added to a sense of danger and authority with the black and red, however the blue sea in the background keeps the colour scheme calm and innocent. All aspects of the colour scheme, could connote the actor on the front – innocent but old enough to be in control.

*Masthead

*The masthead ‘Rolling Stone’, is shown in red so it stands out against the background. The name of the magazine is interesting as it has more than one reference to the music industry – the band and the songs. As the magazine is so well known, it is easy for the magazine to cover some of the masthead with the main image, as the masthead is so recognisable.

*Skyline

*The skyline on the magazine is written in black, which makes it stand out against the light blue background, however does not stand out too much, therefore not outstanding past the sell lines and the anchorage text. The text in the skyline states artists that are included in the magazine, which range through genres therefore appealing to a wider audience, by including a wider range (Dave Grohl – the Foo Fighters e.g rock, and Norah Jones who is jazz).

*Main image

*The person is an actor onscreen which suggests that the music magazine is trying to widen the audiences by adding actors as well as music acts to the cover. The actor looks relaxed and calm – to go with the sea and the colour scheme.

*Anchorage Text

*The anchorage text would appeal to a young audience e.g. the target audience, as words such as ‘wild’ and ‘teen’ are used. The ‘teen wolf’ is emphasised in red to show that this is the anchorage text. Only the masthead and the anchorage text are in red, to show that these are the most important things on the cover.

*Layout

*There’s a lot of blank space, so that the picture dominates the cover. This is to perhaps emphasise that the magazine is well known and has loyal readers so that not many sell lines etc. are necessary.