Front Cover research 3

This is a music magazine front cover for Lady Gaga.

Colours and Contrast

Firstly the colours used for the front cover of this magazine are red, black, white and grey. these colours contrast dramatically. The colour red is a visual sign [Barthes] and mainly associated withe energy, war, determination, power as well as desire and courage. Red also has a large effect on the body as it is also associated with love, compassion and danger. Black is mainly associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil and mystery. Due to the colour black being associated with mainly danger and evil, black is seen with mainly fear of the unknown and usually has a negative connotations although in some cases it shows strength, authority, and is a prestigious colour. White is a very bright and engaging colour which associates with light, goodness, innocence and purity and is considered as the colour of perfection.  

Model 

The magazine front cover has Lady Gaga stood very revealing to  the reader. She is positioned in the center of the page, with long gloves on her hands placed over her nipples with no top on, and the other glove between her legs. Furthermore, this front cover fits with Laura Mulvey's theory "male gaze" of media text being created for the eyes of a heterosexual male. The front cover suits Laura Mulvey's theory as it has a very revealing photo of Lady Gaga who is an attractive female star.

However, Lady Gaga likes to do these types of photo shoots to show she is very powerful. In one of her concerts Lady Gaga turned up in a meat dress. In some ways this photo could be taken as an act of power due to her powerful figure and stance, which goes against Laura Mulvey's theory. In addition from the clothes Lady Gaga is wearing and the stance she has taken also suits Julian McDougals theory of online audiences changing. "in the online media age it is getting harder to conceive a media audience as a stable identification" for example if Lady Gaga had made this magazine for the elderly generation she would have had more clothes on. This magazine is obviously made for the younger generation. The model is also the main part of the magazine as she is the only one in the front cover and is in front of a lot of text.

Text/Fonts

The fonts and text used on a magazine front cover are very important as they are the main part of a magazine which catches someones eye. A lot of the text "Lady Gaga" is behind her. This is done because a lot of people know who she is so they don't need to read the text to know its her. As well as the main text being "Lady Gaga" underneath that is says "has risen" This gives a main story to the magazine.

For a few years Lady Gaga had taken a break due to having a child so her music wasn't as popular as it used to be.
This text "has risen" shows that it is about her rise back to fame. In addition, in the bottom left corner are other text articles of smaller bands and artists listed with the title "plus" which tells the reader what is inside the magazine as well as Lady Gaga. Also, in the top right has the text "100 most shocking music moments" Lady gaga is related mostly in this as she wore a meat dress. This was also made to try and persuade the reader to buy the magazine. Furthermore, the magazine has used the name "JIMMY HENDRICKS" in very bold big writing. Jimmy Hendricks had and still has a very large fan base. Using his name on the front cover could help open the magazine to other target audiences. Next to Lady Gaga before is has her name and "has Risen" it says "move over Madonna.." Madonna was a very well known singer, who is a lot older now so doesn't do many songs or performances, They have used this text to make out like Lady Gaga has now got a larger fan base and a larger amount of supporters than Madonna. There is also spacing between the letters. This is a very good idea as it helping its clarity, and helps represent the way that she is unique and stands alone.

The fonts used in this magazine are sans and sans serif. These fonts are used alot in magazines as they are clear and eye catching. Also, many of the headings have bold and italic fonts, allowing the text to become even more bold and easy to read.

How this Research has Influenced my Planning and Creativity 

• I really like the way the main title "Lady Gaga" is hidden behind the star as a type of identification. 
• I also really like the idea of the text "Move over Madonna..." as this will appeal to a younger audience
• the way letters are split round the body is really interesting and unique.
• Plus - on the bottom left.
• I like the kerning and the way some spaves are huge and others are much closer between letters.