My Media Blog

What type of magazine is it?

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was known for its political coverage beginning in the 1970s. Rolling Stone changed its format in the 1990s to appeal to younger readers, often focusing on young television or film actors and pop music. This led to criticism that the magazine was emphasizing style over substance. In recent years, the magazine has resumed its traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen circulation rise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone

From the front cover what kinds of issues/articles are going to be inside?

The cover lines on the front of rolling stones range from music topics’ Cher back on top’, to political ‘Norm Macdonald’ and environmental issues ‘ Lost tribes of the Amazon’ this tells us that the rolling stones covers a number of topical issues not just music stories and interviews. This also means that the rolling stones had a wider target audience because it is not just for those who are interested in one type of music set such as R&B but hosts a wide range of cover artists on their covers as well as articles inside.

Who is the target audience for the magazine? What particular age group? What are their interests? How do you know all of this?

The target audience for rolling stones magazine is 20 to 40 year olds who have an interest in rock music, however since the rolling stones changed its format to appeal to a younger wider audience, it widen its music range and now covers everything form pop, R &B and rock this had become its target audience for the magazine.

Who is on the front cover and why?

On this issue Britney spears is featured on the cover this caused controversial issues as eyebrows were raised when a then-17 year-old Britney Spears was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in a sexually suggestive Lolita-themed photo shoot which triggered widespread speculation that the singer had had breast implants. At this time when this magazine was launched Britney spears was the hottest new artist that everyone wanted to know and interview, the cover lines suggest a personal and intimate interview and exclusive to the magazine.

What does the main cover line say? What does this imply about the artist/band??

What overall message is the artist/band giving? ‘Britney spears in side the heart, mind and bedroom of a teen dream’ The main cover line tells us that inside they will be talking about and revelling all the information about the artists on personal levels as they mention heart and mind . The cover line is also suggestive as it says ‘bedroom’ again this is something that is also personal. Its inclusive of the target audience as it mentions ‘team dream’ attracting male readers and a provocative image also helps to entice them in and to buy the magazine.

What does the design of the mast head tell you about the magazine? What does the title of the magazine tell you about: 1. the readership 2. Its image 3. Its style

The masthead for this magazine is normally always covered slightly by the main image. This is because their masthead is an extremely well known logo and design, it is not essential it stand out. However, the masthead can still be seen slightly. It is in quite a professional looking font, because of the 3-dimensional effects that have been added to it.

What do the ‘kickers’ in the coverlines suggest will be inside the magazine?

What does this tell you about the type of audience the magazine expects to get?The cover lines range on the front the cover this shows that this magazine is extremely diverse, and can appeal to people of most ages, with interest in all different types of topics making the magazine individual and unique.

What colours are used? Do you find them attractive?

The background that the artist ‘Britney Spears’ is laying on and is also used as the magazine background is a hot pink colour, this is effective as it is a bold bright colour and therefore eye catching attracting readers attention. All the text and cover lines on the front are in white this is a contrast to the bright pink and stands out even more so as the font is bold. I find them attractive as a female as they are feminine colours.

What fonts are used and why?

The font used on the front cover is a sans serif font, to appeal to the younger members of the target audience. The font is extremely plain and basic, meaning that the user is forced to focus directly one what they are actually reading, and not the distracted by different font styles.

What strategies does the magazine use to attract the audience?

As the magazine has been successful for many years it is not that important for it to attract the audience, however the bright colours and eye catching image helps to do so.