Front Cover Analysis 5 - Smash Hits

The masthead of the magazine cover is in a red colour and capital letters which makes it stand out, especially against a plain white background. The masthead is large and takes up a large strip of the page, making it very visible. The font used is in a serif font and is unusual and uncommon making the magazine different and unique. The font is bold which relates to the masthead title 'Smash Hit's' as it is very bold an outgoing.
The colour scheme of the cover is limited and uses classic, bold colours that are easy to see. Black, red and white with small amounts of yellow, catches the readers attention as it is block colours and easy to see. The yellow will just catch the readers eye, drawing them in. The colours of the text have been applied carefully and tie into each piece of text on the page, furthermore the colours go well with the image as the star, Lady Gaga is wearing black which goes with the black font for her front cover name.


There is a selling line for this issue at the top of the page, this is seen instantly and draws in the readers attention. "Exclusive Lady Gaga 64- Page special edition", this is placed on a black background in yellow text. The word 'Special' is highlighted in the white colour to make it stand out to the readers that this issue is special edition which will draw them in and emphasises the importance of the issue. This is directly aimed at Lady Gaga fans which instantly grabs their attention.

This issue has a cover line, 'The worlds biggest star uncovered!', Lady Gaga is considered to be one of the biggest stars of today therefore this instantly attracts her fans as they want to know more about her and her life. 'Biggest' is in a larger font size, it stands out to you more showing the reader that it is full of big secrets.

 The main image is of lady gaga which takes up most of the cover, which makes the text revolve around her. Her pose can be seen as a male gaze because of her finger to her mouth and her revealing outfit, which could be seen sexually, this follows Mulveys theory as women being a male gaze. However lady gaga could just be feeling powerful as herself and not afraid to show her figure more. Lady Gaga's black eye makeup goes with her black outfit and the black text on the page, following the colour scheme.

At the top of the page there is a pug, 'FREE Posters', this will draw in fans because they like her and it also gives images of Lady gaga at the bottom of the page, this could be an insight to the posters of her that are inside of the magazine. Making people want to buy the magazine and read on.

This magazine influenced my research and planning because I could use pugs like the free posters one to draw in people that are interested in the genre I chose, I could also make text bigger and smaller to high light the key things that are important.