The masthead of the magazine is “NME”, but it used to be “New Music Express”, it was changed to “NME” to make it much more appealing and memorable to the public; “NME” will stick in peoples minds and will be easily passed on from one to another, also they have put it in an initial form to symbolise that it is an important magazine, due to shortening the name into something that is recognisable to the public. The colour of the masthead is also very important; the masthead being red is very symbolic to the target audience of this specific magazine. The reason why it is symbolic is stated in the target audience paragraph. Another factor that makes it stand out is that it is very bold; because it is bold it attracts peoples attention. If it was just a thin lined title, people would just walk past the magazine while it is on the shelf in the shop without taking any attention – the boldness draws them in. Moreover, it is in the largest font out of all the writing on the page due to that being the info the customers look out for when looking through magazines. The outline helps it really stand out against the similarly coloured background, so the reader can view it properly and so it is eye catching against other magazines on the shelf. The fact that it is in block capitals gives it a sense of importance and significance. Lily Allen’s head is covering the title, due to the name being well known so people will still be able to recognise the title even though it is slightly covered.

The target audience would be punk rock and heavy metal lovers etc. These sort of people are very rebellious, they live every day like its their last, they are very dark – the colours red and black appeal to them. Red portrays danger and that’s what this target audience live for, the red title will excite them and encourage them to purchase it.

The main image on the front page is the most important factor out of everything. This is what grabs the publics attention to the full. The character of the front page, Lily Allen, is looking straight at the camera, this entices the reader to buy the magazine because its like Lily Allen is almost forcing them to buy it by giving them a persuasive, yet serious look. The look she is giving the camera is a very mysterious one leaving the audience wanting to know more. The pale look to her face adds to the whole ‘punk’ theme of the magazine, making her look like she belongs and is comfortable within the magazine. Also, her looking pale makes her blend into the background slightly, with the only thing stopping her from doing this is the dark juxtaposing contrast of her hair which gives a further element of the ‘punk rock’ vibe. Lily Allen’s facial expression makes her look really shocked, this links into the content of the article on her because it is a very shocking one and that’s the emotion the reader will feel. The top that Lily is wearing links into the same colour scheme as the title, this makes her more attached to this certain issue.

There is a link for the ‘NME’ website placed at the bottom of the barcode so that if the customers want to see any other information they can go on the website and look for more.

The main sell line of this front cover is ‘LILY ALLEN TAKES ON THE WORLD’. The word ‘world’ suggests that she is extremely well known and people know and recognise her. This may also mean she wants as much people as possible to know about her so that she can sell more music. The letters in the main sell line are jaggered and different sized than the rest of them, this may show that Lily may be all over the place and that she needs to get her life together, this is what people want to read about. The white text contrasts heavily with the black background so it stands out to the reader and so they can read it more clearly. The text looks as if the letters have been individually cut out from a newspaper which may convey that she is getting a lot of publicity from tabloids which portrays she is significant. On the left of Lily’s head is a quote, this kind of quote is something that interests people because it is not normal, it is “I can’t keep on living like this, its doing my head in.” The positioning of the lettering in this quote is not in a normal form, this is another thing that will attract the public. A reason for it not being straight lines may be because Lily Allen is a mess at the moment, which actually links in with the text itself, it shows us that nothing is perfect. They’re 2 different circles placed on the page containing text that is meant to entice the reader to buy the magazine. One circle is black with mainly yellow writing and the other is yellow with mainly black writing, therefore they link with eachother. Using two completely different colours together is good because one will contrast with the other meaning the text will stand out which will attract the public.

The masthead is just one block colour with a few random colours added in to make it that little more memorable to the target audience/public; the block colour is black which is actually not that exciting and the random colours added are red, which was added inside of the ‘b’, baby blue, which was added inside of the ‘a’ and bright yellow, which was added inside of the ‘d’. It is not the most eye catching masthead but considering the background, being pink, completely contrasts it, it does the job – the job of attracting the target audience/public, but without the contrasting background, it would not work. The fact that random colours have been added into title this could portray that ‘Billboard’ is not a very sophisticated magazine, maybe even a little bit childish as little children love to play with bright random colours. On the other hand, this is the same set-up for the title they use every week, meaning people will start to easily recognise it and will become memorable to everyone. Keeping the title consistent in its looks is key to keeping customers, because that is how they know it is their magazine. The masthead is very big, which instantly catches the eye of the reader, this could portray the importance and significance of the magazine. The fact that the title of the magazine is slightly covered shows that ‘Billboard’ must have a good reputation as they can hide the name and still be confident people will buy the magazine.

The main image is the best way to attract the target audience/public because at first that is all they see before they properly have a look at the magazine, but the main image has to be very appealing for them to even get to that stage. They have chosen Katy Perry because she is one of the most famous pop stars in the world and for some teenagers she is an inspiration to them. She is an attraction for the magazine. The way she is standing could convey that the article on her hasn't got much content in it due to her having her arms right up against her chest almost hugging herself, this means she likes to keep everything to herself. The flowers attached all over her body really reinforces that the target audience is young teenage girls. The flowers may represent the innocence of Katy and how pure and feminine she is. It also tells us that spring and summer are her favourite seasons of the year because that’s when the most beautiful and colourful flowers grow, this links to the beautiful and colourful flowers she has placed on her very feminine soul. This is a big attraction for young teenage girls.

There is no extra links for the ‘Billboard' magazine placed on the front cover e.g. website name, this may limit the number of customers they have because if people cannot read more about the magazine they will less likely want to purchase it

The main sell line of the front cover is ‘Katy Perry’, then as a little sub heading for that it says ‘Inside The Court Of The New Queen Of Pop’. Because the sell line states ‘Katy Perry’ this instantly gets attention from many people as she is a world wide star who everyone loves, people will want to read about her and what she gets up to in her life – for this reason people will buy the magazine. The font of her name actually links into Katy’s personality because it is a very sophisticated font and that is the type of women Katy Perry is, that is the why the public see her so having something that is similar to that really reinforces it and it just makes everything fit together. The colour of the font for her name is the same colour as a title, this signals that ‘Billboard’ feel Katy Perry could also be just a title on its own because she is so famous, the size of the font is similar too. As I said, it then says ‘Inside The Court Of The New Queen Of Pop’ underneath where her name is wrote. People are always interested in the celebrities who are best at what they do because they inspire them. Stating ‘the new queen of pop’ is really good because not only is she the queen of pop but she is the new queen of pop meaning she has just done something amazing to gain that title, this is the type of content people want to be reading about. The name and the name subheading are contrasting colours and also its bold to make it stand out more as it is a smaller font. To the right of the page, there is a circle including other big artists names to interest the reader more, the circle is what draws the reader in, but they haven't filled the circle in with a colour due to the fact that they want Katy Perry to stay the main centre of attention.

The target audience is young teenage girls. This is because of the colour of the background, being bright pink. The simple language used in the sell lines further implies that it may be targeted at a younger generation so it is easily accessible to read. This certain issue is clearly targeted towards females due to the obvious feature of the feminine colour scheme.

The masthead is original red and black so it is recognisable and memorable to the regular customers. The actual title ‘VIBE’ isn’t just set-up as one block colour, as this would make it boring to look at and will not attract many people. To grab the readers attention, they have added an effect to the colours by blending the red into the black, this makes it much more appealing to look at as it looks more interesting. This set-up of colours will let people know that it is a good music magazine to read as they see the same font and colour every week, if they recognise it they want to buy it. The masthead is very big, which instantly catches the eye of the reader, this could portray the importance and significance of the magazine. The background colour and the title colour contrast each other which makes the title itself stand out much more. Moreover, the title has no outline around it which may connotate that ‘VIBE’ has no limits and it could include absolutely everything inside the magazine. The fact that the title of the magazine is slightly covered shows that vibe magazine must have a good reputation as they can hide the name and still be confident people will buy the magazine. The font is also very modern this may signal that the magazine is aimed at a younger generation, the title by itself, VIBE, is a very fresh up-to-date word that it used daily by teenagers.

There is a sell line in the form of a quote from Eminem on the front cover saying ‘I literally almost died’, this will make the readers interested and make them want to buy the magazine in order to read about the story. That quote makes him seem really ‘out there’ and open about his life experiences; him being that type of person is what will make the magazine sell more due to it being more interesting. The other sell lines are all around the side of the picture of Eminem showing that he is the main story. Around the side it includes other music artists names, really famous ones in fact. If the public get attracted to the headline and image, it will lead to them looking at the sub headings around the side; seeing that there are other famous artists articles inside the magazine will entice them to buy it. On the left hand side of the cover, it states ‘The 50 hottest rap blogs’ with the number 50 in a bigger font compared to the rest of the sentence. This is a good sell line because 50 different blogs is a lot! The public want to buy a magazine knowing that it will be a good one with loads of latest info- them making the number 50 stand out is what does this. Another piece of info that is stated that is a factor of the public becoming interested when looking at it; on the left hand side of the page it states 3 different types of drugs that were used by Eminem and it also talks about how he became clean. This will interest the public because these drugs are illegal meaning people don't get to hear about them much so when people get the chance to hear about them, that’s exactly what they’ll do. Near to the top of the page in the top corner it says ‘REAL RAP’ and also the issue number showing that the magazine has been going for a long time showing that it must be a successful magazine if it has loads of issues, this will draw people in to buying the magazine as it shows its is professional and that it will have good contents inside as a whole.

There is a link for the ‘VIBE’ website on the front cover so that if the customers want to see any other information they can go on the website and look for more.

The main image objective is to make Eminem look as though he is important and a well known person to the target audience/public but also make him look as though he is from a rough background, we can establish this by the way he has a frown and a blank expression on his face and his arms crossed; this could signal that he is not happy with his ‘roots’ because that is what most people feel like if they have a rough background themselves. This front cover is trying to link it all to his upbringing and stay in touch with the rap and R&B side of him. Eminem’s intimidating stare at the camera is a very serious one, this tells us that the article on him is 100% true. The tattoos that are clearly being showed off to the reader followed by the black clothing implies that he is a rebellious character hence why the colours red and black have been put out all over the whole page as they are dangerous colours and they represent him as a person. The cross he is wearing may also represent danger too.

The target audience may be the younger generation e.g. teenagers. This is because of the genre of the magazine, it is a rap and hip-hop type magazine – that is the type of music teenagers like. The font used is also a modern type of font which will draw the young generation in. To have big bold writing is a brave thing to do, this links to teenagers because they all like to think of themselves as brave people, for that reason, they feel attached to ‘VIBE’