1. My Genre
I decided to do my music magazine based on popular music culture. This kind of magazine would include any artist who is hot right now and up and coming. Not to be confused with pop as that has a specific sound. Popular Culture can be anything from country to death metal which is all very individual but can be in the charts every once in a while as well.
Billboard, the magazine I’m analysing, has every artist under the sun in each issue, always including their singles and album charts as a regular feature to go along with their theme of popular music culture.

2. Billboard - Information
Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for billboards, advertisements.
Donaldson later acquired Hennegen's interest in 1900 for $500.
In the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows.
Billboard began covering the motion picture industry in 1907, but ended up focusing on music due to competition from Variety.
As of 2016, it has been shifting to more of a consumer focus online.

3. Masthead not necessarily a traditional masthead that goes across the cover. Sets the magazine out as different to others. The typographies innovative and interesting. In recent covers, it is always in this position on every edition whether it is a different colour or not. This is to create a brand identity that people would see, know is credible and worth spending money on.
I wouldn’t say a grid layout is strictly kept to here but it could be a rough 3x3 formation, however the focus is the main image with the three girls, talking only limitedly about anything else that’s in the issue. This is so fans of the cover girls will automatically think most of the magazine will be of interest to them and they will pick it up.
The main image isn’t generally what you’d think of with grease which as a whole, is more pastels and flowers. There is no other images on the page accept from the car which is the only traditional part of grease included. They use an individual image so as to not clutter the page and keep it professional. This is a pattern for all Billboard covers.
The colours are limited to the colours in the image, using darker blue and black with denim and leather, creating a more rebellious look for them. This is to not overpower the page and create a theme instead of having too much of a contrast. The white print stands out from this as a small contrast that works.
Billboard’s conventions always includes a hot, up and coming or already established artist on the cover. Most of the time it’s music but as you can see here, it can just be what’s hot right now. The photography is always spot on and you can see they have an extensive team working tirelessly twenty-four seven for the desired effect of being modern and with the times.
They use younger language in the form of acronyms like ‘PYT’s’ which is pretty young things so it is clear their target audience is of teenage to late twenties age bracket. But is all creates a sense of nostalgia with phrases that directly connect to the article and movie. With serious issues, like at the top, they keep it more professional though. They know how to switch between it.

4. This has more of an organised layout with a 3x5 grid however it still breaks that at time, although it was effective. It has a very clear list of the charts on the left hand side along with articles on the right. Every issue from this era has it in this pattern. More recent issues have foregone this entire format for a more modern setting as this is an older issue.
Capital letters all the way through and the blocky font make the parts they want to stand out, stand out. This is evident throughout the page with not just the masthead but also sub-headings as well. The typography is all very organised and ordered. For larger lettering they use san-serif fonts but with smaller sub-headings they use serif to seem a little more sophisticated than they are.
It uses simple, easy to read language without it seeming patronising to the reader. It tells you what you need to know and leave you to figure out where you need to go. It uses sentences unlike a lot of other magazines on contents pages which is a good thing as it seems to the reader like it will be written well later on.
It keeps to a bright blue and black but also including the traditional billboard primary colours that are not used so much in more recent issues. There is a limited amount of yellow so it sticks to the three colour rule even if you the yellow was slightly useless as you have to look for it.
The main image is all broody but most of them are as they don’t include anyone smiling. The guy here is looking away from the camera showing that he is the kind of intelligent deep thinking kind of guy. It gives us direct mode of address with the three images at the top, even with the cartoon. They try and include things like this on every page to keep you interested.
This is an older issue form 2010 so in ones from this year, I’m sure it’s not set out differently as this screams 2010 to me. But it follows Billboard’s conventions for which is their charts and how it means a lot for an artist to top it. However, it doesn’t keep it all about that, including articles about other things as well.

5. The main image keeps Swift in comfy relatable clothes, that keep her humanised to the readership, showing celebrities are just like us as they seem untouchable. She holds her guitar as that’s what she’s known for, showing it’s clearly an article about her and her music before it even starts. They use only one image here so as not to make it seem like a gossip magazine that include every image they have of an artist under the sun in each article. Again, makes it seem more classy with les on the page.
The typography of the masthead is in a sans-serif font to make it stand out and seem cool but when it comes to the article it is in a serif font to make it more classy and easy to read like a magazine that has a more sophisticated reputation. The use of a larger letter at the beginning of the article and specifically using the ‘t’ for Taylor shows class but also again hinting at the singer/songwriter.
They use clever language to keep with the theme of the piece but again keeping it easy to read so anyone who likes Taylor Swift, who can be quite young can manage to read it as well as possible.
The colours call back to the classic Billboard colours, even with the little logo above it. It then focuses on red as that is the name of the album they are advertising. They keep the background a plain grey so as not to distract from the image. The colours also match with her iconic red lipstick which is probably something to do with the title of her album.
Conventions in double page spreads are practically none existent as they are individual to each person who it is written about. You can probably spot minimal similarities like the date line that’s in every bottom right hand corner on every page. But generally they are all different.
The layout is very simple and doesn’t really keep to a grid pattern. It could possibly be a 3x6 grid but I don’t think you can keep it to a pattern and I don’t think you’d want to. The main focus is the image and the title. The majority of the article will be on another page which would not work with my own magazine but is effective her.