Billboard

Billboard is a music magazine belonging to the Prometheus Global Media group operating both through print and online. They tend to focus on artists from the mainstream pop genre with occasional crossovers. Across both their magazine (which is published in the UK and US once a month) and website www.billboard.com they release interviews, charts and news.

This cover features pop/alt artist Halsey. The colour scheme of this cover heavily features blacks, orangey reds and white. The image used is a close up of the model’s face and has a great deal of contrast between her pale skin, black outfit and shadows and red lips giving it a lot of depth and clarity, allowing her face and facial features to stand out in the centre of the page. The shot is taken at a slightly upwards angle on a tilt and the model is turning her face slightly to the right while lifting her chin and looking up to the left, this creates the shadows coming down the side of her face and across her neck. The cover has no other photos and little text, giving it a slight minimalistic feel. The only text used is the name of the magazine, a short detail about the cover artist and a hook on line. The name of the magazine is placed vertically on the left hand side of the cover in a bold red text, the font used is quite cylindrical and leaves some letters touching and others not, it is placed at the foreground of the image and is not obscured by any part of the image. The short detail about the cover artist is placed just to the bottom right of the magazine’s name. Its title is written in a tall slanted white font with some of the words made larger than the others. The small passage of text underneath is also in white in a very small font. At the top and bottom of the left hand side of the page there are two short pieces of text written in red and white with the same fonts as the other passage, keeping in check with the colour scheme.

This cover featuring Idina Menzel has a vintage rustic appearance and makes use of a blue, green, red, black and white colour scheme. The photo used is a full body shot and features the artist crouched down on the floor with her face turned up to the left creating a shadow across that side of her face. In keeping with the other cover shown there is only one image used with minimal text . The name of the magazine is printed vertically down the left hand side of the page in bold black font, the same font as used previously and across all their covers, for the most part it is not covered up by the image save for the tops of a few letters covered up by the artists arm, asserting her position in the foreground. Little other text features on the cover, only a short list on the right hand side in a white text detailing the contents of that issue and a passage about the cover artist with a title in bold large white text and the rest in the same white text in a much smaller size. 

This double page spread from Billboard features artist Katy Perry. The right hand side of the spread houses a full size A4 image of the artist, while the other half is dedicated to the accompanying interview. The image used is a full body shot from the knees up and is staged in a kitchen environment. The artist is wearing few clothes and is in direct address with the camera with her head titled downwards. The interview section of the spread is simple black text on a white background. In the centre of the text is a quote from the interview in a larger and bolder text and new sections of the passage are marked with a bold capital larger than the rest of the text, shown in the spread with the letter "A"


This spread features Amy Winehouse and contrasting with the previous spread uses one image across both sides of the page. The only small passage of text is on the bottom left hand side of the spread in two columns in a small bold black font with a bigger title in a bold black artistic font. The photo used is a full body shot of the artist in bed, she is placed off centre so the majority of her image fits onto the right hand side of the page. She is reclining on the bed with her head tilted downwards looking down and away from the camera casting shadows across the left side of her body. 



Codes and Conventions of Billboard Magazine:

Front Covers 

- Only one image is used
- Cover image features only one subject
- Bold cylindrical text used for the magazine name placed vertically on the left hand side in varying colours
- Little text, often in small white font
- Minimalist feel

Double Page Spread

- Only one image used
- Image typically placed on the right hand side of the spread
- Small black font used for text
- Text typically placed on the left hand side of the spread