“Billboard (stylized as billboard) is an American music magazine, originally headquartered in New York City, New York and now owned by Prometheus Global Media. It was first published on November 1, 1894. It is distinguished as being among the oldest trade magazines in the world. The magazine originally focused on bill posting and outdoor amusements before specializing in the music industry in the 1950s.� Source Wikipedia
Denotation The image is of the magazines billboard contents page. The mast head is in a black stencil font, it is positioned top right and centre the font is sans serif. Just below the mast head there is the volume number. On the right hand side of the page there is a contents and song/artist/album index that is colour coded; just above that there is anchorage text that is an a white stencil font, with a slightly smaller font next to it, just above that there is a small logo of the title of the magazine. On the right side of the magazine there is additional text in blue green and black fonts. There are 4 images around and next to the additional text, the first image is of a man using direct eye contact with cowboys clothes on behind a bright light, next to that there is what appears to be an album cover with several people holding musical equipment, next to that there a man with long black hair looking up to the top right of the image, just below that there is two well-dressed people directly looking at the camera. The house style is blue, black, green and white this is different from the double page spread and the cover, the typography is stencil or simple. Connotations Masthead The use of a big bold black serif font for the masthead makes it stand out, also the use of stencil font is very much like graffiti art which is very creative and in fashion, it also fits the type of style they are going for. There is a lot of white space around the masthead which is a drastic change from the rest of the magazine, it also makes the rest
of the page look more filled, this makes it look very good to look at and include a lot of information at a first glance. Just below the masthead there is the issue number which is typical of magazines and is an expected convention, if included it makes the magazine seem more professional. Index In this magazine there is an index rather than a contents, this makes the magazine seem very professional and also gives the magazine an almost “music player” style where you can pick what type of music you are interested in (Because there seems to be a variety of genres in this magazine as shown by the image). The index is also colour coded helping readers to find what they want a lot easier. The use of an index is very modern and a very interesting way to present a context. Anchorage text The use of a white stencil has the same desired effect as the masthead gives it a very modern creative “graffiti” like look. Much like the masthead there Is some black space around it but not as much as the masthead this make sure it doesn’t overpower the masthead but it also emphasizes the index and makes it look like there Is more there. Additional text As expected and conventional the additional text is just a summary of what is in the magazine in a power fazed fashion. The additional text has small subtitles used in the stencil font that has been used in the masthead and the anchorage text. The use of a different gives flavour and variety to the magazine that would be lacking without. Images The first three images are taken from somewhere else and have not been taken in a studio, this shows that they are less important than
the main article (Surprisingly there is no picture of the main article) the last image is shot in a studio, but the image is not that very high quality this leads me to suspect that it was don’t quickly and on a low budget (unless it was from an older time and was just being featured now) and suggests a low budget for the magazine. The house style The house style is blue black, green and white and is in a stencil or simple font, this is very different from anywhere else in the magazine but like you would expect the contents is one of the main pages and needs to stand out from the rest of the magazine. The house style gives a very free creative look that is artistic and different. In conclusion I find that this contents page simply shows what there is in the magazine, I like the idea of an index or tracker because it gives the reader the idea that they are being catered for specifically.