Looking at Blender Magazine I explored the different features the magazine consisted of, which was the layout and composition and the different media conventions which is displayed on the front cover.
This magazine consists of three colours: red, white and black. The connotations I got from this was that red is a very powerful colour and it represents power and passion; the white suggests elegance and sophistication and the black could connote seriousness and dominance. We see through the front cover the continuity of the same colours being used in the sell lines, puffs, masthead and the main cover line, they all tie in and compliment each other. This is to create a slicker look to the front cover also the colours could suggest the type of genre the magazine could be: i.e. Hip Hop, Rap or R 'n' B.
With the typography its very bold and written in upper case lettering, this helps it to stand out more and grab it's audience. With the line going through the masthead, this shows a visual pun and it could suggest there’s a mix a blend of many different genres and artist featured in the magazine which could entice costumers to read/buy the magazine. The puff that is used under the masthead “Your music Buddy” could create alliteration when combined with the masthead, the effect of the B’s makes it seem more personalised because it uses words like ‘your’ and ‘buddy’ so this could also entice the costumer to purchase the magazine because it's aimed at them, it could also be seen as a slogan. Also the masthead is nearly as big as the main cover line: ‘JAY-Z’ which could represent how important he is.
The main cover line uses short snappy words/ phrases to catch the readers eye. For instance: “WEALTH! FAME! BEYONCE! The use of exclamation marks help insinuate on everything he has, and it shows the importance of those three things, it will make the audience idealise him or it could create people to emulate or envy him. The connotation of wealth could suggest that Jay-Z has set up a legacy of his own, and it’s unusual to see black male artist who are wealthy.
Also within the main cover line it links to the main image that is being portrayed about Jay-Z, the “Fly Life”, this image pursues the life of a gangster- it could link to a mafia style of dressing. It uses an intertexual reference to the film “American Gangster”; trying to portray the image of the original gangster called Frank Lucas. He’s also displaying his ring to show his in with the fashion of wearing pinkie-rings; it shows what a common mafia/gangster would do. He is dressed very suave and sophisticated, this could be a new way in which to re brand Jay-Z, to show people he is maturing into his manhood and he’s becoming more determined to display a new sense of fashion. The pose could suggest he’s a very serious person- but also slightly arrogant but confident, he’s almost being seen as untouchable. The hank chief that is being used isn’t commonly shown with men on a front magazine, but what I inferred from this, is that it’s an arbitrary sign, because it has his initials in the centre and it’s placed within a triangle and for those who know about Jay-Z will notice it's his comical sign that he does with his hands. Also it could imply that he could be royalty or apart of an elite.
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