RB - Deconstructing Print Media

• The visual signifiers on the album cover are the woman with motion blurring on her face to give a ‘two sided’ sense.
• The linguistic signs are the band’s name (Placebo) and the title of the album (Meds), both of which are in a fairly generic font, as a fancier font that would commonly be found on a more popular, trendy album covers intended for a mass audience wouldn’t suit the bands own unique style.
• The title ‘meds’ coupled with the image of the woman with what appears to be two faces suggests that the album could relate to two sidedness or things like schizophrenia. There are no non-representational graphic signs on the cover art.

• The woman on the front of the cover is positioned in the centre of the image. This challenges the common ideology that males are more important/more dominant than females.
• The woman is also not wearing any clothes, which reinforces the common ideology that women are seen as objects. However she does look almost too thin to the point where she looks ill. She is also quite pale. This not only challenges the dominant ideology that beauty is shown through thin bodies and smooth skin (as the woman has both of those attributes) but creates a connection between the album art and the title of the album by relating the word ‘meds’ (short for medication) with an image of an ill looking woman.
•  When you look at this album art your eye is first drawn to her face(s) then it follows the bit of hair on her right, across her right shoulder and down her arm to the band name and title. This sort of cover reinforces the bands alternative/indie-rock style as it quite odd and almost disturbing.

• Social myths conveyed in this album cover are: album art is quite strange, which adds to the authenticity of the band by representing their alternative style. The cover is also sort of disturbing which again promotes the bands wierd style of music.

• The indexical signs in this album cover connote the buyer’s taste of music, and the fact they are diverting from the trends in society by buying an album different to the popular, trendier style. This also allows them to construct their personal identity through the products they consume, as the band is quite strange and odd the consumer will want to relate to that and create their own identity around that kind of style.