Analysing Existing

Magazine

Font- the font is big, bold and the colour red stands out as the background is white. Its simple, easy to read but yet it grabs people’s attention. Photography- A photo of T.I. This is a medium shot and the artist posture and face expressions shows that the artist is relaxed and shows his natural side. Also the artist's image is on the top of name of the magazine so people will automatically take notice of both the artist and the name of the magazine. This cover will grab both males and female’s attention mostly and his fans.

Writing style- the writing style is bold and simple. The language used is easy to understand for example, the key topic is ‘T.I has the last laugh’ this questions the audience and makes the reader want to read to discover why the artist has the last laugh. This phrase is also what stands out the most in this cover.

Colour- the main colours used are red, black. They chose these colours as they stand out easily on the white background. These colours also attract both genders. Overall look- the photography and the colour

scheme work very well, as the image is simple therefore a big amount of colours would not suit.

Photography- a full body shot of the rapper Nelly. The image shows the artist’s character which is active, sportive and powerful. His clothing is casual which relates to the magazine as the magazine looks simple.

Colour- the main colours used are black and red. These colours are usually used when representing r&b in magazines. Specially when the background is white, as this makes the writing and title stand out. Also they highlighted in red the artist’s name, therefore this is the first thing that we see when we first look at this cover.

Font- Its big and easy to read. Also the arrow going up on ‘up’ relates to the word. This shows the creativity and originality used in the magazine. Writing style- its simple

and straight forward. For example, it says what other artists are mentioned in the magazine but it doesn’t give a full idea of what the topic is about. This also makes the audience want to read it.

Overall look- its simple as it doesn’t include a lot of texts compared to other r&b magazines. However its still a successful magazine cover as the big, bold font and highlighted name grabs people’s attention. There isn't many sub-headings connoting that this magazine entertains more rather than informing.

Photography- a photo of Miley Cyrus. Where she's holding an object an a shape of an ‘M’ which is the initial of her name. She's holding it with a fierce look, this shows power. She’s also wearing dark clothes therefore the ‘M’ and the artist’s face is the first thing you notice when looking at this front cover. This shows straight away that the main article is about this artist Miley Cyrus.

Font- the font used is small apart from the title and the name of the magazine. This shows that they want the main article to stand out, along with the name of the magazine. Also they place the name of the magazine behind the photo this automatically makes the reader read the name as soon as they look at the artist. Writing style- they have a question under the artist name so that when people read the name they will take notice of the question and make us interested in the article and find out the whole story so we can find out an answer and create an opinion about the topic.

Colour- there isn't a big variety of colour to show professionalism. also the blackness of front cover give a sense of danger to the magazine which will attract young audience .Overall look- this cover magazine has a very

professional look due to the way the sub-headings are placed next to the picture and on both sides of the magazine without giving a busy and busy look. Also there isn't too many colours being to give a simple look yet eye catching.

Font- The logo ‘vibe’ is in bold and in red font. The tittle almost takes up a third of the cover. This huge logo stands out and attracts customers. Also the number ’51’ stands out as they used a bigger font to grab peoples attention for this article.Writing style- this cover does not have too many subheadings as the picture is a close up and the masthead is big therefore if too many subheadings were added it would make the magazine cover look too busy and unorganized.

Photography- A close up of the rapper T.I’s face. Every cover has the artist looking directly at the camera, maintaining eye contact; ‘vibe magazine’ always uses this technique as this creates a relationship between the reader and the magazine.

Colour- the subheadings are placed around the image of the artist, with red tittle, once again to stand out and to keep to the white, black and red theme

Overall look- The artist creating a sincere look, it intrigues and intimidates the audience. The close up can create a bond between the reader and the artist, and give a sense that the main story might be personal.

Photography- a long medium shot of the rapper Jay-z. His posture and the costume he is wearing shows power. Also the fact that his hands are touching his blazer it drags peoples attention towards his clothes which wealth and his high status.

Font- The fonts are simple except of the title font. The title font looks more like a rock font.

Overall look-this cover works well as the layout used is professional, however the colours used for the text blend in with the artist's blazer, which causes confusion when trying to read the subheadings.

Writing style-The cover layout is very simple; because of this the magazine looks more professional and modern. The subheading ‘addicted to the game’ would make the reader more intrigued to buy the magazine as the word “addicted” can be controversial this would give the reader some entertaining news about the celebrity.

Colour- they used plain colours, black and white this makes the red used for the subheadings to stand out.

Photography- there is only one image in this contents page to show that the main story is about him. Its an image of the rapper Kanye West looking straight at the camera with his hands on his pockets to show off his attitude with a horrid and serious look. There is a female arm coming over his left shoulder with a heart in its hand, this makes the reader curious to what the story is about.

Font- the word ‘contents’ is the boldest word in the page to stand and is broken up which makes it look quite unique. The way the word is broken up is also a distinctive design that is used in most of vibe’s contents pages. Writing style-information is separated in different categories to make it easier for the reader to find the article that there interested in. Also under the word ‘contents’ it lets the audience know how long the contents page is, in this case its 3 pages long and this is the first page.

Colour- the colours used are white, grey and black. The only thing with a another colour is the heart which is red, this grabs peoples attention as soon as they look at this page. The doll colours is might be a sign of sadness, this links to the artist’s face expressions. Overall look- this contents page works well as the

sophisticated font used on the subheadings match the formality portrayed in the photo. This contents page breaks the stereotype that urban artists are tough as this shows the tranquil side of the artist, causing a different reaction to the readers. As this is not common in today’s society within the music industry.

Photography- an image of the rapper Eminem, the costume that artist is wearing shows his wealth and importance as he is a well known star. His pose and face expression suggest that he's a serious person with high status also by having his fingers intertwined with another shows intimidation. They also used a lighting technique to create a shadow across the artist’s face to show danger and mystery.Colour- this page is quite dark, they have used dark colours to show secrecy. However the sub-headlines stand out as they are in a brighter colour.

Font- they used the same simple and formal font throughout the texts possibly to match the formal look of the artist. However they changed the colour and made certain words ‘bold’ to stand out.Writing style- The information is organized in chronologic format so it’s easier to read and understand, causing no confusion to the readers. There is no magazine logo placed on this page so nothing is dominant

Overall look- the shadow works very well with artists posture in order to give a mysterious look to the image. Also the mise en scene helps it make it look very elegant and neat. This is possibly aimed at middle class and high class teenagers due to what the artist’s suit and pose connoting wealth and high status.

Colour- The word contents is written in the colour white to stand out against the red background. The background also matches the picture as red represents anger and anger is portrayed in the photo.

Font- The word ‘contents’ is broken up which enables it to take up a bigger proportion of the magazine to grab the readers attention to the fact that it is a contents page. It also shows individuality from other magazines. The letter V is written in a bigger font and with a darker shade of the background colour to stand out more than the other writing as the letter V stands for ‘vibe’ which is the name of the magazine.

Photography- The photo of a topless artist with a black cap on and lots of chains to highlight the fact that he is a successful rapper. This photo represents wealth and anger as the artist is pulling of the jewellery. Also the tattoo on his chest of the word ‘respect’ shows that he worked hard to get where he is now therefore should be respected.

Writing style- they have all the writing in one side of the page and divided into various different columns to show organization as the other side is quite full and also to encourage the reader to read it as it looks neat and easy to ready due to its simple layout.

Overlook- this contents page works very well as shows aggression, and this has been a stereotype of rap music for a long time. The target audience of this contents page is possibly teenagers or young adult within in middle class. As the effect that this image will have on them will be creating a determination to succeed and become as wealthy as this artist.

Photography- a medium long shot of the R&B artist Usher. The image shows the genre of the music as Usher’s has attitude which is being shown though his posture and the way he is staying. The clothes he is wearing also links in with the attitude in which he is portraying and links to the genre of the magazine. The pose and costume also connotes for the stereotype that urban artist are wealthy and are highly important within the whole music industry.

Font- they used a simple and formal font throughout the whole text in order to appeal to the audience.

Colour- they do no use a big ranger of colours, as this makes it look more professional and the colours used match the costume of the artist.

Writing style- There is not much text as the image takes the majority of the space. There is only 7 blocks of text, the subheadings are in bold making it stand out from the description of the article. The editor has used less text to make it easier for the reader to read.

Overall look- even though the layout is simple, the image they used is eye catching and busy due to the choice of the artists costume. This influences the readers to reach the high status that the artist is portraying.

Photography- An main image of 50 cent with a threatening look possibly to represent the rap culture. Therefore 50 cent isn’t smiling because he is a rap artist and that he is meant to be represented as tough. There is only one image on the page so they want all the focus on one image to show importance towards the rapper. The style of the image has been made to look intimidating with the clothes he is wearing and the way he looks so it gives us the effect that he is tough.

Font- they used a weak font for the name of the magazine which is ‘in the mix’ as it doesn’t stand out so people are not very likely to take notice.

Colour- they didn’t use a lot of colour which gives a simple look to the page. This makes the image stand out and the readers will focus on the image.

Writing style-there isn't much writing which means that is straight to the point therefore there is a lot of white space because they don’t want to over do the page and make it confusing. And it gives a clean and simple effect to it. Overall look- this is a very um-conventional page due to the lack of colour. Its very simple and plain compared to other contents pages. This is possibly aimed at middle class and young adults interested in music. However the clothes the artist is wearing and his face expresses follows the stereotype that urban artists are rebellious.

Colour- the colour that is mainly used is red, as it is easy to stand out. Specially the ‘J’ because the background is white. This also matches the red lighting used in the photo. The magazine logo is placed on top of the photo, this is a technique to grab people’s attention, as it is yellow so it stands out.

Writing style- the texts are separated in two columns, this shows that its organized. The ‘J’ which stands for the artist's name ‘Jay-Z’ is on top of the writing this encourages the audience to read it. Another technique used to encourage the audience is the capital letters in the beginning of the sentence.

Photography- they used creativity in this photo, as they used a special red lighting effect. The sunglasses also gives the audience the idea that the artist is powerful and mysterious. This photo takes up the whole page this means that this magazine is trying to be unique, as other magazines usually have both pages with writing and photos.

Font- the font used is small, possibly to make it look neat. Also a big font wouldn’t suit the ‘J’ that is on the top of the writing as it wouldn’t look organized.

Colour- they used the colour yellow a lot as this colour grabs people’s attention easily as it is bright and stands out in white background. They also highlighted the title so its modern and stands out instantly. Photography-

there is a big range of different photos of the artist (Rihanna) at the side of the magazine. There is a few different pictures of the artist from previous years, showing how the artist has changed through out the years suggesting that she’s been in the music industry for a long time.

Writing style- they only have one column this shows that its organized. Also if there was a lot of information the audience would not be interested as they could find it boring. Therefore the amount of text used suits the targeted audience.

Font- they used a bigger font for ‘Rihanna’ and a smaller one for ‘Drake’ to show more importance to Rihanna as the whole article is about her. They also use a different font for every single title to stand out and to separate parts of the article.

Photography- a photo of the artist in the studio, this was done so it gives a more personal look to the interview. Also the pose of the main picture shows power, and that at her working place (studio) she’s the one who commands and gives orders. She also has a fierce look in both photos which once again shows power.Font- The title of the story is big and bold, and its white, as the

background is dark therefore its clear and its easier to read. The quote is bold, bigger and has a red border underneath so it stands out and its easy for the audience to see.

Colour- calm and formal colours are used as the pictures are dark therefore the text stands out. There are only 3 colours used; red, white and black as these are the colours that are mainly used in music magazines.

Writing style- for the title they’ve used serifs to highlight a bit of formality. The headline “Danger! Shakira at work” is humorous as it is joking about Shakira being dangerous while working.

Photography- a medium close up shot of the rapper Nas looking directly at the camera. The background seems t be a gym with equipment such as punch bags, this portrays aggression.

Font- Positioned at the top of the text box is the rappers name “Nas” in a bigger font and it dominates the text, as it is in a old fashioned font. Also the first word of the interview contains a capital “C” which is the biggest font on the page, specifying the significance of the interview.Overall look- this double spread works well as the punching bag means that he could possibly show that he is getting ready for a fight and practice to improve his techniques which is significant as it may reflect that the rapper may be preparing for a battle of his career.

Colour- the image is quite dark which makes the side of the page where the text is stand out. The colour used in the image is dark to show mystery and power.

Photography- an image of the singer Alexandra Burke with a seductive pose to show power, also the hand on the hip creates a sense of attitude.

Font- they used the same font throughout the whole article however they changed the colour and wrote in capital letters on the quotes. They done this so that it would stand out and show importance to the artist’s words.

Colour- the colours used are feminine, this is used to reflect the gender of the singer. Also to attract more girls. The white background so that the text and image contrasts with it.

Overall look- this is an attractive double spread as one image of the artist is positioned on a whole page, even though this double spread has only used one image of the artist, the magazine is still eye-catching.