Magazine analyasis[1]

Special edition magazine.More people on the cover showing it is special, and better because it looks as if more people are featured.

Small price shown as price might not be something they want to highlight.

Every person is holding a weapon, and every weapon they are holding is gold. This shows wealth as it is gold, and power as they are all holding the weapons threateningly.

People set in front of the masthead, showing the people are of more importance than the magazine.

Most of the people on the feature article photo are just dressed in black, where as the girl (Iggy Azalea), the guy above her, the guy to her left and the guy in the top left are all dressed in ether blue or green. Black could be shown as a colour of power, maybe aggressiveness, perhaps meaning that the other 4 are not as powerful. Although, because these are quite bright colours it is probably implying that they are the most important, as your eye is drawn to them.

Repetition on the word “Freshman” to highlight that it is a freshman special. Also might be highlighting what type of audience they want to attract.

A lot of the writing is in orange. Because the title is red I would say this is because orange is a dull version of red so clearly it is trying to draw the readers attention more to the masthead, and make the writing look less important. Maybe the magazine is seen as more important than the things featured.

XXL magazine uses crowding on the front cover to give the illusion that you are getting your monies worth.

From the cover photo I can tell the audience for XXL is predominantly African American males. Most of the people featured in the picture are black, and male. This could be because not a lot of white people are respected in the rap industry and nether are women. Although one woman is featured. This could be to try to appeal to a wider audience.

She is set in front of the masthead, showing she is more important.

Small price shown, not wanting to show off about the price.

Headline- Amy is written with the largest writing on the page showing that she is the most important thing. Also, Amy’s last name is not included, implying that she is big enough to not need a last name, and also that the reader must have the pragmatic knowledge to not need to include her last name.

Banner. Letting the reader recognise the magazine easily.

A lot of repetition of the colour red, as red is in the masthead so it is sort of the magazines signature colour.

Less important information is in orange. Because orange is like a duller version or red, I think they used this colour for the less important information as is less eye catching than the red.

Buzz word: EXCLUSIVE. Making the reader feel compelled to buy the magazine or they would be missing out.

Most of the writing is written in white, possibly because the Q in the masthead is written in white.

The flash is like an inverted version of the logo as the background colour is white and the writing is red. It is also on the opposite side of the page. This draws the readers eye to it as it looks as if it is important.

Younger audience as it uses text speak.

Headline written almost the same size as the title showing it is important. Also, things written in white are shown as important. Flash and headline are written in the same font, different to the rest of the font on the page, because they are both showing the artists featured in the magazine. Its like the artists included are more important than the magazine itself.

Freebie is very contrasting to the magazine its self. Drawing your eye to it but also showing it is a separate thing to the magazine. Bright colours because of the neon colours used in rave parties.

Cover image, partly in front and partly behind the title. This makes it look as if the person is coming out of the magazine, drawing us in.

Purple and pink are the main colours used for the front cover, pink used in the title and in the writing, and purple used in the colours on the mouse head on the front. I noticed that these colours are next to each other on the colour wheel, so they are linked. A bit of pink is also used in the corner of the mouth of the mouse head. Black is also used on the front, but it is less noticeable as black is less eye catching. Probably meaning the things in black are going to be less important information.

Small price used not to highlight it.

Sub image included showing this is the type of person to be interested in this article.

Buzz word- FREE. Right at the top corner of the page. The actual Freebie is always placed inside the rapper of the magazine, at it can move around over the price, and distract from the price. It is important to highlight it as it makes people more likely to buy the magazine, as sometimes people buy a magazine just for the freebie.

Plug- always shown as a sticker, showing it is an added extra.

Gold bold writing and boarder sort of thing, perhaps reflecting the gold necklace he is wearing. Gold usually represents wealth or royalty, and a lot of rappers would like to be seen as wealthy. In a lot of songs they rap about money.

The picture is a lot bigger than the section of writing. Id say that the double page spread is 60% picture and 40% text. This could be showing that image is more important in the music industry than what they have to say.

In the background of the picture there is a building with a lot of graffiti on it, reflecting the types of background that a lot of rappers would perhaps have (stereotypically).

The gold writing looks like it has been created with a stencil. Which reflects the graffiti in the picture, and the stereotype that people who enjoy rap music also like graffiti.

The article starts off as if it is a story. As a rapper, you would not expect them to start talking like that. Within the picture he looks as if he is reflecting, so maybe the article is trying to show the rap artist on a different level that we didn’t before.

Male gaze- the man in the picture is sat in quite a manly stance, with arms puffed out making them look bigger. XXL has a predominantly male audience so it might be trying to make the audience aspire to be like them. As with what they did with use of the colour gold, making people aspire to be wealthy.

The red in her hair reflects the first sentence. The first sentence is “She looks demonic”. It reflects it as red usually represents the devil and evil.

Lips are highlighted where as the rest of her face is darkened out. Lips could be highlighted as Lanas lips are trade mark feature. She is wearing a lot of eye make up to mask her even more, to drag the audiences eyes to her lips.

On the other side of the picture there is blue and white shining. Blue and white are usually colours associated with innocence and purity. This could imply that she is also quite angelic.

Quite sexualised- Lips parted, fingers on her neck and eyes closed. Q has a predominantly male audience so it could be for the male gaze.

First letters of the paragraphs are larger. The S right at the beginning of the article takes up half of the page, forcing the writing in the article to overlap it, drawing the reader in to the article.

The magazine logo is at the bottom of each page reminding the reader of the magazine. On the second page of the double page spread there is an arrow symbol to show to turn over the page that is in the logos colours, again reminding the reader of the magazine.

The quote within the picture says ‘”Come on sell your soul!” which relates to the clothes Dizzee is wearing in the picture. He is wearing a white suit suggesting that he is quite angelic on the surface.

He is also wearing the colour purple underneath which usually symbolises royalty. This links in with the title saying “Dizzee Rascal is Britain’s biggest headlining dance star’. And the title also says ‘young, rich but surprisingly grounded’ which links in to the suggestion of royalty.

The background is also white, making the white suit blend in a lot. This makes the purple stand out more. Maybe this is suggesting that the royalty is the thing we mostly see about Dizzee Rascal, and his angelic side is something we don’t really see in him.

His name, Dizzee Rascal is highlighted in sort of pink/ red colour. This means that people who are just flicking through the magazine quickly will be able to spot the name easily. If people can find what they like in the magazine it makes people more likely to buy it. This colour also ties in with the magazine as it is the same colour as the bullet point and “Q+A” in the top banner on the page.

The first letter of the article is larger than the rest of the article, and is in a different font. This means it is drawing the audience into the article. Also, the font ties in with the magazine, as it is in the same font as “VIP” in the top banner of the page.

Sub image included in the text, to give more context to who they are talking about in the article, if it is someone other that the main man Dizzee Rascal.

In the title it uses quite chatty language. They use “erm…”. This simulates this as more of a conversation rather than a formal article. Usually this appeals to the audience more as they feel like the article is addressing them, and this article is for them.

Stuck to the colour scheme- Red, white and black.

Dr. Dre has his own quote on the contents page. Showing he is a big feature for them and want to show him off, and the article off.

Dr. Dre’s article is underlined in black to show it is the most important thing featured.

He is in all black clothes, highlighting that he is featured because it blends in with the black underlining of his own article.

His shadow is reflecting into the rest of the list of the articles featured, which suggests he is more important than everything else written in the magazine.

Slight worms eye view camera angle making him look taller. This relates to male gaze as its making him look big, like what the stereotypical man is supposed to be in the eyes of society.

Hands both over his crotch in quite a manly stance. This is also for the male gaze is it is emphasising his groin area.

Everything in black sort of blends in because the page is predominantly black. So everything in white seems most important. All of the articles are written in white showing that that is the bit the magazine wants the audience to read. Also everything in red, or red and white like the magazine logo is related to the actual magazine, suggesting that they want the reader to look at that for sort of direction and information. Such as the arrow pointing to some information about who created the page, this is red and white showing it is equal to the importance of the magazine. The brackets in the sub title “(features)” are in red, and the actual writing inside is white, showing that it is information about the page. And the dash in the main title is also red to show this is a title, but it is not shown as very important as the rest of the title is in black so it blends in. “Cover story” is also written in white and red showing it is the most important of them all, and equal to the actual magazine. The actual magazine logo is at the top as well, just as a reminder to the reader.

His is the only picture featured, showing the rest of the articles are slightly irrelevant.

Picture outside box showing very important. As if its part of the magazine perhaps as important as this well known magazine.

Image off the page right in the corner perhaps showing it barely makes it into the magazine, and is not important. Perhaps because it seems like it is not to do with music as it says “match of the day” and Wayne Rooney.

The guy in the picture in black and white is holding a gun, but he also has his shirt un-buttoned. So maybe he also has “his guns out”.

His clothes also reflect the colour edit, as they are just black and white too.

Repetition of logo and colour scheme.

Repetition of the logo.

Picture of a girl at a party, some sort of lazery type colours within the picture. Reflecting the type of audience they are looking for- young people who like to party.

Also just reflects the type of magazine it is.

Seems like the contents page has its own type of font, has it doesn’t seem to appear much apart from in texts only relevant to the contents page.

Uses language such as “VIP” to relate to the type of magazine it is, as its about the party type lifestyle.

Text in ether white or yellow on the contents page. Tends to be the numbers in yellow, and the date.

Background in black, perhaps relating to the night time, when parties and clubs nights will be taking place.