Cover analysis (Vibe)

Name: VIBE

Genre: RnB and Hip-Hop

Owner: Wicks group bought the magazine in 2006, they are a private equity group, but its now owned by InterMedia partners

Price: £3.89 - £5.27 depending on the length of subscription

Colours: the colours on this particular cover are predominantly black and yellow, these colours to me signify danger, the white in the text helps to make it stand out and make it easier to read as it has a higher contrast to the black background

Released: it was launched in 1993 but i shut down in the summer of 2009, however it was then bought out by InterMedia partners it is now released quarterly with double covers

Font size: the title is again a large block capital font, it dominates the top of the page,

Content: Featured segments included the back page list 20 Questions, the Boomshots column about reggae and Caribbean music by Rob Kenner, Revolutions music reviews and Vibe Confidential, a celebrity gossip column. Next profiled up-and-coming artists. The magazine also devoted several pages to photo spreads displaying high-end designer clothing as well as sportswear by urban labels such as Rocawear and Fubu.
Vibe made a consistent effort to feature models of all ethnicities in these pages. Former editor Emil Wilbikin was frequently credited with styling those pages and keeping fashion in the forefront of the magazine's identity during the early 2000s. Many clothing brands created or linked to hip-hop celebrities, such as Sean Combs' Sean John, Nelly's Apple Bottoms and G-Unit by 50 Cent found plenty of exposure in Vibe's pages.

Pictures: the picture on the cover is a very strong image, making Drake look powerful, the t-shirt that he is wearing quoting the word ‘unstopabble’ is a reference to his up and coming success in the music industry, he is coming up to be one of the most know artists and has collaborated with the likes of Eminem and Rihanna

Language: the language used in vibe is very ‘current’ just like Mixmag it isn’t kept to standardised English and ventures into the language that many young people are using today which helps it to draw in its audiences

Layout: again this is very similar to Mixmag with the cover being very simplistic, there’s your title, your strapline, your puffs are compacted down the right and left hand side, leaving a large space for the CDI to take the viewers focus

Extra information: Vibe magazine launched the "Best Rapper Alive Tournament" on July 21, 2008. There were four brackets, and four number 1 seeds: Jay Z, Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Andre 3000. The actual final four included Ludacris, The Game, Eminem and Jay-Z. The last two rappers standing were Eminem and Jay-Z, with Eminem eventually garnering 69% of the votes for the victory. When Eminem heard the news, he stated: "It’s obviously an honor to have won the fans' support by being voted the Best Rapper Alive. I don't think that there is any one rapper that is simply the best though. Everyone who was in consideration and many others are the best at certain things, and at what they do. But since VIBE's offering the distinction, hell yeah I'll accept!”

Cover analysis (Mixmag)

Name: Mixmag

Genre: Dance, Trance, Clubbing, House

Owner: Development hell (2005 – present)
Development hell also own ‘The Word’

Price: £4.20

Colours: the colours on the Mixmag covers are all kept in theme with the style of the magazine and what it stands for, dance and trance, so the colours you would expect to see would probably be along the lines of neon’s, blacks, greens, reds, blues. There are also a lot of post production editing touch-ups that occur I would guess, because the magazines are all very bright, contrasting and aiming to create a huge attraction to people’s eyes as they skim over the available magazines that are available when they are looking to purchase one

Released: the first edition of Mixmag was released in 1983 on February 1st and it is still releasing issues 27 years on

Font size: The title of the magazine is in a large simplistic font, nothing too fancy

Content: In addition to the change in editorial tone, the relaunched Mixmag features a fashion section, larger size and, according to Mixmag, improved production values. Mixmag carries a covermount mix CD each month by a different DJ or artist.

Pictures: the pictures that are used in Mixmag are very current, they fit in well with the style and way in which this particular magazine is put together, they usually display the front cover with a current artist, possibly someone who has just released a new album or single

Language: the language it uses appeals to the audience that reads the magazine, it doesn’t just stick to the conventional standardised English language, it diversifies and almost uses a sub language at times, using slang terms and

Layout: the layout of this particular cover is very simplistic, there’s your title, your strapline, your puffs are compacted down the right hand side, leaving a large space for the CDI to take the viewers focus onto it from other magazines, again the use of colour and layout have combined to create a visually enticing and pleasing cover

Extra information: 1 in every 376,393 internet users visits Mixmag.net daily. Mixmag.net gets 4,428 internet visitors per day, the average Mixmag.net visitor visits about 1.8 pages before leaving again, this means that their servers handle about 7,970 page views per day

This is a mood board of what i belive my target market to be interested in, it contains artists, current fashion, tv channels and brands.

I will be using this to refer to when i create my magazine so that i can keep it relevant to the market im aiming it at.

Pre-lim School Magazine cover

This is my pre-lim magazine cover that we were asked to do, the theme for mine is a magazine directed at the entire school, possibly towards the older students, who are interested in the sporting achievements.

The CDI is that of one of the members of the schools basketball academy taken during a recent game that they played. The image has been edited to create a more contrasting, visually stimulating one that looks dramatic and yet it keeps the magazine unique and appealing to all age groups.

The schools colours, blue and yellow, helped create the colour scheme for the magazine, i later decided against the blue as it wasnt clear enough when the magazine was printed, the white on the other hand has the clarity and still retains the proffessional looking presentation overall. One thing that i would look at my cover and say needed changing would be the amount of text and the lack of variety on it, the fonts are all the same, the amount of text is too much and the sizing as well, apart from the bottom article, none of the articles jump out and make you want to read them, i feel that with less wording, different fonts and different sizes it would become a lot stronger visually. Overall i think that this cover is ok for a first attempt, now knowing what i do and having learnt a lot more about magazines i could go back and make a lot of changes to it so that it looks a lot more like a magazine and would appeal a lot more to the target market.