Analysis of existing magazines

I decided to focus on the genre Hip Hop, I am looking at the magazines 'Vibe' and 'The Source' these are both Hip Hop influenced music magazines, I chose this genre as i enjoy this type of music.

I think the name 'Vibe' was chosen as the magazine is about music and what's happening at the moment in the music scene and what celebrities are doing at the moment. I think the name 'The Source' was chosen for similar reasons as 'Vibe' it's the 'source' of information for Hip Hop music and artists.

On the 'Vibe's' front cover all of the text on the cover is serif font in red and blue colours. Red being the most dominant-being the title of the magazine, the famous person on the covers name etc.
Blue being sub headings or words that aren't as important than the ones in red.
Most of the red text is larger than the blue. The title 'Vibe' being the largest size.

I think that they chose the colours red and blue for the cover as they compliment each other and attract the audiences eye. Only two colours are used for the text, I think this attracts the audiences attention more than if there were many different colours.
The text colours fit in really well with the main image as the woman 'Keisha Cole' is not wearing clothing, so there are no colour clashes between the text or main image.

The use of language in 'Vibe' is quite informal and shows a knowledge of the subject areas.
There is the number 51 in large red text that stands out as the size is larger than the title of the magazine, The number is advertising the number of rappers found on myspace which is an article in the magazine. There is slang used 'hating on' which means not liking something/someone.

Target audience
Age: 18-34
Gender: I think there are more male readers than female.
Class: C1, C2 and D
Nationality: American and maybe a bit British.
Psychographics: Individuals, aspires and mainstreamers.

The main image is quite sexually suggestive as the woman is naked but covering herself with her hands and arms, it doesn't look rude or private because of the pose the woman is doing, as she looks proud and confident and isn't looking at the camera.
I think they chose the image as the woman is a popular artist, good looking and attracts male attention.
The image is a posed shot, i think they used this pose to attract male attention but it also makes the woman look attractive, it helps that she is looking away from the camera and looks confident and proud as this makes the image more innocent.
Her facial expression shows confidence and pride.
'Vibe' usually has a 50/50 ratio of men and woman on their covers.

The only information shown on this issue is the barcode, date, issue no. and the 'vibe.com' website.

The main type of stories in this issue are mostly about celebrities and Promoting Myspace rappers.

On this front cover of 'The Source' the text is in a modern serif font, Its modern because the words and letters are quite 2D looking.
The colours used for the font are gold, purple and white. Gold being the most dominant as it's the colour of the large title of the magazine and it highlights the important names or articles in the magazine, for example the group NAS being in the colour gold and slightly larger than the title makes it stand out and seem important.
The title has a black outline creating the effect of a shadow to make the word source stand out and catch the audiences attention. There is also the colour white used in a line of text 'The begginging of the N' this really stands out to the audience.

I think they chose the colours gold and purple for the text as they don't over power each other, they compliment each other. They also don't contrast with the main image's colours. The colours suggest wealth for example gold money and calm lavender purple.
The main image has bright colours; red, white and blue which compliment the more subtle colours of the text.

The use of language in 'The Source' is informal and young using slang words such as; (Graf)-meaning graffiti, but it shows good knowledge of it's subject areas.
There is a number on the cover (#1) meaning no. 1, this is showing the people who are no. 1 at the moment.

Target audience
Age: Unknown but I think around (18-34)
Gender: 50/50
Class: C1, C2 and D
Nationality: American
Psychographics: individualists, aspirers and mainstreamers.

The main image suggests wealth and popularity.
I think they chose the person for his fame and good looks.
It is a posed shot in a studio, the pose makes him look confident and wealthy.
His clothes are simple colours: blue jeans, red hoodie and a white top but very effective as they attract the audiences attention but his watch and sunglasses give the effect of wealth.
His facial expression is proud and confident.
Men are usually used on the cover of 'The Source'.
The man is famous internationally.

The only information on this issue is the barcode and date.

The main type of stories in this issue are about singers, bands, films and graffiti artists.

Contents page
I had to use a contents page from 'Mix Mag' as 'Vibe' and 'The Source' don't have contents pages.

The types of music are split up into categories of different genres of music for example House, Dubstep or Urban.

There is also a small box with a snip it of a story inside the magazine about wanting to stay 18 forever and another box of the magazines ratings.
There is no band index, only categories of different music.

There is only one main large image on the contents page, I think it may be an album cover.

The contents page does not fit with a cover as I had to use it as a substitute for the covers I chose so I cannot comment on if it fits with the cover or if it has a similar colour scheme.


Double Page Spread
There are four images on this double page spread. They are quite dominant as two of them are large and attract the audience's attention.

The page doesn't have any pull quotes on it and there aren't really any captions on the photo's but on one of them there is text stating 'microphone controllers get busy' and on the other images the text is just the artists names.

The first paragraph stands out as it's in bold and underlined, this grabs the readers attention.

For my magazine to find it's niche I need to find a gap in the market and make my magazine usefull, interesting, eye catching, informative, exciting and different and by reaching all these targets my magazine should be a success.

My magazine will strike a balance between promotion and critique by interviewing different artists that have made it into the industry or are just about to and also talking to the auideinces to hear their oppinions on the music. My magazine will offer music itself via download from it's websites and via a radio station linked to the title. By completeing this resarch i have gained helpful information to help me along the path of making my own magazine.