1) Analysing a magazine

The genre of ‘Vibe’ magazine is Hip-Hop/RnB.

The target audience for this magazine is teenagers and adults in their twenties. I can tell this because of the main subject which is about the rapper T.I.

The main image is the famous rapper, T.I. and it relates to the music genre because he specialises in hip-hop and rnb music.

The image is framed normally as an eye-level mid-shot. The image is right in the centre and has an effect on the audience because it has been taken very closely, which gives the image more depth especially because of the plain light background. It gives the audience chance to focus on the main image straight away and then focusing on everything else surrounding it.

The clothes being worn are a smart suit and a bow tie. This has a strange effect on the audience because you wouldn’t expect to see a famous rapper wearing a smart suit; however it does add a nice element to the front cover, making it smart-casual instead. The cultural codes that these bring to mind are that people who like hip-hop can dress smart and not be stereotyped and that the light colour shows that the magazine focuses on one main topic only instead of loads of others.

The colour that has been used for the masthead is dark red, which is effective because it stands out on the light pink background. Various different colours have being used for the strap-lines such as dark red, black, dark blue and a gold colour. The dark red, dark blue and gold colours have all been used with the black as they contrast well with it. This is because if they were all together without using a black font as well, it would be too colourful especially on the light pink background, therefore readers would not really want to pay attention to it because it would look too child-like.

The magazine is called ‘Vibe’. This reflects the content and the target audience for the magazine because ‘vibe’ is more like a feeling that you get sometimes so the magazine is saying that the magazine itself gives a good vibe and everything it in is good and cool, etc. It is suitable for its target audience because it is a hip-hop magazine more directed at young teenagers and people in their 20s and it is appropriate for them because it has starred famous singers such as T.I, Ciara, Chris Brown, The Game, etc.

The typeface that has been used for the masthead is big and bold. We can also see a minority of it, as some of it has been covered by the main image. The main title ‘T.I. has the last laugh’ is also quite big and bold. This has an effect on the reader because if the text is big and bold it shows them what the main topic of the magazine is, in this case T.I. It is also effective because it is the first bit of text that attracts the reader’s attention making them more likely to show an interest. The strap-lines and the pug are also in bold text, however they are different colours such as blue, gold etc and they are a lot smaller. This has an effect on the readers because after they know that the main subject of the magazine is, they also now the other stories that it features such as J-Lo, etc.

The masthead has been placed straight across the top and, like Kerrang!, we know that it is a well-known popular magazine because a majority of it has been covered by the main image. It is in a big bold understandable font and is important because it is the name of the magazine itself. The title is unusual because it is not a kicker, instead it has been placed in a small paragraph underneath the masthead. It is a medium sized font and it important because it is the subject of the magazine. The strap-lines have been placed on the right side of the page and in a little box on the left. They are in a small bold font and are important because it informs the readers of what else the magazine is about and the other topics that are featured. The pug is in the bottom right corner and is important to try and get the reader to purchase the magazine. The bar code and issue date and price have also been placed in the bottom left hand corner. This is just to show the readers it is on sale and when the magazine has expired and how much it costs. It also has the website on their so readers can subscribe and are up to date, etc.