Front Cover Analysis 2

‘Vibe’ is an urban music magazine. It focuses on the genre of r’n’b this is made clear but the artist on the cover and the puffs.

The issues tackled in this magazine are related to the urban industry. Varying from rap artist to r’n’b artists. Articles will include the personal life of artists such as usher as he is on the cover, sex scandals and new music. This is made clear as it’s called ‘THE SEX ISSUE’. I think the target audience is for teenagers and young adults aged 15-23 as the magazine is very youthful and it would be rare that anyone over the age of 13 would be interested in the information this magazine provides.

The main story is about Usher and his married life as well as his number one single ‘He’s No.1 and Married with a Vengeance’. However as this is a sex issue there will be plenty of articles about celebrities such as 50 Cent, Trina and D Woods as they took a ‘sex survey’. The magazine tries to make the reader feel like they are apart of the celebrity lifestyle as they include them in the survey.

The artist on the front is looking directly at the camera which usually means they are trying to build a relationship with the reader, this is called a direct mode of address, but as he has sunglasses it slightly shows a more cool mysterious side to the artist.Usher Raymond is on the front cover as he is very successful and well known in the music industry. He is an r’n’b singer also known as the ‘ r’n’b king ’. This will entice the readers to buy the magazine he is also on the cover because the main article will be about him and his career as well as his new married life; this is made clear as he sticks up his married finger with a wedding band on it.

The artist is giving off a very cool image. He looks like he demands respect and it appears that he is sending out a message to the world that he is happily married letting all other women know he is officially and happily taken.On the left hand corner the buzz word used is ‘swagger’. In relation to this urban music magazine it fits in very well, as in the industry image and personality is everywhere. The font used is very urban and the blood red draws attention to the word, this means the reader is forced to take note of the buzz word it also shows that the magazine varies in information as there is already a lot going on, on the cover.

The title is very bold and eye-catching. It’s in block capitals and in a sea blue which stands out from the rest of the magazine as everything has a mixture of colours. As the artist head cuts off part of the name of the magazine suggests that this magazine is well known which is why they can afford to block out part of the title.

The title is very youthful which links back to why the target audience are for such young people, the image of the title goes with the r’n’b genre. They style of the title is simple but very effective as everything else on the cover is bright, bold and big.

There are many puffs on this cover which show the magazine is filled with a lot of new stories, music, gossip etc. There are puffs such as ‘Keri Hilson Strips Down’, ‘Ryan Leslie Pops Off’ and ‘Ashanti’s Heartbreaking New Album’ each in their own way back up the ‘sex issue’ and the theme of this music magazine.The people who would read this magazine clearly are interested in the genre of music, gossip about celebrities and sex scandals.

The colours used are very vibrant and youthful. The sea blue contrast with the white, yet clashes with the bright yellow and blood red, each colour representing something as red usually represents angry or passion, yellow happiness and blue serenity and peace, these colours used together are a good contrast as they show the magazine will be filled with all these emotions.
There are many fonts used probably to show the variety this cover has to offer, and to entice the readers as one font bores most people and is only generally used in newspapers.This magazine offers many exclusives such as ‘YouTube allegations’, ‘immature boy bands’ and ‘sex scandals’ which is always a good reason to buy it.