Music magazine covers - analysis: Vibe

Vibe

For the masthead, the word ‘vibe’ relates to music and is, therefore, a suitable title for a music magazine. The title is written in a very large and bold font so that it is prominently noticeable to the audience as it is the largest piece of text on the page. It is also written in the iconic style as presented on each ‘Vibe’ magazine due to the font, size and colour. Therefore, the prominent image is able to be superimposed over the masthead as it is such a popular magazine so the majority of the intended audience will recognise the magazine.

There are many plugs and cover lines regarding various other rappers which will appeal to the target audience. For instance, one states “Behind J-z’s New York takeover”. These plugs will appeal to the fans of each artist and they will be intrigued to read the content of the magazine to discover more about them.

The prominent image on the cover of the magazine presents the rapper ‘T.I’ and successfully represents the genre of the ‘gangster’ image due to mise en scene. This is presented through the posture, attire and facial expression of the artist. He is portrayed wearing a cap and jewellery while conveying a relatively aggressive facial expression and posture. Furthermore, he is looking directly towards the camera from a straight angle which can act as a personal pronoun as it appears like she is looking directly at the reader and enticing them to purchase the magazine.

All of the writing on the magazine cover is written in a simple sans serif font. It doesn’t appear to be too formal and will, therefore, appeal to the younger intended audience. Also, the important text is written in larger, bold fonts and in the colour red which is the most noticeable against the darker background colour so they stand out to the reader.

The colour scheme consists of red, white and blue. Due to the fact that the red colour is more prominent and stands out in contrast to the darker coloured background, it is used to present the enticing and more important pieces of text such as names of artists and the title. This will ensure the audience will notice these pieces of writing to entice them to buy the magazine in order to discover more. Also, the colour scheme is relatively dark to allow for a more intriguing and mysterious effect for the cover. Furthermore, using a colour scheme allows for consistency throughout the magazine and it becomes an iconic feature of each ‘Vibe’ magazine.

The barcode is a series of widths which allow the magazine to be scanned and paid for at the shop. However, this magazine is attempting to include a more modern feature as it has incorporated a code which can be scanned using a smartphone to take the reader to the website for the magazine in order to discover more. 

There is a banner at the top of the page stating “2010 in review: all that was cool, crazy and crass”. This is an intriguing statement as the intended audience will be likely to wish to discover all of the ‘cool’ things that happened. The banner is sectioned at the top of the page so that it is noticeable to the reader and they will be intrigued immediately.