Title
The magazine is called Vibe because it could relate to the ‘music’ vibes, vibes are instinctive feelings that person gets from a situation, it is also the slang word for vibration, so it could be making a connection with the vibrations from music or saying that the magazine gives you a good feeling because usually you would connect vibes with positive feelings more than negative ones.
Publisher
The founder of Vibe magazine is Quincy Jones which is funded by Time Inc. The publisher is Len Burnett. The magazine is published monthly and has a website: www.vibe.com which readers and the general public can enter and read daily news and gossip in the RnB world and watch video clips on the latest artists ect.
Target Audience
I believe the target audience for this magazine is older teenagers to young adults, perhaps 17-22 and I definitely feel this magazine is aimed towards a male audience because of the artists featured and the style/ layout of the whole magazine; the colours are dark, blacks and blues fill the page and it looks stormy on the front cover, perhaps relating to power. The main images are of strong powerful men that a male audience could aspire to, or a provocative posing woman that men would appreciate looking at and reading about, e.g. ‘Rihanna, go getta’ the slang sentence appeals to an older male audience. A younger audience would not appreciate any of the above things and also may not be interested in the in depth articles featured; they would be looking for something more concise and simple. Also women would not like the cover picture as 50 cent is looking into the camera in a confrontational way, almost threatening and this would put them off.
The style/ Presentation of the magazine
I noticed that the presentation of the magazine is very expensive similar to other RnB music magazines in the way that it uses bold striking letters looking; it looks glossy and relates to the RnB style of ‘bling’ and expensive style. It is quite similar to other RnB magazines in the way that is uses bold text and confident looking main models. Also the colours are quite masculine; it has a similar layout to Complex magazine which uses these conventions.
Addressing the reader
It addresses its reader in a confrontational manner, a bit like the genre of music; i.e. it’s in your face and shouts at you. 50 Cent’s image is confrontational; which is how some people feel this type of music genre is represented.
The subjects that are covered are interviews with main stars and countdowns of favourite stars etc. There are also smaller articles on other RnB stars such as Rihanna.
FRONT COVER
The mast head is big, bold and takes up a huge proportion of the page, this could represent the music genre is contains; it is excessively over the top and shouts at the audience. The word Vibe relates to music as in ‘The music Vibe’. The white stands out against the dark background.
The colour-scheme is white blue, black and yellow, all of which are classed as masculine colours. The background is stormy and dark; this is behind the main image of 50 cent to connect with the threatening look of the storm and himself. The main image of 50 cent is intimidating and in your face; he is staring directly into your eyes and is frowning with his nostrils flared and muscles clenched, This makes him look confrontational ( like the magazine), almost daring the reader to buy the magazine. He is wearing an expensive looking necklace and has his cap twisted to the side to make him look edgy and link in with the ‘expensive image’ genre of music. The main coverline is a rhetorical question to the audience which is meant to link in with his threatening look. The quote underneath this has highlighted words in red ‘resolving issues’ this is because it represents danger and anger. It adds to his tough image. The other coverlines are colloquial and conversational: ‘Rihanna Go getta’. The bright yellow colours stand out against the dark blue background.
This magazine is similar to the music magazine XXL in the way that it shouts at you and has masculine backgrounds with a striking image. However this magazine has more coverlines than XXL and is slightly more colourful.
No comments:
Post a Comment