Music Magazine Analysis: Front Cover #4

Front Page Analysis #4

This front cover, from the magazine ‘Vibe’ stands out to me in many ways. One prominent aspect which does so is the colour scheme. For a hip hop based magazine and front cover, the colour scheme doesn’t immediately seem conventional with the vibrant blue and pink colours. Yet I think this is a positive feature as it presents people with an alternative version or approach to this genre, showing that there is a wider range of musical styles within the genre of hip hop other than the stereotypical guns/drugs side of it. This opens out Vibes audience to a wider range, and grabs the interest of more people.

The colour scheme is definitely an element which I think I’ll use to develop from the usual conventions for this genre, and make use of colours in a way that Vibe has done so in this magazine.

Additionally to this is, the colours used are a way of presenting the featured artists style and attitude in the music industry, as you can see the blue used on the title is also used on the collar of the jacket of Kanye West. Also if you compare the designs and colour schemes of different Vibe magazines, they all differ regarding the artist.

When taking photos for my magazine, I will make use of styling that fits the alternative side of hip hop, in the way Vibe has done here. I think this way I am able to introduce different colours which should make my magazine stand out if it were alongside others on a shelf.

Another feature which I find particularly effective is the sans serif font. Vibe has used multiple sizes for different pieces of text on the page, making the covers overall appearance more striking and diverse. The way there is a couple of subtle pieces of text that use a more elegant looking serif font add extra detail to the information on the cover and keeps the reader engaged on the page.

The diverse sizing of fonts is something that I will make use of on my cover. If someone was to look at a cover and there was a piece of text that was clearly larger than the rest, it would immediately dominate the page and seem to be more important and significant than the others. Therefore my most important stories will be larger than others which may appear to be a less interesting story.

This cover has included Vibes website in the bottom left hand corner; this is positioned where it won’t dominate the page, but is still visible so that any reader will notice it and potentially visit the site.

A web address to the magazine is something which I will definitely include on my cover, as it introduces an alternative form of media that readers can visit.