Textual Analysis
For my Music Magazine
I’m using an R&B/Hip-hop genre. I am using ‘XXL’ magazine as my case study
for my own magazine. ‘XXL’ uses a very bold, clear masthead. This is to appeal
to customers when it’s orderly stacked on the shelf in store, also the colour
red is bright and eye-catching which gives it that feel of fun and evokes
interest in a possible reader. The fact that the cover image is in front of the
masthead is risky, but it means the magazine is already popular and will easily
be recognised. The cover image is a group picture of a few of female and male
hip-hop artists that are new and exceedingly popular for e.g. ‘Fetty Wap’,
‘Bobby Shmurda’ and ‘Tink’. Having artists like these on ‘XXL’ magazine
increases not only popularity for the artists but the magazine that features
these extremely successful artists. The Cover picture takes over the whole page
and the names are squashed around the picture in ‘graffiti’ font to suit the
genre of the magazine. The entire front cover uses a consistent colour scheme
of ‘red’, ‘blue’, ‘black’ and ‘white’ which are complimentary to each other as
they are mostly primary colours, also it looks professional and stands out as a
hip-hop/R&B magazine. The use of this colour scheme makes the magazine look
like it is going to be a fun and interesting read, therefore increasing the
amount of views ‘XXL’ gets.
The contents is split
into different sub-topics such as, ‘features’ and ’departments’, this makes it
easier for the reader to find pages they are really interested in reading. The
contents page consists of the same image shot as the front cover but of the
artists doing different poses. This makes it clear that the main article(s)
will be about them. The pictures used throughout the contents page(s) are in a
consistent theme which means they are all from the same photoshoot. Each single
shot portrays the artists’ character and style. The contents page is simple and
clear which will help the reader find their pages of interest.
‘XXL’ magazine feature
a lot of adverts. This is one way the magazine makes its money, it’s also a
great marketing scheme to sell products used or recommended by famous artists.
A lot of the promo done by these artists make them more popular and perfect to
feature in the magazine.
Each article has a font
consistency which is suiting to its genre/field. This makes it look
professional and appealing to the reader’s eyes. The articles are in columns
and in a ‘Q & A’ format making the article easier to read. Any of the font
that is in bold is either pointing out its importance or pointing out what the
publisher wants you to read the most, usually anything in bold, brightly
coloured print is read first by the reader because it is eye catching.
Specifically in this issue of ‘XXL’ magazine the use of bright colours like
green, blue, reds, pink etc. is continuous, this may sound really tacky but the
editor uses these colours really subtly but is still playful.
